The Emperor's Clothes

Everybody praised this fine speech. Prime Minister A. lauded the style, President B. commended the fabric,Sheik C. admired the collar. And I saw only a naked emperor.

Everynody knew, of course, that it was a stupid speech, perhaps the most silly ever uttered by an Americanpresident. But who will confront the leader of the world's sole superpower? Who will bring upon himself thewrath of a man that possesses such frightening power, while voicing such inanities?

A 12-year old would have been ashamed of presenting such a composition to his teacher. The assumptions arebaseless, the general picture resembles a caricature, the conclusions are ridiculous and the parts contradicteach other.

It says that the Palestinians must chose their leader in a free, democratic election, but that they areforbidden to elect a leader not approved by Sharon and Bush.

They must establish a democratic, liberal, pluralistic and multi-party system, including separation ofpowers, independent courts and transparent finances. For that purpose they are commanded to accept theassistance of America's allies in the Middle East: democratic Saudi Arabia, pluralistic Egypt and liberalJordan. Financial transparency like in Riyadh, separation of powers like in Cairo, independent courts like inAmman.

The establishment of this ideal system is a precondition to any peace negotiations. In Europe, such asystem was achieved after a struggle of hundreds of years. In the Arab world, it does not exist anywhere.Arafat is the only Arab chief of state who was chosen in free elections, under close internationalsupervision, personally overseen by ex-President Jimmy Carter.

In Bush's crooked mirror, terrorism antedates the occupation. Indeed, he did not mention the occupation atall in this context. There is nothing but terrorism. In his limited world-view, terrorism is the sum ofeverything: In the beginning God created the War on Terrorism, and the whole world revolves around it.Terrorism, like Satan, exists since the creation, it is not the result of anything, it has its own independentexistence. And, much as a devout Christian is commanded to fight Satan every moment in his life on earth, somust every human being fight terrorism and will be judged accordingly by the divine judge, Bush.

And what i s terrorism? Terrorism is what the enemies of the USA are doing. Friends of the USA cannot, ofcourse, do such a thing. In Turkey, for example, it is the Kurds who are the terrorists, while the Turkisharmy is a humanitarian outfit. Good friend Putin does not commit acts of terrorism, his deeds in Grozni arenearly as charitable as those of Sharon in Jenin.

But Artafat is a terrorist. He is also corrupt, also a dictator. This needs no proof. Sharon says so, andSharon is beyond reproach. Arafat has to be eliminated, removed from office, expulsed, murdered. (Bush, ofcourse, does not speak of murder, but not so long ago the decree forbidding American agencies to kill foreignleaders was rescinded. Actually, in this instance their involvement is not needed, the slightest hint willsuffice for Sharon to execute the deed at once.)

What will happen after Arafat's removal-expulsion-murder? According to Bush, it's quite simple:reform-minded Palestinians will come forward, take some Palestinian professor from Harvard or Oxford aspresident and create the Palestinian Switzerland.

Bush, of course, does not imagine that something very different is going to happen. The man after Arafatwill have to show that he is no Mossad or CIA stooge, therefore he will have to be more extreme than Arafat.In order to avoid being executed as a traitor within 24 hours, he will have to create an alliance with Hamas,.In the coming elections, the candidate of the "National and Islamic Forces" will surely win.

That's the best-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, there will not be an alternative leadership atall. Palestinian society will break up into hundreds of shreds, each of which will commit suicide bombings inthe occupied territories, Israel, throughout the Middle East and the world. Chaos will reign supreme. This iswhat Sharon really desires, because it will enable him to carry out ethnic cleansing and annex the Palestinianterritories, fulfilling his dream of at least 50 years.

The good Bush certainly does not want this, but since he has become the squire of Sharon, a kind ofAmerican Sancho Panza to the Israeli Don Quixote, it's what the Don says that counts.

After the speech, I met with a senior European diplomat. "Well, it may not be the most brilliantdiscourse we ever heard," he said with a slight, ironic smile, "But it's what we have got. It wouldnot be wise to confront Bush head on, that would only cause him to become obstinate."

If so, what can be done? The ironic smile did not leave his lips. "European diplomacy has hundreds ofyears of experience. The clever thing to do is to pick from the speech one positive sentence and blow it up,ignoring the negative parts."

Europe will concentrate on the elections. These must be free, under close international supervision. Forthe elections to be free, candidates must be free to move. For parties to be formed and conduct theircampaigns, there must be freedom of speech and association. All this is impossible under occupation.Therefore, first of all, the occupation has to be removed from the Palestinians territories.

Under the Oslo agreements, the Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem enjoy the right of active and passivevote, and they, too, must be allowed to move and campaign freely.

Until the elections, the existing elected instituted, including the chairman of the authority, mustcontinue to function. Europe will continue to deal with him. Arafat, of course, like any other citizen, hasthe right to present his candidacy – and, if chosen in a free election, the world (led by Europe) willrecognize him. Nobody doubts that he will indeed be elected by a massive majority.

So, after all, a golden thread can be found in the emperor's clothes. Attention: Hans Christian Anderson.