‘Bushfour Promise’.. Blow To International Law

“Once again… This who owns not gave (something not his) to this who deserves (it) not. Bush handled the land and rights of the Palestinians as if they were his forefathers’, armed with his country’s position as the world’s superpower,” political analyst and IslamOnline.net political consultant, Mohamed Gamal Arafah wrote Thursday.

In his analysis entitled “Bushfour Promise.. New Challenge To Arab Leaders”, the Egyptian analyst recalled the infamous Balfour Promise.

Some 87 years ago, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, promised the Zionists a home in Palestine, with the “Balfour Declaration” of 1917.

The famous Arab saying was later introduced to the political dictionary, “That who owns not gave to that who deserves not”. The first being the British Balfour (as Britain did not own Palestine), the latter are the Zionist group as it definitely did not deserve expelling a people to take over their land.

The same message – Bushfour – was reiterated by the chief of Egypt’s mass circulation and state-run daily al-Ahram, Ibrahim Nafie, who also likened Bush’s guarantees to Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon to the infamous Promise of 1917.

All Arabic papers and magazines grilled Bush’s flagrant bias to Israel that brought up tragic memories and reminded the world of the catastrophe of the Palestinian people both under occupation and in diaspora.

French President Jacques Chirac branded the Sharon plan, endorsed by Bush, as “dangerous” and setting up a “troubling precedent”.

"For the borders, I consider that international law must be respected. I have reservations about any unilateral or bilateral undermining of international law," Chirac said.

"If circumstances or men start playing with international stability and the rules of international law, it is a troubling precedent," Chirac said. "It’s dangerous."

“Legitimizing Terrorism”

Launching a staunch attack against Bush’s guarantees to Sharon, British famous writer Robert Fisk entitled his Friday article in The Independent saying, “By endorsing Ariel Sharon’s plan, George has legitimized terrorism”.

“What better recruiting sergeant could Bin Laden have than the President of the United States?”

“So President George Bush tears up the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan and that’s okay. Israeli settlements for Jews and Jews only on the West Bank. That’s okay. Taking land from Palestinians who have owned that land for generations, that’s okay. U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 says that land cannot be acquired by war. Forget it. That’s okay,” Fisk wrote.

British dailies, however, focused more on what is seen as “humiliation and defeat” to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Entitled “Sharon’s triumph is Blair’s defeat”, an article published by The Guardian, that is summed up, “By backing Israel’s land grab, Bush has humiliated the Prime Minister”.