The show goes on … and on is the title of an article about the upcoming Annapolis conference to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was written by an astute observer of the Middle East, Ali Abunimah, and published on The Electronic Intifada on Oct 17, 2007. The title speaks for itself.
The “Middle East Peace Process” is like one of those big budget Broadway extravaganzas; they go on for years, but with each revival the cast changes. What may seem like a tired production to some nevertheless manages to remain fresh to the gullible throngs willing to hand over the price of admission.
Unlike a few hours of theatrical escapism, however, the producers of the Middle East Peace Process hope that the audience will actually believe that what they are viewing on stage, whether performed in Madrid, Oslo, London, Washington or Sharm al-Sheikh is real-life and even has the potential to end the conflict caused by a century of western-supported Zionist colonization in Palestine.
In the latest revival, Condoleezza Rice plays the US secretary of state determined to bring the long-running conflict to a close with skillful diplomacy designed to put in place a “process” eventually leading to a two-state solution. George Bush, tired of being typecast as a warmonger, tries on the role of lame-duck president who spent years enabling Israeli colonization, but who, with an eye on his legacy, is now committed to peacefully ending the conflict once and for all.
As I don’t have permission to republish the article beyond fair use allowance, the remainder may be read here, at the Electronic Intifada.
What Abunimah goes on to say is known by anyone familiar with Israeli government duplicity: talk of peace (from whatever party is in power, Likud, Kadima, or Labor), while its actions in the West Bank and Gaza reflect just the opposite. As during Oslo and the Camp David/Taba talks, Israel will continue its military occupation, while further colonizing Palestinian lands to reinforce its “settlements,” a euphemism for the more than 200 Israeli only towns and cities built in the West Bank since 1967.
Abunimah reviews the new characters in this restaged revival of an old script and tells us why, if the Annapolis conference ever takes place, it is doomed to fail. It takes two to tango and Israel is just not in the mood, just as it was not in the mood at Madrid, Oslo, London, Washington, Sharm al-Sheikh, Camp David/Taba, or when offers from the Arab League for a just two-state solution in return for peace were made in 2002 and 2006. The Greater Israel dream of an Israel from the Jordan River to the sea continues to preoccupy successive Israeli governments.
There is also no doubt that if the conference does take place, its failure will be spun in a manner to place blame again on the Palestinians for not accepting another “generous offer.” This is always the last act before the curtain comes down and we are left waiting for the next group of characters to replay this worn out deceptive drama.
