A Trap for Fools

By Uri Avnery

".....George Bush, who grew up on this myth, sticks to it even now, when he is the leader of the world's only superpower. This week he presented the world with an up-to-date Western.

In this Western – or, rather, Middle Eastern – there are also Good Guys and Bad Guys. The good ones are the "moderates," who are the allies of the U.S. in the Middle East – Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, and the pro-American Arab regimes. The bad ones are Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, and al-Qaeda......

So the whole problem is a Palestinian problem. They must decide. They must choose between moderates and extremists. If they choose the moderates, they will get everything they can imagine: colorful glass beads and gallons of whisky. If they choose the extremists, their end will be bitter.

The Jewish Israelis do not have to choose between good and bad. Why? Simply because there are no Bad Guys among them. They are just good. They must help the good Palestinians. "Release" the Palestinian tax moneys and give them to "Prime Minister [Salem] Fayad." Not to the Palestinian government, but to one specific, named person, the darling of Bush......

In many classical Westerns there appears a crook selling a patent medicine to heal all ills: headaches and hemorrhoids, tuberculosis and syphilis. George Bush has his own patent medicine, which appears in the speech again and again. It will heal all diseases and ensure the final victory of the Sons of Light over the Sons of Darkness. The label on the bottle says "Building Palestinian Institutions.".....

In order to realize the vision of "building Palestinian institutions," Bush is sending along his poodle. According to Bush, the sole task of Tony Blair is indeed this: "to coordinate international efforts to help the Palestinians establish the institutions of a strong and lasting free society." (Like which example? Egypt? Saudi Arabia? Jordan? Pakistan? Morocco? Or perhaps even Iraq?).....

The final objective is a "Palestinian state," the "two-state solution." That is a far-far-off aim. Not for nothing is it called a "political horizon," since a horizon, as is well-known, recedes in the distance as one tries to approach it......

As Chaim Weizmann, the prominent Zionist leader and first president of Israel, once said: "No state is given to a people on a silver platter." The Palestinians, too, will not get their state without struggle, not as baksheesh from Bush nor as a '"gesture" from Olmert. Nations achieve their freedom by political or military struggle. Every struggle, violent or nonviolent, is a matter of power.

And power means first of all: Unity."