Middle East and Domino Theory

The face of the Arab-Israeli conflict has reached new heights of absurdity at the close of 1989. Everyone gets to submit their very own peace proposal by which the Palestinians are to abide. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir rejects negotiating with the PLO (the sole representative of the Palestinian people) which he indefatigably maintains is a “terrorist organization.” Shamir’s sham election plan is all but defunct, but no matter since the Israeli government in the end decides which Palestinians it will negotiate with. Meantime, the Israeli police offered a huge crowd of Israeli, European, American and Palestinian demonstrators a taste of the daily fare endured by Palestinians. As the demonstrators marched for peace, the police shot into the crowd, beat them with clubs and sprayed them with tear gas.

As an outsider looking in, it appears that Shamir and his Likud cronies, in their struggle for supremacy, seek to undermine all reason and balance offered by the Labor party in finding a resolution to this conflict. Shamir is making a mockery of the democratic process and through his actions and position, he is debasing the very meaning of peace. Of course, human life as it continues to perish in the occupied territories bears little significance.

LYCETTE IRVING

Los Angeles