Coming
in September
From AK Press
Featuring Essays by:
Edward Said, Robert Fisk, Michael Neumann, Shahid Alam, Alexander
Cockburn, Uri Avnery, Bill and Kathy Christison and More
Today's
Stories
August
11, 2003
Uri
Avnery
Who Will Save Abu Mazen?
Recent
Stories
Alexander
Cockburn
California's Glorious Recall!
Saul
Landau
Bush and King Henry
Gary
Leupp
On Terrorism, Methodism, "Wahhabism"
and the Censored 9/11 Report
Paul de
Rooij
The Parade of the Body Bags
Michael
Egan
History and the Tragedy of American Diplomacy
Rob Eshelman
A Home of Our Own
Daoud
Kuttab
Life as an ID Card
Philip
Agee
Terror and Civil Society: Instruments of US Policy in Cuba
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Marc Racicot: Bush's Main Man
Walt Brasch
Schwarzenegger, "Hollyweird"
and the Rigtheous Right
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush, Bribery and Berlusconi
Josh Frank
Mean, Mean Howard Dean
Elaine
Cassel
Will the Death Penalty Ever Die?
Sean Carter
Total Recall
Poets'
Basement
Hamod, Engel, Albert
August
8, 2003
John
Chuckman
What the US Says Goes
Roberto
Barreto
Defend the Vieques 12!
Bruce Gagnon
Iraq War Emboldens Bush Space Plans
Elaine
Cassel
The Reign of John Ashcroft
Dave
Lindorff
Snoops Night Out
Website
of the Day
Zero Boy
August
7, 2003
M.
Shahid Alam
It the US a "Terrorist Magnet?"
Toni
Solo
Neo-liberal Nicaragua: a New Banana
Republic
Adam Lebowitz
Hiroshima Commemorated: the View from Japan
Hanan
Ashrawi
When the Bully Whines
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Conscience Takes a Holiday
Jason
Leopold
Wolfowitz Lets Slip: Iraq Not Behind 9/11; No Ties to Al-Qaeda
Mike Kimaid
What's the Score?
Elaine
Cassel
The Smell of VICTORY: Ashcroft's Latest Stinkbomb
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
August 6, 2003
Steve
Higgs
Going to Jail for the Cause: It's Not
Easy Confronting King Coal
David
Krieger
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Robert
Fisk
The Ghosts of Uday and Qusay
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's War on the National Forests
Elaine
Cassel
No Fly Lists
Stan
Goff
Military Equipment and Pneumonia
Hugh Sansom
An Open Letter to Nicholas Kristof on the Nuking of Japan
August
5, 2003
Uri
Avnery
The Prisoner of Ramallah: Arafat at
74
Forrest
Hylton
Terrorism and Political Trials: the
View from Bolivia
Ray
McGovern
"We Cook Estimates to Go"
David
Morse
Poindexter's Gambit
Edward
Said
Orientallism: 25 Years Later
George
W. Bush
My Darn Good Resumé
Hammond
Guthrie
It's Incremental, Watson!
Website
of the Day
National Prayer Day
August 4, 2003
Bruce
K. Gagnon
Another Peace Activist Detained by
Airport Cops: My Story
David
Lindorff
Fear-Mongering About Social Security
Mark
Zepezauer
George F. Will: Descent into Self-Parody
James
Plummer
Tracking You Through the Mail
Mickey
Z.
Marriage Insecurity from Sharon to Bush
Bruce
Jackson
News that Isn't News: How the NYT's
Pimps for the White House
August
2 / 3, 2003
Tamara
R. Piety
Nike's Full Court Press Breaks Down
Francis
Boyle
My Alma Mater, the University of Chicago, is a Moral Cesspool
David
Vest
Sons of Paleface: Pictures from Death's Other Side
Neve Gordon
Nightlife in Jerusalem
Uri
Avnery
Their Master's Voice:
Bush, Blair and Intelligence Snafus
Robert
Fisk
Paternalistic Democracy for Iraq
Jerry
Kroth
Israel, Yellowcake and the Media
Noah Leavitt
What's Driving the Liberian Bloodbath: Is the US Obligated to
Intervene?
Saul
Landau
The Film Industry: Business and Ideology
Ron Jacobs
One Big Prison Yard: the Meaning of George Jackson
Thomas
Croft
In the Deep, Deep Rough: Reflections on Augusta
Amadi Ajamu
Def Sham: Russell Simmons New Black Leader?
Poets'
Basement
Vega, Witherup, Albert and Fleming
August
1, 2003
Joanne
Mariner
Stopping Prison Rape
Alex Coolman
Who Moved My Soap: Trivializing
Prison Rape
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Stan Goff
Injury and Decorum: The Missing Wounded in Iraq
Wayne
Madsen
Europe Unplugs from the Matrix
Robert
Fisk
Wolfowitz the Censor
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft Loses Big in Puerto Rico
Website
of the Day
Stop Prisoner Rape
July
31, 2003
Ray
McGovern
The Prostitution of Intelligence
Brian
Cloughley
Wolfowitz's Operative Statement
Sheldon
Hull
The RIAA's Jihad:
The Devil's Music (Industry)
Elaine
Cassel
The Next Time You Crack a Lawyer Joke, Think of These Attorneys
Sheldon
Rampton
and John Stauber
True Lies: Propaganda and Bush's
Wars
Hammond
Guthrie
Speculation Blues
Website
of the Day
Army of One?
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
July
30, 2003
David
Lindorff
Poindexter the Terror Bookie
Marjorie
Cohn
Why Iraq and Afghanistan? It's About
the Oil
Elaine
Cassel
How Ashcroft Coerces Guilty Pleas
in Terror Cases
Zvi
Bar'el
The Hidden Costs of the Iraq War
Lisa Walsh
Thomas
Killing Mustafa Hussein: Death of a Child, Birth of a Legend?
Sean
Carter
Pat Robertson's Prayer Jihad: God, Sodomy and the Supremes
ND Jayaprakash
India and Ariel Sharon
Steve
Perry
Bush's Top 40 Lies
Standard
Schaefer
Correction about Bloomberg and Outscourcing
Website
of the Day
Bring Them Home Now!
Hot Stories
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
August
11, 2003
Who Will Save Abu-Mazen?
The US Leaves
Him Hanging
By URI AVNERY
Abu-Mazen will fall before the end of October--this
conviction is gaining ground in leading Palestinian circles.
This forecast is based on the belief
that Abu-Mazen will not get anything, neither from the Americans
nor from Sharon. No release for most of the prisoners, no complete
removal of the checkpoints inside the Palestinian territories,
no stop to the building of the wall, no total withdrawal of the
army from Palestinian towns, no lifting of the blockade on President
Arafat, no freeze of the settlements, no dismantling of the settlement
outposts that were put up in the last two and a half years (as
stipulated by the Road Map).
If they had wanted to "help Abu-Mazen",
to quote the formula current in Washington, they would have fulfilled
at least some of these demands. But nothing of the sort has happened.
The well publicized release of a handful of prisoners, most of
whom where due to be released anyhow, only highlighted the absence
of goodwill and increased the anger.
Abu-Mazen became Prime Minister because
the Americans demanded it. The Palestinians hoped that the Americans
would give him things that they were unwilling to grant Yasser
Arafat. This would have meant the US exerting real pressure on
Sharon in order to compel him to deliver the goods. This has
not happened. The terrible conditions of life in the occupied
territories have not improved. In some
places they have even deteriorated.
Abu-Mazen does not enjoy wide public
support. Formally, he represents the ruling party, Fatah, but
even there his standing is problematical. The party is devoted
to Yasser Arafat , and Abu-Mazen's political existence depends
on support from Arafat.
In a recent Palestinian popularity poll,
Abu-Mazen received 2% of the votes. Arafat tops the list, of
course. After him comes Mustafa Barghouti, who has set up a large-scale
aid network for the suffering population. The third place was
taken by Marwan Barghouti, the leader of the Fatah cadres, who
is standing trial in Israel. Abu-Mazen was near the bottom.
Sharon could have saved Abu-Mazen if
he had wanted to. But here, too, it is advisable to ignore what
Sharon says and to pay attention to what he does: undermining
Abu Mazen. He is worried by the respect paid to Abu-Mazen by
the White House and Congress, fearing that American support of
Israel might shrink from 100% to a mere 95%.
The fall of Abu-Mazen in a vote of the
Palestinian Legislative Council will be very convenient for Sharon.
He believes that it will kill the Road Map, and with it the demands
to stop the building of the wall, dismantle the outposts and
freeze the settlements.
In this matter, too, Sharon enjoys the
support of the army command, which opposes the Hudna (truce)
and is longing for the renewal of the violence. As always, the
army commanders believe that victory is just around the corner
and that Palestinian resistance is on the verge of collapse.
All that is needed is one last decisive blow.
Will the hopes of Sharon and Co. regarding
America come true? That depends on who succeeds Abu-Mazen.
Arafat's candidate is the Palestinian
millionaire from Nablus, Munib al-Masri, the scion of a well
established family, a man with widespread business interests
throughout the Arab countries and the rest of the world. He is
a man of proven ability, popular among the Palestinians.
Another likely candidate is the new Minister
of Finance, Salaam Fayad. He, too, has established his competence.
In a short time he has put the Palestinian Authority's finances
in order, eliminated much of the corruption, organized the regular
payment of salaries (replacing a man carrying a suitcase full
of money with direct transfer to the bank accounts of the employees.)
He is well respected by the Palestinian public.
Both these candidates are acceptable
to the Americans. The election of one of them as the next Prime
Minister would ensure that the relations between Washington and
Ramallah continue to improve.
If Abu-Mazen falls, his security chief,
Muhammad Dahlan, may fall with him. He got his job because the
Americans (and Sharon's people, of course) demanded it. That
has hurt his standing right from the beginning. He is a Fatah
man, but not a member of the "Revolutionary Council",
the highest Fatah leadership body. The suspicion that he sees
himself as Arafat's successor does not make him more popular,
either.
The long-term rival of Dahlan, Jibril
Rajoub, formerly the powerful chief of security on the West Bank,
has recently been reconciled with Arafat, after the famous incident
in which the leader boxed his ears. His standing was hurt during
the reoccupation of Ramallah by the Israeli army ("Operation
Defensive Shield"), when Rajoub's headquarters was occupied
and several Hamas prisoners taken, in spite of an explicit American
promise that the compound would be immune from attack. Lately
he has recovered from a dangerous operation and assured Arafat
of his full support, but declined to accept an official position.
Like Abu-Mazen and many others, Rajoub
opposes the armed intifada and advocates the idea of non-violent
popular resistance. He pins his hopes on the Israeli Left and
believes that the cessation of violence, and cooperation with
the Israeli peace camp, will bring about a major change. The
adherents of armed resistance argue, in return, that force is
the only language Israel understands, and that without violence
nothing at all can be achieved. The general Palestinian public
wavers between these two strategic views.
At this moment, only the Americans can
save Abu-Mazen. In the blockbuster film, "Saving Private
Ryan", an army unit was sent to rescue a soldier missing
behind enemy lines. Now the Americans' mission is to save Abu-Mazen
from the jaws of Sharon.
Uri Avnery
is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He
is one of the writers featured in The
Other Israel: Voices of Dissent and Refusal. One of his
essays is also included in Cockburn and St. Clair's forthcoming
book: The
Politics of Anti-Semitism. He can be reached at: avnery@counterpunch.org.
Weekend
Edition Features for August 2/3, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
California's Glorious Recall!
Saul
Landau
Bush and King Henry
Gary
Leupp
On Terrorism, Methodism, "Wahhabism"
and the Censored 9/11 Report
Paul de
Rooij
The Parade of the Body Bags
Michael
Egan
History and the Tragedy of American Diplomacy
Rob Eshelman
A Home of Our Own
Daoud
Kuttab
Life as an ID Card
Philip
Agee
Terror and Civil Society: Instruments of US Policy in Cuba
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Marc Racicot: Bush's Main Man
Walt Brasch
Schwarzenegger, "Hollyweird"
and the Rigtheous Right
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush, Bribery and Berlusconi
Josh Frank
Mean, Mean Howard Dean
Elaine
Cassel
Will the Death Penalty Ever Die?
Sean Carter
Total Recall
Poets'
Basement
Hamod, Engel, Albert
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