Is a new Intifada coming?

President Bush's rare public disagreement with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon over the latter's settlement expansion policy in the West Bank, was voiced during their joint press conference in Texas on 11 April, is unlikely to translate into genuine steps towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Indeed, Sharon himself, while sycophantically reiterating in Bush's presence his commitment to the internationally-backed roadmap (but without mentioning his notorious 14 reservations), left no doubt as to his true intentions. Sharon, while vowing to annex Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank to Israel in the context of any final status settlement with the Palestinians, continued to evoke the stale issue of "Palestinian terror".

The Israeli and American media quoted Sharon as saying that Israel wouldn't move to carry out its commitments under the "roadmap" unless the Palestinian Authority (PA), which he had described as "weak" and "collapsing", moved decisively to dismantle the "terror infrastructure".

Sharon's remarks should be viewed as no more than cheap distractions. To begin with, it is Israel, not the Palestinians, that indulges in daily acts of terror that brazenly violate the Sharm El-Sheikh understandings of 9 February. On 9 April, trigger-happy Israeli occupation soldiers manning an army watchtower in Rafah at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip murdered in cold blood three Palestinian children who were playing soccer in the vicinity of their homes.

Initially, the Israeli army spokesman sought to justify the murder, claiming that the "the three terrorists were armed smugglers." A few hours later, when eyewitness and third-party testimonies left no doubt as to the cold-blooded nature of the killings, the Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz telephoned PA Minister of Interior Nasr Youssef offering a tacit apology and asking him to ensure that the incident remain localised and not be allowed to wreck the present calm.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas described the killing as an open violation of the Sharm El-Sheikh accords. Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas, responded to the Israeli provocation by firing dozens of mortar rounds onto nearby Gaza settlements. No Israeli settlers or soldiers were hurt as a result of the mortars, but the message was abundantly clear; namely that Palestinian groups are willing and ready to respond to Israeli violations, even if that entails re-igniting the Intifada.

The Rafah killings aptly reflect a certain trend towards escalation on Israel's part. The Israeli occupation army has markedly stepped up acts of repression and harassment in the West Bank, prompting the PA to warn Israel that Israeli actions -- including nearly daily incursions into Palestinian population centers and mass arrests of Palestinian activists -- corrode the ceasefire, rendering the efforts of the PA to co-opt groups like Hamas ever more difficult.

In the last few days, the Israeli army re-erected many of the roadblocks and checkpoints that were removed following the Sharm El-Sheikh summit in February. This means, in short, that more Palestinians are now mistreated, beaten and humiliated by the Israeli army, a fact that is sure to generate further anger and bitterness among ordinary Palestinians.

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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/738/re1.htm