/* */

PDA

View Full Version : UK No Longer Honest Peace Broker: Experts



sonz
03-16-2006, 08:22 AM
LONDON, March 15, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Britain can no longer be considered as an honest peace broker in the eyes of the Palestinians and has suffered a serious blow to its shaky reputation among Arabs by pulling monitors out of the Jericho prison before an Israeli siege, bolstering perceptions of collusion, analysts said Wednesday, March 15.

"In Palestinian eyes we can no longer be considered an honest broker," Alastair Crooke, a former British intelligence officer, told Britain's the Times newspaper.

"The essence of the agreement was the protection of the Palestinians and the understanding that they would not end up in Israeli hands," he said referring to the Jericho agreement which saw six Palestinian prisoners, accused of being involved in the assassination of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, placed under foreign watch in the West Bank town of Jericho.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Tuesday denied colluding with Israel over the withdrawal from Jericho Prison, instead citing safety fears and insufficient guarantees from the Palestinian Authority to ensure security.

But like many Palestinians, who viewed with suspicion the rapid Israeli assault after the monitors' withdrawal, British-based Middle East analysts considered it far-fetched that Tel Aviv had not been tipped off in advance.

US and UK officials have unveiled a letter they sent on March 8 to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatening to withdraw their monitors "unless security was improved."

Two Palestinian security guards were killed and 26 others wounded, five of them critically, in the Israeli assault of the Jericho jail in a bid to capture the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Saadat, four other PFLP members and Fatah member Fuad Shubaki.

The PFLP claimed the assassination of Zeevi, saying it was to avenge the assassination of Saadat's predecessor in October 2001.

Saadat surrendered to the occupation troops after the day-long siege, which began just minutes after British and US monitors at the jail withdrew.

Support for Occupation

"It's betrayal, it's almost confirmation of collusion with the Israelis," said Shehadi.

Nadim Shehadi, from London-based foreign policy think-tank Chatham House, agreed that the British stand reflected London's unquestionable support for the Israeli occupation.

"It's betrayal, it's almost confirmation of collusion with the Israelis. We don't know all the details, but you don't withdraw from a prison and the Israelis come in half-an-hour later," Shehadi told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The British government seemed unaware of the effect on the ground of its actions, which "confirmed" its support for the Israeli occupation, he added.

"When a government is being formed, when the international community is giving hostile signals to the whole Palestinian people, it's almost like a punishment for having elections," he said, referring to the landslide win of Hamas in the January 25 parliamentary elections.

Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), said: "The reputation of Britain in the Arab world is at an all-time low."

"This severely undermines the British national interest. Whatever the truth of the situation is, to most Arabs it looks like Britain has been complicit in a Suez-like pact to facilitate an Israeli attack on Jericho," he said, referring to the British role in the 1956 tripartite aggression on Egypt.

Doyle called for Straw to give full details of the security risks to monitors and explain why he did not make any statements expressing concern before Tuesday.

Incoherent Policy

"They're not exactly following the Americans but what the Americans are doing is the determinant of what the British do," said Hollis.

Rosemary Hollis, also from Chatham House's Middle East Program, believes that perception has been reinforced by events in Jericho and highlighted Britain's lack of coherent policy towards the region.

Hollis said events in Jericho confirmed that Britain was "number two" to the Americans, "constantly calculating" what Washington's policy might be.

"They're not exactly following the Americans but what the Americans are doing is the determinant of what the British do. It doesn't matter what kind of (expert) analysis we all come up with on the likely effect on the ground," she told AFP.

"The policy is not being made with the effects on the ground as the first consideration, which is alarming."

Britain's influence in the Middle East has already suffered for its military backing of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

At home, critics have accused Blair of slavishly doing President George W. Bush's bidding.

That lack of strategy was highlighted in a damning open letter by 52 senior former British diplomats to Blair in 2004 in which they said they viewed his policies to the Arab-Israeli situation and Iraq with "deepening concern".

For Laleh Khalili, lecturer in Middle East politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, Britain has to build bridges to repair the damage.

"Britain is going to have to make some gestures independent of the US towards the Palestinian Authority to restore some faith in the UK government," she told AFP.
Reply

Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.

When you create an account, you can participate in the discussions and share your thoughts. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and make new friends.
Sign Up

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 6
    Last Post: 01-13-2015, 10:12 PM
  2. Replies: 0
    Last Post: 05-01-2010, 06:20 PM
  3. Replies: 13
    Last Post: 10-21-2007, 04:23 PM
  4. Replies: 9
    Last Post: 10-17-2007, 04:38 PM
  5. Replies: 11
    Last Post: 02-23-2006, 05:26 PM
British Wholesales - Certified Wholesale Linen & Towels | Holiday in the Maldives

IslamicBoard

Experience a richer experience on our mobile app!