{Jalaluddin Hussain is a veteran editor of New Trend who lives in
Montreal.
He has been writing MONTREAL PERSPECTIVES for ten years and has many
readers. His commentary on the most dangerous pro-Israeli initiative
which
has been brought forth by the Saudi Crown Prince makes important
reading.}
Montreal Perspectives
By Jalaluddin S. Hussain
Abdullah's "initiative", a grand betrayal!
Daily, The Gazette, Montreal of February 27, 2002, has a banner
headline:"Peace hopes fueled: Israelis, U.S. encouraged by Saudi
Mideast
initiative." In fact it is no initiative. It is truly a betrayal of
the
Palestinian cause. If Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has
proposed
"establishment of peace and diplomatic relations between Israel and
Saudi
Arabia and other Arab States in return for withdrawal from the
territories it
seized in the 1967 Six Day War, including the West Bank Gaza Strip and
East
Jerusalem. In the absence the details of the proposal and the fact
that
both the super-terrorists, Ariel Sharon and George Bush have shown
interest,
it can be safely assumed that whatever the proposal it has much less to
offer
than what has already been offered based on the several United Nations'
Security Council resolutions. In fact this farce of a proposal
tantamount to
showing insensitivity and ridiculing the martyrdom of hundreds of
Palestinians, children, women and men all, who have already been killed
in
the two Intifadas, during the last more than 10 years.
Most probably the Abdullah proposal aims at getting recognition of the
terrorist state of Israel by all the Arab states and keeping intact the
thousands of settlements of American, Canadian and Russian Zionists, in
the
heart of the Occupied Palestine. It is ironical that while the
American-
proclaimed terrorist, Osama bin Laden, who really wanted the Americans
out of
Saudi Arabia and genuine freedom for the Palestinians, was "smoked out"
by
the American military in Afghanistan mountains, the Crown Prince
Abdullah was
spoken of highly and praised by President Bush!
Fahd Plan revisited – minus "right of return" plus "settlements"!
What is being trumpeted as Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah‘s " initiative"
is
nothing new. Although the details of his initiatives have yet not been
made
public, one thing is clear: if the two super-terrorists, George Bush
and
Ariel Sharon are supportive of it, then surely there is something in
the
"initiative" against the Palestinians. Had the initiative been viable
or
worth considering the Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular,
long
ago would have agreed it to, when it was first presented in the form of
Fahd
Plan. Even twenty years ago the offer stipulated, "full withdrawal
from the
occupied territories, in accord with UN resolutions, including
Jerusalem and
full normalization of relations". The plan also envisaged dismantling
of
Israeli settlements (at that time there were only small percentage of
settlements compared to the proliferation of settlements today),
guarantees
of freedom of worship, affirmation of Palestinian refugee's right to
return
and compensation for those who do not go back and to top it all and
independent Palestinian State, following a brief UN-monitored
transition
period. Compared to Fahd Plan, which ultimately met its death at
Morocco
Arab League Summit, Abdullah's initiative has not much chance to be
even
considered by the forthcoming meeting of the Arab League. While
massacre of
the Palestinians continue in the Occupied Territories it is difficult
not to
understand why the Arab position has hardened. Simply put, Abdullah
plan
is meant to gain more time so that all of the Palestinian territories,
which
hitherto belonged to the Palestinian Authority under the chairmanship
of
Yasser Arafat, is reoccupied by the Zionist Sharon government with the
active
connivance of the American government!
Israel – a colonial settler state of the twenty-first century!
Although, written about 35 years ago, Maxime Rodinson's book, "Israel –
A
Colonial –Settler State", can still be considered as one of the most
authentic and thoroughly documented study of Zionist colonization and
the
process by which the State of Israel was formed. How correct is Maxime
to
conclude that, "the creation of the State of Israel on Palestinian
soil, is
the great European American movement of expansion in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, whose aim was to settle new inhabitants among
other
peoples or to dominate them economically and politically". Again,
Maxime
correctly diagnosed that, war against Zionism was the only way out of
situation created by Israel.
Hidden Agendas – a powerful new book of facts unknown
John Pilger's paperback edition of "Hidden Agendas" is a powerful new
book,
about which the Independent newspaper of U.K. commented: " A moral
interpretation of world affairs in a cynical age". The back-cover
comments
also provide a concise analysis of the 610-page text, in the following
words:
" By unraveling the hidden histories of contemporary events, Pilger
allows
us to read between the lines… Tenaciously researched and written with
passion
and wit, "Hidden Agendas" will change the way you see the world".
In the ten chapters of the book, with topics like The Terrorists,
Arming the
World, The Roots of War, the Media Age and Return to Viet Nam, the
political
awareness of the readers is raised to the maximum and they start
appreciating
and understanding the hidden agendas of the contemporary imperialist
entities
like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the
World
Trade Organization (WTO). Sentences like the following can only be read
in
"Hidden Agendas" and not in op-ed articles of The New York Times, The
Los
Angeles Times, The Vancouver Sun, The Montreal Gazette or the Ottawa
Citizen:
- National survey in the U.S.A. show that the federal government
must
protect the most vulnerable in society, especially the poor and elderly
by
guaranteeing minimum living standards and providing social benefits,
including support for the disabled, unemployment insurance medical and
child
care.
- Introductory quotations in "The Terrorist" chapter (page 19) are
Al
Capone, the American Mafia gangster saying: "I use very big money. I
use
guns too…" and Al Haig, the former American Secretary of State, saying:
" You
just give me the word and I will turn that fucking little island
(British
colony of Diego Garcia) into a parking lot (for American bombers)."
- Shortly before the American attack on Iraq in1991, the right wing
Cambridge academic John Casey announced that the Western powers could
now do
what they like in the Third World. (Page 39).
- In the first year of the U.K. Labour administration the
government
staged one of the biggest ever jamborees at Farnborough. Some 300 U.K.
arms
company mounted exhibitions under the auspices of Ministry of Defence.
The
British government invited buyers from more than ninety countries,
including
those on the Amnesty International's Torture List, such as Turkey,
Saudi
Arabia and Indonesia.
- Multinational corporations are not the equivalent of independent
sovereign states as some of the their opponents believe, They are shock
troops of the imperial powers the United States, Japan and Europe and
their
web of clubs, notably the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). These exist
to
‘open up' countries to ‘competitivemness a current euphemism for
downright
plunder.
-
The Osama bin Laden obsession!
A recent report in daily The Gazette of Montreal talks about a secret
tape,
which was made of a 90-minute interview, which took place between Mary
Mardal, a security screening officer with Canada's spy agency (Canadian
Security Intelligence Service – CSIS) and Fathi Mohammad Aowad, who
immigrated as a refugee in 1991. This tape was made at a Toronto area
immigration office by Aowads' legal counsel, Harry Kopyto. Some of the
questions asked and taped secretly during that interviews are:
- Do you have any idea where bin Laden would be right now? (After
asking
this question the CSIS agent hinted at the prospect of millions of
dollars of
award.).
- (Paraphrase of response): How can a construction worker know the
whereabouts of bin Laden when he did not leave Canada during the last
11
years?
- Legal counsel's justification for turning over to the news agencies
was
to let the public know " the assumptions government agencies make when
they
have to deal with immigrants of Muslim or Arab origin.
This writer can believe this news item particularly because more than 5
years
ago (much before the September 11, 2001, suicide attacks on Pentagon
and the
WTC), when he was advised by one of the CSIS operatives to not to write
for
the New Trend, which was a hate magazine but instead continue writing
for
Nightshift, the McGill University's continuing education students
newspaper,
which incidentally this writer also edits). It is true that democracy
and
freedom of expression have their limits!
Ottawa Citizen is a pro-Israel daily, which comes out of the Canadian
capital
city and is owned by Israel Asper, the Zionist owner of CanWest Global
media
conglomerate. Its February 25, 2002, editorial is reproduced below,
without
comments:
"Some time this week a United Nations committee is expected to give the
green
light to holding a review conference on last year's global meeting on
racism.
Review conference? The reviews are already in: the World Conference
Against
Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held
in
Durban, South Africa, last September was ridiculous. Anti-Israel
rhetoric
flared; nations with tradition of tolerance were attacked. Africa
wanted
reparations for slavery.
Had the Durban conference been about racism, reviewing it might be
useful.
But it was forum for intolerance and idiocy. Let it die."
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2002-04-06 Sat 08:08ct