On the occasion of your passage in London, to meet with Prime Minister Blair on the way to several Middle Eastern capitals, I wish to draw your attention that for Arab officials and public opinions the unfinished business of international diplomacy is the Arab-Israeli peace process. Ignoring this fact will mean that you are, Mr. Vice President, heading towards multiple double monologues that will deepen the misunderstanding and the mistrust.
London March 11, 2002
Mr. Dick Cheney
Vice President
U.S.A
Dear Vice President,
On the occasion of your passage in London, to meet with Prime Minister Blair on the way to several Middle Eastern capitals, I wish to draw your attention that for Arab officials and public opinions the unfinished business of international diplomacy is the Arab-Israeli peace process. Ignoring this fact will mean that you are, Mr. Vice President, heading towards multiple double monologues that will deepen the misunderstanding and the mistrust.
The Arab world has no ideological dispute with the U.S.A. At the worst moments of perceived American alignment on the Israeli policies and preferences, we kept having great expectations.
Our belief is that there are two Americas, two political cultures, two historical memories. There is the America of the early settlers who, on discovering the New World, clashed with the indigenous population and almost totally exterminated them. The America that established slavery and had an elastic conception of its frontiers expanding shamelessly at the expense of Mexico. This is the America that Ariel Sharon always seeks an alliance with. When “the shared values” are invoked, it is in this national experience that the common traditions are deeply rooted. But there is another America. The America of the War of Independence against the colonial power. The America which took the painful decision to undergo a Civil War to abolish slavery. The America of Woodrow Wilson which came the Versailles conference upholding the principle of Self Determination. The America of the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King’s dream. It is this America that we Palestinians appeal to and seek an alliance with.
Mr. Vice President, these two Americas do not coincide with Democratic America and Republican America. The two historical memories cross this political divide. George Bush Junior ran for Presidency as a compassionate conservative. In our unipolar international system, if compassion were to be the guiding compass for American foreign policy, the world would be a better place to live in.
During your visit to the area, I sincerely hope you would listen to the Palestinian cry for freedom out of captivity and bondage. Today the situation can be described as follows: Israel cannot terminate the Intifada and the Intifada cannot, by itself, end the occupation. Hence, to bypass the deadly impasse, the need for a credible and decisive diplomatic initiative.
The Saudi initiative offers a historical window of opportunity. American diplomacy should not allow it to stagnate and whither away in talks about talks, in negotiations of pre-negotiations and in pre-negotiations of negotiations. Mr. Vice President, if the political willingness were there, a territory that was occupied in 1967 in less than 6 days, that territory can also be evacuated in less than 6 days so that the Israelis can rest on the 7th and we could start our fascinating journey in nation-building and economic reconstruction. This will not be the end of History but rather “the end of Pre-History”.
Yours Sincerely
Afif Emile Safieh
Palestinian General Delegate to the
United Kingdom and to the Holy See
