Commentary by Salvador Astucia, June 19, 2002

I have four words of advice for President George W. Bush: Don’t be a WIMP! You’re acting just like your father. Be bold about setting up a Palestinian state. The time for peace talks is over. Just take the land by force and give it back to the Palestinians. If Sharon objects, he can shove a bagel up is nose.

The Washington Post reported today that President Bush plans to propose the establishment of a Palestinian state with PROVISIONAL boundaries, but negotiations over permanent borders will be completed in three years. What this means is Bush plans to give lip service to the "concept" of a Palestinian state, but he never intends to implement it. President Clinton played the same political con game with health care reform and lifting the ban on gays in the military. He never intended to do either, but he got a lot of credit for "trying." In fact, he had full executive power to implement the latter but he chose to break a campaign promise in a cynical manner that garnered much support among the nation’s gay community. I do not support open homosexuality in the military per se, but if a politician makes a campaign promise to do something that is fully within his power to do, then he should do it as a matter of honor. Clinton did not. And Bush undoubtedly will not keep his commitment to establish a Palestinian state as well. When it comes to honor, Clinton and Bush are identical. It is not part of their vocabulary. A couple of things point to Bush’s cynicism regarding establishing a Palestinian state.

Firstly, for some reason the Bush administration feels the need to include Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the discussions. Anyone with any knowledge of Israeli politics understands that this portly butcher will do everything in his power to sabotage all efforts to establish a Palestinian state. Apparently that is what Bush wants. But he can still score political brownie points for at least trying to make peace in the Middle East. Been there done it. Obviously Bush believes Americans are idiots.

Secondly, according to the Washington Post, Secretary of State Colin Powell has argued that the United Nations has an obligation to safeguard Israel’s security, but a timetable for implementing a Palestinian state is essential in order to discourage the Palestinian people from supporting further acts of violence against Israeli citizens. Let’s back up a moment. The United Nations does NOT have any obligation whatsoever to safeguard Israel’s security. No country on the globe has been more brazen about openly violating international peace treaties and UN resolutions than Israel. In short Israel has made the United Nations the laughing stock of the civilized world. Prime examples are UN Resolutions 242 and 338 where Israel was directed by international law to give back the land that it stole during the Six Day War in June 1967. Nothing would help the United Nations’ image more than the total destruction of Israel and the elimination of its criminal supporters from the planet. So Powell is being disingenuous when he claims that the United Nations has an obligation to safeguard Israel’s security. Boloney! Nothing could be further from the truth.

If President Bush was sincere about declaring war on any nation that harbors terrorists, he would have to start bombing Israel immediately. No nation on earth embraces terrorism more than this little pip-squeak country that hides under the banner of religion to mask its true totalitarian colors.

Bush has obviously not learned the lessons of history. The only way to deal with Israel is through aggression, not diplomacy. He must decide who his friends are and who his enemies are and forget about provisional boundaries and negotiations with Sharon. The only way to establish a Palestinian state is to take the land by force and do it TOMMORROW, not in three years.ª