As it so happened, I heard President Bush’s speech in Copenhagen. It reminded me immediatelyof the most famous story created in that town: “The Emperor’s Clothes”.
Everybody praised this fine speech. Prime Minister A. lauded the style, President B.commended the fabric, Sheik C. admired the collar. And I saw only a naked emperor.
Everynody knew, of course, that it was a stupid speech, perhaps the most silly ever uttered byan American president. But who will confront the leader of the world’s sole superpower? Whowill bring upon himself the wrath of a man that possesses such frightening power, whilevoicing such inanities?
A 12-year old would have been ashamed of presenting such a composition to his teacher. Theassumptions are baseless, the general picture resembles a caricature, the conclusions areridiculous and the parts contradict each other.
It says that the Palestinians must chose their leader in a free, democratic election, but thatthey are forbidden to elect a leader not approved by Sharon and Bush.
They must establish a democratic, liberal, pluralistic and multi-party system, includingseparation of powers, independent courts and transparent finances. For that purpose theyare commanded to accept the assistance of America’s allies in the Middle East: democraticSaudi Arabia, pluralistic Egypt and liberal Jordan. Financial transparency like in Riyadh,separation of powers like in Cairo, independent courts like in Amman.
The establishment of this ideal system is a precondition to any peace negotiations. InEurope, such a system was achieved after a struggle of hundreds of years. In the Arab world, itdoes not exist anywhere. Arafat is the only Arab chief of state who was chosen in freeelections, under close international supervision, personally overseen by ex-PresidentJimmy Carter.
In Bush’s crooked mirror, terrorism antedates the occupation. Indeed, he did not mention theoccupation at all in this context. There is nothing but terrorism. In his limited world-view,terrorism is the sum of everything: In the beginning God created the War on Terrorism, and thewhole world revolves around it. Terrorism, like Satan, exists since the creation, it is notthe result of anything, it has its own independent existence. And, much as a devout Christianis commanded to fight Satan every moment in his life on earth, so must every human being fightterrorism and will be judged accordingly by the divine judge, Bush.
And what i s terrorism? Terrorism is what the enemies of the USA are doing. Friends of the USAcannot, of course, do such a thing. In Turkey, for example, it is the Kurds who are theterrorists, while the Turkish army is a humanitarian outfit. Good friend Putin does notcommit acts of terrorism, his deeds in Grozni are nearly as charitable as those of Sharon inJenin.
But Artafat is a terrorist. He is also corrupt, also a dictator. This needs no proof. Sharonsays so, and Sharon is beyond reproach. Arafat has to be eliminated, removed from office,expulsed, murdered. (Bush, of course, does not speak of murder, but not so long ago the decreeforbidding American agencies to kill foreign leaders was rescinded. Actually, in thisinstance their involvement is not needed, the slightest hint will suffice for Sharon toexecute the deed at once.)
What will happen after Arafat’s removal-expulsion-murder? According to Bush, it’s quitesimple: reform-minded Palestinians will come forward, take some Palestinian professorfrom Harvard or Oxford as president and create the Palestinian Switzerland.
Bush, of course, does not imagine that something very different is going to happen. The manafter Arafat will have to show that he is no Mossad or CIA stooge, therefore he will have to bemore extreme than Arafat. In order to avoid being executed as a traitor within 24 hours, he willhave to create an alliance with Hamas,. In the coming elections, the candidate of the”National and Islamic Forces” will surely win.
That’s the best-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, there will not be an alternativeleadership at all. Palestinian society will break up into hundreds of shreds, each of whichwill commit suicide bombings in the occupied territories, Israel, throughout the MiddleEast and the world. Chaos will reign supreme. This is what Sharon really desires, because itwill enable him to carry out ethnic cleansing and annex the Palestinian territories,fulfilling his dream of at least 50 years.
The good Bush certainly does not want this, but since he has become the squire of Sharon, a kindof American Sancho Panza to the Israeli Don Quixote, it’s what the Don says that counts.
After the speech, I met with a senior European diplomat. “Well, it may not be the most brilliantdiscourse we ever heard,” he said with a slight, ironic smile, “But it’s what we have got. Itwould not be wise to confront Bush head on, that would only cause him to become obstinate.”
If so, what can be done? The ironic smile did not leave his lips. “European diplomacy hashundreds of years of experience. The clever thing to do is to pick from the speech one positivesentence and blow it up, ignoring the negative parts.”
Europe will concentrate on the elections. These must be free, under close internationalsupervision. For the elections to be free, candidates must be free to move. For parties to beformed and conduct their campaigns, there must be freedom of speech and association. All thisis impossible under occupation. Therefore, first of all, the occupation has to be removedfrom the Palestinians territories.
Under the Oslo agreements, the Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem enjoy the right ofactive and passive vote, and they, too, must be allowed to move and campaign freely.
Until the elections, the existing elected instituted, including the chairman of theauthority, must continue to function. Europe will continue to deal with him. Arafat, ofcourse, like any other citizen, has the right to present his candidacy – and, if chosen in a freeelection, the world (led by Europe) will recognize him. Nobody doubts that he will indeed beelected by a massive majority.
So, after all, a golden thread can be found in the emperor’s clothes. Attention: HansChristian Anderson.