The Dayton Plan

".....Hani al-Hassan, the venerable Fatah figure, didn't find it necessary to argue that that was the nature of America's Plan--rather it is his self-evident starting point. His argument is that while it is true that Hamas was able to defeat that Plan in Gaza, they went a little too far in doing so. But clearly the point is that there was such a Plan, and that a small group in Fatah collaborated with it. The Abbas faction has seen it necessary to vilify Hani al-Hassan because of the clear implication: They themselves are part of the Dayton Plan.

In this way, the Dayton Plan is like the Adhamiya Wall. It sums up in a simple and direct way the nature of the American strategy: division, of the kind that Israel has been promoting among the Palestinians. With respect to Iraq, the Washington groupies are split between those who say violent division is the result of bungled US planning on the one side, and those who say it is the result of pre-existing fault-lines, or some such argument on the other. With respect to Lebanon, the role of the US and its local allies in fomenting divisions is similarly plastered over with coats of verbiage or ignored. But it is the moments of lucidity provided by the Adhamiya Wall and the Dayton Plan that define America in Arabic. The Americans are there to promote fitna.

There are two points here. One is that the clarity this provides with respect to the nature of the American strategy. But the other is the role of Israel, and it is worth noting that this cuts two ways. In the Arab world, a higher profile for Israel means a sharper focus on strategies of brutality and humiliation. But in America, it is possible that the Israeli factor will end up helping promote the neocon idea that all resistance to foreign occupation is terrorism......."