Trust in U.S?
Sir: John Simpson's even-handed report on the Madrid conference ('Macheath at the peace talks', 9 November) brings to mind the old Arab expectation that one day American arm-twisting will force Israel to relinquish the West Bank and Gaza and thus enable the Palestinians to set up a
LETTERS
sovereign PLO state.
The recent volte-face of the Bush Administration represents a step in that direction.There is nothing surprising about this. After the second world war, the Unit- ed States' relations with its smaller support- ers has not been a happy one. The interna- tional scene is littered with the victims of American let-downs: remember the anti- Castro Cubans at the Bay of Pigs, the South Vietnamese, the Shah's regime, the Chris- tians in Lebanon and, more recently, the Shiahs and the Kurds in Iraq — just to give a few examples. Paradoxically, the foes of the United States have sometimes fared better than their lesser allies: e.g., the support for the collapsing Soviet empire, the recent sympa- thy for the Palestinians, the Syrians, etc. This somewhat perverse approach to for- eign affairs can have strange consequences. For instance, consider President Bush's recent misjudged speech before the inde- pendence-minded Ukrainian parliament When he urged the flabbergasted assembly not to rock the Soviet empire!
I predict that, during the coming months, the purveyors of fig-leaves and the fudge merchants will be working overtime, but in the end a sovereign Palestinian state will remain as elusive as it is now. It may well be that, when all is said and done, the Pales- tinians will settle for a measure of autono- my on the model of the Italian region of South Tyrol.
But, should the PLO not accept the com- promise on offer, the situation is liable to get much worse than it is at present. It is understandable that, now, the politicians and the media should concentrate on the Promising aspects of the preliminary discus- sions but it is irresponsible not to warn against the consequences of failure. The world is full of disappointed nationalists from the Punjab to Sri Lanka, from the Kurdish lands to Macedonia. Not every- body who thirsts for independence can achieve it. There is no such thing as a sovereignty imperative.
Lionel Bloch 9 Wimpole Street, London W1
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