On the eve of the Madrid peace conference two Jewish settlers from the West Bank were killed in an ambush. The Israeli 'Defence Force' swept into action, barring Palestinians from the West Bank from Jerusalem, and carrying out their routine 'search' and harassment operations.
Speculation immediately started about how such an event would 'harm' the peace conference. If it had been two more Palestinian dead, no one would have noticed. What's a couple of Palestinians more or less, when more than 1200 have been slaughtered by the Israeli army during the Intifadah?
The conference is being held because the US has managed to persuade the Arab governments that there might be something in it for them. In the new world order it is now impossible for right-wing Arab governments to manoeuvre between the US and the Soviet Union, as was possible at the height of the cold war.
To get aid and loans from the IMF and the World Bank, and from the US government itself, close diplomatic accord with the US is vital.
It is possible that Israel could give the Golan Heights back to Syria, in exchange tor a peace treaty and recognition of Israel. But the Palestinians will get nothing worth having. Next stop Zaire? French troops en route to the Gulf Demanding sell-determination; the fight goes on Every day work advances building more Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Arab fields are confiscated and Arab houses bulldozed to make way for the settlements. The aim is to use the influx of Soviet Jews in particular to perstate. Bank and in Gaza. tinians who have most to lose. tinian people. ing aliances. For the United States, manently change the demographic character of the West Bank, to make it impossible to ever become the centre of a Palestinian Opposition to the peace conference from Israeli hard-liners like Ariel Sharon makes it appear that something substantial could be conceded to the Palestinians. This is a totally false impression. 'Land for peace' is never going to apply to the Palestinians.
Israeli and its US backers have no interest in even a Palestinian mini-state on the West The conference is a big diplomatic victory for the US. By brokering the conference America looks the peacemaker and confirms its status as the sole superAny real concessions are likely to come from the reactionary Arab governments, abandoning their limited support to the Palestinians. Overall, it is the PalesMost pathetic in this charade is the Soviet delegation led by Gorbachev, acting as the loyal servants of Pax Americana.
The real line up in the Middle East is clear; a holy alliance against the rights of the Palestinians to self-determination, under the hegemony of the US. Pax Americana will offer nothing in the way of justice for the Pales-