[Mb-civic] Ukraine......Palestine

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

Here are 2 short articles (thanks Ed) to expand our understanding of world 
events.  Understanding is good...

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/12/16/008.html

Moscow Times, Thursday, December 16, 2004. Page 11.

The Ukraine Reality Show

By Boris Kagarlitsky

The state-run television channels were in hysterics reminiscent of the
Cold War. Bewildered viewers discovered that next door in Ukraine, a 
coup
was under way, allegedly planned by foreign secret service agents. The
goal of these enemies, state television reported, was to bring a
pro-Western president, Viktor Yushchenko, to power instead of pro-
Russian
Viktor Yanukovych. At the same time, liberals in Russia dreamed of
repeating Kiev's Orange Revolution at home.

Average Russians are taking a far more cynical view of events. They don't
really buy the propaganda but are watching their neighbors to the south
closely. The Ukrainian elections have become a kind of reality show for
many Muscovites, complete with cast of millions and unprecedented prizes

The theories that a pro-American opposition is battling with a pro-Moscow
political elite do not hold water. Yushchenko is without a doubt
pro-American. But the same can be said for all the current leaders in
Ukraine. After all, it was current Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and
his prime minister, Yanukovych, who sent troops to Iraq. They created an
absurd crisis in Russian-Ukrainian relations over a dam near the tiny
island of Tuzla in straits between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. In
contrast, right at the height of the confrontation in Kiev, the
Verkhovnaya Rada resolved to withdraw Ukraine's troops from Iraq.
Communists and socialists were joined in their support of the measure by a
significant number of Yushchenko supporters.

The attempts to divide Ukrainian society along language lines have also
failed. Kiev, where Russian reigns supreme, is the backbone of the
opposition's strength. Protests were held in Kharkiv, the center of
Russian culture in Ukraine. The events in favor of the current authorities
held in Donetsk and other industrial cities resembled the Soviet rallies
where attendance was mandatory. Most of the speakers were labor union
functionaries and civil servants, while the workers did their best to get
home as quickly as possible. The ruling oligarchy still has the ability to
control the industrial regions of eastern Ukraine using Soviet methods,
but it cannot mobilize mass public support.

It is difficult to call Russia's leadership anti-American or anti-Western.
None other than President Vladimir Putin himself publicly announced his
support of George W. Bush during the recent U.S. presidential elections.
And while the Moscow television channels were condemning American
involvement in Ukraine, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told journalists
about possible plans to arm local forces in Iraq under U.S. control, as
well as to send military specialists to Iraq.

The Cold War was a confrontation of two economic and political systems.
But now Russia and the West share the same system, capitalism. The real
axis of confrontation in world politics is no longer a standoff between
NATO and the long-defunct Eastern Bloc, but the standoff between the
dollar and the euro blocs. The Kremlin can't seem to make up its mind
which side to take in this rivalry, dodging back and forth between
Brussels and Washington and dooming itself to a whole string of unilateral
concessions to both competing sides.

If the whole point was to undermine Russia's position in Ukraine, it is
hard to imagine a more successful move than the Kremlin collaboration 
with
Yanukovych. The Kremlin not only shocked everyone with its crude tactics
and open meddling in the affairs of a sovereign state; most importantly,
it also managed to do so effectively and to its own detriment.

The stakes in the political battle in Ukraine are indeed high for the
Kremlin. But they do not have anything in common with national interests
or the long-gone conflict between the communist East and the bourgeois
West. Privatization in Ukraine is being rolled back. Oligarch clans, both
Russian and Ukrainian, are locked into a battle for assets. Everyone
understands that political influence is the main collateral needed to
conclude privatization deals and the best guarantee they will not be
overturned later.

Whoever does win in the end, Putin will remain one of the main victims of
the Ukraine crisis. Even if Yanukovych wins, his main concern will be
improving relations with the West. Putin will lose the last remnants of
his political authority. He will have demonstrated his weakness once again
to Russia, to his people and to the siloviki. And in Russia, this is a
very dangerous thing indeed.


Boris Kagarlitsky is director of the Institute for Globalization Studies.

***

Boston Globe December 11, 2004

Sharon will maintain roadblocks to peace

By Edmund R. Hanauer

After refusing to deal with Yasser Arafat for the last four years, Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, backed by President Bush, now appears 
willing
to open peace talks with a new Palestinian leader -- most likely Mahmoud
Abbas, seen as a "moderate" -- following Palestinian elections on Jan. 9.
However, it is unlikely that Sharon will seriously negotiate with
Palestinian leaders if they insist, as did Arafat, that Israel respect the
human and national rights of Palestinians.

Instead, Sharon will likely continue to seize as much land and water
resources as possible from Palestinians on the Israeli-occupied West
Bank, land and water for 200,000 Jewish settlers whose settlements are
illegal under international law and preclude a viable Palestinian state.

Even Sharon's plan to pull settlers out of Gaza is, according to his chief
aide, part of a plan to freeze the peace process and solidify Israel's
hold on much of the West Bank. Washington's talk of creating a 
Palestinian
state alongside Israel will remain lip service until the Bush
administration forces Israel to stop colonizing the West Bank.

A Palestinian state is long overdue. In 1947, Palestinians were allotted
only 45 percent of their homeland by the UN Partition Plan. In the 1948
and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars, Israel seized the areas intended for the
Palestinian state.

Since the 1980s, Palestinian leaders, including Arafat, have sought only
the rump 22 percent of Palestine occupied by Israel in 1967 (the West
Bank, Gaza, and Arab East Jerusalem). In the 1993 Oslo Accords
Palestinians recognized Israel in 78 percent of the historical Palestinian
homeland and, along with the international community, naively assumed
Israel would return all of the lands occupied in 1967.

A two-state solution based on international law, including treaties signed
by Israel and scores of UN resolutions, would entail:

• Sharing Jerusalem and its holy sites. Palestine would be sovereign over
Arab East Jerusalem and its 200,000 Palestinian Muslims and Christians.
West Jerusalem would be Israel's capital.

• All or almost all Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza would be
dismantled. Israel would withdraw to the Green Line, the 1967
internationally recognized boundary. Israel might keep the 2-3 percent of
the West Bank which includes major settlements along the Green Line,
provided the Palestinian state received an equivalent amount, in quantity
and quality, of Israeli land. Palestinians would regain their West Bank
water resources, now siphoned off by Israel.

• Israel would recognize in principle the "right of return" of Palestinian
refugees, many expelled in 1948 by Israeli state terrorism. The "right of
return" is upheld by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 
dozens
of UN resolutions. In fact, Israel was admitted to the UN on the condition
that refugees would be allowed home.

Under the 1947 partition plan, Israel barely had a 51 percent Jewish
majority. Even if Israel now took in one million refugees, Jews would
still be close to 70 percent of the population. Refugees should also be
given options to settle in Western countries, Arab states, or the
Palestinian state. In addition, refugees should be compensated for
property losses.

Although the United States and Israel did their utmost to blame Arafat for
the failure of peace talks, he supported a settlement along these lines at
Camp David in 2000 (and afterwards). On each issue -- Jerusalem,
settlements, borders, refugees, security, water -- Arafat sought peace
based on international law, whereas Israel, backed by the United States,
tried to impose a settlement based on Israel's superior power, a
settlement rejected by almost all Palestinians.

In his new book, "Negotiating Outside the Law: Why Camp David Failed,"
Father Raymond Helmick S.J., a professor at Boston College, writes that
the basic requirement for peace is for Israelis to "submit themselves to
the rule of law" and he faults US and Israeli policies as based on "total
renunciation of the rule of law."

Now Bush and Sharon will likely seek a Palestinian puppet willing to
compromise the rights of Palestinians. This would prevent a just and
lasting peace settlement, weaken moderates in both communities and lead 
to
more Israeli and Palestinian deaths. It would betray the purported US
ideals of democracy, justice, and self-determination and delight
anti-American terrorists who will gain recruits convinced that the United
States is an enemy of Arabs and Muslims.


Edmund R. Hanauer, an American Jewish human rights activist, is director
of Search for Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/1
2/1
1/ sharon_will_maintain_roadblocks_to_peace/

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