Rachelle Marshall

In both Palestine and Iraq, foreign occupations are fueling violence with no foreseeable end. And corroding security in both countries could lead to worsening conditions for civilians.

by Rachelle Marshall

By Rachelle Marshall

ACCORDING TO the road map to peace, 2005 was to be the year in which the Palestinians established a state of their own. The plan, first announced by President George W. Bush and endorsed by Russia, the United Nations, and the European Union, set forth a series of steps to be taken by Israel and the Palestinians designed to ensure Israel's security and result in Palestinian independence. Because of Israel's actions and the sponsors' inaction, the road map exists today mainly as a rhetorical device to cover up a moribund peace process.

In violation of the road map Israel has continued to expand existing settlements and provide infrastructure for new "unauthorized" ones. The 8,500 settlers in Gaza represent only 2 percent of the 430,000 Israelis who now live on land taken from the Palestinians since 1967, but when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proposed to dismantle the Gaza settlements this summer Bush hailed the announcement as "historic and courageous." New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman called the decision "monumental." Opponents of the plan had an equally overheated reaction, with some right-wing Israelis charging Sharon with treason. Likud member Natan Sharansky, whose ideas on freedom are warmly endorsed by Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, resigned from the cabinet, saying Israel must not withdraw from any territory until the Palestinians first adopt democracy.

By Rachelle Marshall

"You can destroy their lives and their houses, but they are staying put. Their spirit is strong."-Raji Sourani, head of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, on Oct. 3, during an Israeli invasion of Gaza that killed 110 Palestinians in two weeks.

"The hospitals are full of bodies, children are buried in the gardens and there are bodies filling the streets. These policies will increase the anger of the Iraqi people and if the government insists on resolving the crisis in this horrible American way...the Iraqi people will not cooperate."

-Muhammad Bashar al-Faidhi of the Iraqi Association of Muslim Scholars, on Oct. 3, after U.S. troops wrested control of Samarra from resistance forces.

Were it not for the huge cost in human suffering, there would be something ludicrous about the conflicts now raging in the Middle East. In Israel a nuclear power armed with helicopter gunships and tanks nearly the length of a city block is unable to end mortar attacks by Palestinians who carry homemade missiles around on donkey carts. In Iraq the world's only superpower is unable to protect its soldiers from roadside ambushes or prevent police stations from being blown up by car bombs. No matter how much firepower the Israelis and the Americans bring to bear, resistance to the two armies of occupation continues.

In Israel, the government fuels resistance with increasingly harsh repression. After taking office in 2001 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon scrapped the Oslo agreements, reoccupied the West Bank and Gaza, and continued to seize Palestinian territory. Meanwhile he refused to negotiate with the Palestinians and confined President Yasser Arafat to his crumbling headquarters in Ramallah. George W. Bush, whose support for Sharon is unwavering, has steadfastly maintained that the Israelis are adhering to the internationally sponsored road map to Middle East peace. Bush held to this position even when Sharon scrapped the road map entirely last spring and announced that Israel would unilaterally withdraw from Gaza but retain most of the West Bank. Palestinians are now being crowded into enclaves surrounded by high walls.

By Rachelle Marshall

A MAJORITY OF Americans now agree with the rest of the world that the U.S. war on Iraq was a mistake. Yet except on the fringes of the peace movement, almost no one is seriously suggesting that we set a date and leave. When the question is raised, the usual response is that we made a mess in Iraq and we have to stay and repair the damage. If U.S. troops leave now, the argument goes, there will be civil war, perhaps a bloodbath.

It is possible that violence will continue if the Americans leave, but it is certain to continue if we we stay. The occupation that supposedly ended on June 28 is still very much in force, and the resistance is growing rather than fading. American troops continue to carry out raids, take prisoners, and guard checkpoints. American warplanes continue to bomb Fallujah and other cities. Iraqi civilians continue to die in these bombing raids.

The most provocative reminder of the U.S. presence is the three-square-mile "Green Zone," formerly the site of Saddam Hussain's sprawling palace, then the headquarters of the occupation, and now the location of a vast American Embassy. It is, as San Francisco Chronicle corrrespondent Robert Collier described it, "a bubble of Americana in the heart of a hostile nation." Inside the Zone's 20-foot concrete walls are thousands of U.S. soldiers and civilian workers, the air-conditioned homes and offices of top American and Iraqi officials, well-watered lawns, swimming pools, and recreation centers. It is from his magisterial headquarters in the Green Zone that U.S. Ambassador John D. Negroponte issues his edicts to the interim Iraqi government. Most recently he ordered that the government's offer of amnesty to prisoners should not be extended to anyone who had harmed coalition forces-to anyone, that is, who had resisted the invasion and occupation of their country.

By Rachelle Marshall

from: WRMEA

"We are in trouble in Iraq and I think there is no other way to say it."-Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Nov. 14.

"Many Israelis thought we could defeat the Palestinians by military means...but this hasn't worked. We have to change direction."-Ami Ayalon, chief of Shin Bet 1996-2000, Nov. 14.

It was no coincidence that almost simultaneously this fall George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon were confronted with the fact that their policies were not working. Since taking office in 2000 the two men have been close allies, sharing a belief in the effectiveness of brute force and in their own infallibility.