"Road to Jerusalem Is Through Baghdad" was the title of an article that appeared in the Features section of Arab News, a English-language Saudi Arabian publication, at the start of the current American-led campaign against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The author, Abdul Rahman al-Rashid, recalled for readers, "We laughed when Baghdad announced - on the day it launched its border war with Iran - that the road to Jerusalem passed through Tehran. Later, when he marched his troops south, Saddam said the road to Jerusalem passed through Kuwait." However, al-Rashid wrote, "the road to Jerusalem may indeed lie through Baghdad."
According to the Arab News article, "the American administration has borrowed [Saddam's] idea, confirming that the road to Jerusalem is through Baghdad and vowing that it will return to the Palestinian issue after the war. Washington is very capable of keeping its promise if it wants to end the conflict and impose the creation of a Palestinian state. We hope the war won't last long, and we hope America stands by its promise." America, wrote al-Rashid, is the only country that could "impose peace on the Middle East, end the Israeli occupation of the land of three Arab States and announce an independent Palestinian State."
The writer of the Arab News piece analyzed the Americans policy on Israel, and reached the conclusion that "Palestinians are wrong to think the American promises are worthless. They have a real chance that they must not let slip away." The reason for that, al-Rashid said, is that "Americans have witnessed a series of events, among them the abortive peace process, Israel's inability to continue the occupation without exacting a high price, and the awakening of the world - similar to its awakening to apartheid in South Africa - to the necessity of righting evident wrongs. All these may push Washington toward a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict and, more specifically, the creation of a Palestinian state."
Al-Rashid's advice to the Arab leadership in the Palestinian Authority is to capitalize on the fact that, in his view, "[t]he Palestinian stand today is as strong as that of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Iran.... Palestinians are the main players in moving the region by virtue of their case and its overlap with the region's other issues, including Iraq." With this in mind, "the Palestinians... must not be sluggish," the Saudi article continued, "If they do, they alone will be to blame. The road map is another chance to bargain. All the Palestinians need to do is test the new American resolve and demand that the promises be implemented."
In a pithy turn of phrase, al-Rashid wrote, "While the Palestinian issue will not change the course of war or its aftermath, the war may yet change the Palestinian situation."
According to the Arab News article, "the American administration has borrowed [Saddam's] idea, confirming that the road to Jerusalem is through Baghdad and vowing that it will return to the Palestinian issue after the war. Washington is very capable of keeping its promise if it wants to end the conflict and impose the creation of a Palestinian state. We hope the war won't last long, and we hope America stands by its promise." America, wrote al-Rashid, is the only country that could "impose peace on the Middle East, end the Israeli occupation of the land of three Arab States and announce an independent Palestinian State."
The writer of the Arab News piece analyzed the Americans policy on Israel, and reached the conclusion that "Palestinians are wrong to think the American promises are worthless. They have a real chance that they must not let slip away." The reason for that, al-Rashid said, is that "Americans have witnessed a series of events, among them the abortive peace process, Israel's inability to continue the occupation without exacting a high price, and the awakening of the world - similar to its awakening to apartheid in South Africa - to the necessity of righting evident wrongs. All these may push Washington toward a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict and, more specifically, the creation of a Palestinian state."
Al-Rashid's advice to the Arab leadership in the Palestinian Authority is to capitalize on the fact that, in his view, "[t]he Palestinian stand today is as strong as that of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Iran.... Palestinians are the main players in moving the region by virtue of their case and its overlap with the region's other issues, including Iraq." With this in mind, "the Palestinians... must not be sluggish," the Saudi article continued, "If they do, they alone will be to blame. The road map is another chance to bargain. All the Palestinians need to do is test the new American resolve and demand that the promises be implemented."
In a pithy turn of phrase, al-Rashid wrote, "While the Palestinian issue will not change the course of war or its aftermath, the war may yet change the Palestinian situation."