Throughout the Gulf war Bush and Major insisted that in its wake the problems of the Middle East would have to be addressed, and in particular the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. So what kind of peace' is George Bush cooking up for the region?
In fact negotiations over the centre of what the US has in mind. It has for many years been a tenet of US foreign policy to maintain constant initiatives en the Palestinian question without giving anything away. Keeping up the appearance • of the search fora solution is crucial to the US system of alliances with the reactionary Arab governments.
At the heart of the US proposals is a new 'security framework, under US domination. No formal pact will be signed. But the crucial proposals are:
• A joint Syrian-Egyp tian peace keeping" force ticood permanently in t Gulf, consisting of at least 100,000 soldiers.
• The permanent stationing of off-shore US forces in the Gulf. This will include a carrier task force and probably thousands of US marines. US military equipment will be left permanently in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia ready for instant use.
The Syrian-Egyptian force will be hired out to the Gulf states in return for huge oil revenues. This is a massive minancial coup tol the reactionary regimes in Egypt and Syria. It also cements them firmly into the US-backed security arrangement.
The peace-keeping force is not just a guarantee Irag is not a problem in the sbort or medium term. Iniwany lets a counter-werent against any attempts by Iran to dominate the