Category: News

ARMENIAN CLERGYMAN DISAPPEARED IN RUSSIA
A1 Plus
15-10-2004
On October 10 Deacon Zorik Abeshyan of Saint Grigor Lusavoritch
Church of Vladikavkaz disappeared on his way to the church. The
law-enforcement bodies carry out investigation to find Deacon
Zorik. There is no information about the accident for the time being.
Catholicos of all the Armenians has been informed about the case. He
is in continual contact with Bishop Movses Movsisyan, leader of South
Russia Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church.

Ukraine offers mediation between Azerbaijan, Armenia
Interfax-Ukraine news agency
14 Oct 04
Kiev, 14 October: Ukraine is ready to take part in efforts to settle
the conflict in Nagornyy Karabakh [dispute between Azerbaijan and
Armenia], Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko has said.
Ukraine is interested to see conflicts located close to its borders
being settled as soon as possible, he told journalists in Kiev today
after a meeting with Azeri Prime Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
Ukraine would like to see more effort by the international community
and the involvement of all main international players, so that the
talks between the two conflicting sides will find support not only on
the level of experts but also on the level of leaders of the states
and organizations which can influence the process, Hryshchenko said.
“We are ready to join these efforts and we are ready to join the
form of a settlement which will probably require the participation
of Russia or the UN, as it is done in other regions of the world,”
Hryshchenko said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIA SELECTED ONE OF NINE PILOT COUNTRIES FOR UNIDO-WTO ENHANCED COOPERATION
ArmenPress
Oct 14 2004
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 14, ARMENPRESS: The UN Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO), UN Development Program (UNDP), World Trade
Organization (WTO) and the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development
of Armenia held a joint seminar today to begin implementation of the
Doha Development Agenda. Seminar participants included senior officials
from the Government, donor community, international organizations,
business associations, as well as experts.
A press release from UNDP said the main aims of the Doha Development
Agenda, which was agreed in December 2001 by WTO members, are
to ensure that trade and industrial development enhance economic
development and to assist the integration of the developing countries
and transition economies into the global economy and the multilateral
trading system. In order to facilitate implementation of the Doha
Agenda, UNIDO and WTO will implement pilot activities in an initial
group of nine countries, including Armenia. The initial group also
includes Bolivia, Cambodia, Cuba, Egypt, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya and
Mauritania. The aim of these pilot activities is to identify priority
sectors and products with high and strategic export potential;
address trade capacity weaknesses including supply-side constraints,
lack of conformity to market requirements and standards; and support
the implementation of multilateral trade agreements.
Mr. Alexander Avanessov, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, noted:
“The fact that Armenia has become a member of the WTO indicates the
great progress made by the country since independence. The pilot
activities that are being launched by UNIDO and WTO at this seminar,
in combination with initiatives from UNDP and other donors, will
assist countries like Armenia to integrate further into the global
economy and multilateral trading systems.”
Armenia officially became the 145th member of the WTO on February
5, 2003. The country’s main trading partners include the European
Union (EU), Russia, USA, Iran and Georgia. A recent survey within
the business community on external trade and which was presented at
the seminar indicates that certification and standardization have
had a serious impact on external trade. Local companies involved
in the survey identified a number of obstacles to trade, including:
corruption in customs and taxes; complicated and fragmented tax and
customs legislation; and lack of cooperation between the customs and
tax administration bodies. Sixty-three percent of the respondents said
that they had lost export orders due to technical barriers to trade.

Another Attack On Journalists Reported In Armenia
By Armine Geghamian 14/10/2004 10:44
Radio Free Europe, Czech republic
Oct 14 2004
The editor of an independent newspaper in southeastern Armenia said on
Wednesday that a group of local loyalists of Prime Minister Andranik
Markarian attacked him and ransacked his office after it ran articles
questioning government policies.
Samvel Aleksanian of the “Syuniats Yerkir” weekly based in Kapan,
the administrative center of the Syunik region, said the attack was
carried out in the morning by three young men led by the head of the
local branch of Markarian’s Republican Party (HHK). He claimed that
they hit and injured him with wooden clubs. “Right after that they
told me that the newspaper must not write anything about the country’s
prime minister and the Syunik governor anymore,” Aleksanian told RFE/RL
from Kapan. “Otherwise, they said, the newspaper offices and car would
be burned down. As they left they shouted more threats and insults.
“I replied that the newspaper will now be more consistent in its
work. From now on, we will provide an even better coverage of issues
which they don’t want to be highlighted.”
The editor appealed to President Robert Kocharian and Armenian
law-enforcement agencies to investigate the incident. “If they
don’t punish those thugs we will be forced to take measures for
self-defense,” he said
An officer at the Syunik police headquarters told RFE/RL that they
have already launched an investigation. According to Aleksanian, the
police found and returned to the newspaper a mobile phone stolen by
the attackers. It was not clear if anyone was detained or questioned
in the process, however.
In Yerevan, meanwhile, Markarian said he is not aware of the reported
incident. “I hear about that for the first time. I will try to
clear things up,” he said. “In any case, I consider the beating of
journalists inadmissible.”
At issue, according to Kapan journalists, is an article in a September
issue of “Syuniats Yerkir” that questioned government motives for the
recent closure of two regional secondary schools as part of massive
nationwide lay-offs of teachers.
“We directed that question to the country’s prime minister and
education minister,” Aleksanian said. He added that the local
authorities responded on September 28 by evicting the newspaper staff
from offices which they rented in the Kapan building that houses the
regional administration. But the paper again addressed the issue in
its next edition, he said.
Syunik’s governor, Surik Khachatrian, has close ties with the HHK. He
was based in the regional town of Goris before his appointment by
the central government last March. Goris and the surrounding villages
have long been considered a de facto fiefdom of Khachatrian and his
extended family.
The “Syuniats Yerkir” editor said Khachatrian, better known with his
“Liska” nickname, and other regional officials are extremely intolerant
of dissent. “They think that there must be no other opinion in the
Syunik region,” he said. “You are not supposed to question anything.”
The reported violence in Kapan is the latest in a series of attacks
on Armenian journalists which have raised domestic and international
concerns about the state of press freedom in Armenia. It came just
two days after a court in another part of the country sentenced to
six months a man who reportedly beat up a photojournalist for taking
pictures of expensive houses belonging to senior government officials.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +3741. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +3741. .562543
Email: [email protected]:
PRESS RELEASE
14 October 2004
Minister Oskanian receives the assistant to US Secretary of State Laura
Kennedy
On 14 October Minister Oskanian received the assistant to US Secretary
of State, Laura Kennedy.
During the meeting the two sides exchanged views on bilateral and
urgent international issues of mutual interest. Touching the nature of
the Armenian-American relations, the sides stated with satisfaction
that they are characterized by dynamic progress and high level of
certainty.
The sides paid great attention to the economic constituent of the
Armenian-American relations. They discussed the results of the 9th
meeting of the Armenian-American working group of Economic cooperation,
which recently took place in Washington.
During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on the current
status of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict settlement, Armenia -Turkey
relations, as well as several other issues on the international agenda.
Minister Oskanian expressed his concern regarding the policy of
blockade carried out by Turkey and stressed that such a policy is
inconsistent with current regional developments.
Laura Kennedy is a Minister-Councellor in the Foreign Service of
the USA. Since June, she has been appointed assistant to the US
Secretary of State. In 1992, she was Charge d’Affaires of the newly
opened US embassy in Armenia. In 2001, she was the US ambassador
in Turkmenistan.

ARMENIAN CLERGYMEN OF IRAQ CALL ON REFRAINING FROM SENDING A SQUAD
Azg/am
15 Oct 04
Archbishop Avag Asaturian, pastor of the Armenian community of Iraq,
called on the President of Armenia and National Assembly to desist
from sending any kind of squads to Iraq, Armenian Mirror Spectator
informs in October 9 article.
“Armenian establishments will become targets terrorist attacks”,
archbishop explains. “We fear that they will attack our churches,
kidnap our children”, clergyman Narek Ishkhanian says.
“We read in the newspapers that Armenian government sends not a squad
but a group of deminers, doctors and drivers, but that’s all the same
for the Arabs who say that friendly Armenia is joining the occupants”,
he says. According to him, 35 pupils of Armenian schools have changed
their national schools for foreign ones to avoid possible attacks in
case the Armenian group arrives in Iraq.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
Oct 15 2004
FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH POLISH DELEGATION
[October 14, 2004, 17:32:51]
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov met with
delegation of Poland led by deputy Foreign Minister of the country
Anzei Zalutski. Minister Mammadyarov noted that historical ties
between the two countries are now also being developed in political,
economic, military spheres, as well as in science and education. He
expressed hope as well that as a member of European Union and NATO,
Poland would support Azerbaijan’s position at these organizations.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the country Anzei Zalutski highly valued
the opening of Azerbaijan Embassy in Warsaw noting it would give an
impetus to development of the Azerbaijan-Poland bilateral cooperation.
Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov informed the guests on the Armenia-Azerbaijan
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resulted in occupation by Armenian of 20%
of the Azerbaijani territories and over one million refugees and IDPs
from their native lands. He stressed the importance of the problem’s
resolution in the framework of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,
and appreciated the fair stance of Poland with this respect.
The sides also discussed a number of other issues of mutual interest.

Azer Tag, Azerbaijan
Oct 15 2004
24TH SITTING OF PABSEC COMMITTEE FOR LEGAL AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS
UNDERWAY IN BAKU
[October 14, 2004, 18:35:32]
The 24th sitting of Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Committee for Legal and Political Affairs began its work
in Baku. Participants of the event first visited 13 the Martyr’s
Alley and Eternal Fire memorial to revere the memory of the shehids
who died for independence and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
The sitting began with the Committee’s Chairman, head of the Bulgarian
delegation Borislav Palchev’s address. He thanked the government and
parliament of Azerbaijan for hospitality and announced the sitting’s
agenda, which includes role of parliaments in maintaining stability
and security in the Black Sea basin and economic development of
the region. The committee aims at preparing report for the General
Assembly and considering organization issues.
Then, Speaker of the Milli Majlis Murtuz Alasgarov took the floor. He
shared B. Palchev’v opinion on the present situation in the world
and PABSEC’s reaction to the ongoing developments.
Mr. Murtuz Alasgarov stressed the South Caucasus has all the conditions
for its rapid development. He pointed out that South Caucasus takes its
own place in the peace and security system of the European continent,
as it is the bridge connecting Europe and Asia. From this point
of view, restoration of the ancient Silk Road and implementation
of big energy projects acquire a paramount significance. However,
numerous armed conflicts and terrorist acts impede the development of
the South Caucasus. Murtuz Alasgarov told of the Armenia-Azerbaijan,
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani
lands and terrorist acts committed by Armenians in the territory
of Azerbaijan.
After adopting the report for the General Assembly, head of the
Albanian delegation Makbule Checho was assigned as a rapporteur at the
upcoming General Assembly to be held on November in Antalya, Turkey.

AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Oct 15 2004
VARDAN OSKANYAN DISTORTS NAGORNY KARABAKH – RELATED FACTS
[October 14, 2004, 20:23:54]
Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan
released a statement on October 14 to comment on the interview
concerning Nagorno-Karabakh settlement given by Armenian Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan in his usual manner to the county’s Public
Television.
The statement in particular says it was the Armenian Minister’s one
more attempt to mystify the Key West talks by citing to a certain
” the only way” allegedly agreed by both sides, and implying that
Karabakh will not be a part of Azerbaijan.
“The Azerbaijani side stated more than once, and today we once again
suggest Mt. Oskayan to find better application of his persistence and
stop playing Key West games; we hereby reaffirm that no agreements
were reached on the issues discussed in Key West, the statement says.
It is Armenia that demonstrates its “unique abilities” to violate
scot-free the agreements reached, the statement says, recalling the
dismissal of former Armenian President Ter-Petrosyan who had then
accepted the OSCE Co-chairs’ plan of step-by-step settlement of
the conflict, which implied in the first stage a withdrawal of the
Armenian armed forces form the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
“The Azerbaijani side also remember other phase of the peace process
when President Kocharyan okayed in principle the transfer of a part
of Armenia’s territory to Azerbaijan that resulted in fusillade in
the Armenian parliament,” the statement says.
It also stresses that the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh cannot a
subject of compromise, it is an integral part of the Azerbaijan
Republic, and that compromises are possible only in relation to the
status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan does not put forward any innovations; there is a rich
and useful European experience of self-government. A different
approach provokes dangerous tendencies, and the multinational South
Caucasus region is not the only one that can face their unpredictable
consequences, the statement concludes.

CounterPunch , CA
Oct 15 2004
Turning Myths into Truth
Fodder for the Mindless
By WILLIAM A. COOK
The lies used by the Bush administration to rally support for
its illegal actions in Iraq and Palestine have moved with glacial
slowness before the public. The reason, we have learned, exists in
the main stream media that controls news fed to the public. Alison
Weir, Executive Director of “If Americans Knew,” established, for
example, that 150% of Israeli children’s deaths (more than one story
on some) were the subject of front page articles and photos in the San
Francisco Chronicle while only 5% of Palestinian children’s deaths
made it to the front page. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting noted
that NPR reported on 89% of Israeli children’s deaths and only 20%
of Palestinian children’s deaths. These studies mirror the reality
for most American, corporate controlled media.
Recently, an Ariel Sharon advisor, Dov Weisglass, revealed to Ha’aretz
that the “ulterior motive behind Sharon’s unilateral decision to
withdraw from the Gaza strip” was not to further the peace process
but to “freeze it” in order to prevent “the establishment of a
Palestinian state.” Where did you read about this in America’s
main stream media? In another news article last month, Ha’aretz
editorialized that Israel is responsible for the terror that exists
in Palestine! That confession also went unnoticed in the US. The sin
of intentional omission more often than not creates the perceptions
we hold on issues of great significance. The elite powers that control
the message control what we think is true. Let me offer three examples
of intentional deception that fabricates a myth that becomes truth.
Ha’aretz, the Israeli newspaper not controlled by the right-wing
Zionists of
Sharon’s racist administration, editorialized a couple of weeks ago
on a matter of paramount concern to America, the cause of terrorism
in Israel and the mid-east, a matter not mentioned at either of our
national conventions, and unreported in the main stream press: “The
underlying basis of (this) terrorism lies in the territories. Nowhere
else. The main motivation for the war against us is the aspiration
to shake off the cruel yoke of the occupation. The checkpoints, the
humiliations, the suppression and the mass imprisonment are the true
infrastructure of terrorism.” This editorial exposes the truth about
terrorism in Israel and elsewhere in the mid-east and gives lie to the
myth that it is the Palestinians that have caused the terrorism that
afflicts that state. It denudes the fiction that Sharon perpetrates
and uses as a collar around Bush’s neck in order to lead him to accept
the state terrorism that he imposes on the Palestinians.
This editorial decries the blatant and unfounded accusations made by
the Chief of Staff, Moshe Ya’alon and the military that blames Syria
for the terrorism in Israel. “The attempt to cast responsibility on
Damascus is intended to avoid having to cope with the true causes of
terrorism,” Ha’aretz argues. “Colonial regimes have always accused
external sources of intervening in the liberation struggles waged
against them, in order to undermine the justice of the struggles,”
a point that America has to face in Iraq as it imposes its will on
a people that has no desire to be suppressed. The Ha’aretz editorial
blows open the whole charade that Israel and its American apologizers
use to defend its occupation and oppression, friends like AIPAC,
the now exposed conduit for American classified information to Sharon.
“Palestinian terrorism was not engendered in any external command
post. It had its birth among the rubble in the territories, in the
hearts of the children who saw their parents humiliated and their
lives trampled underfoot. Anyone who truly wants to put an end to
terrorism must fight the occupation. Any other war is pointless,” a
point that makes a mockery of AIPAC’s and Wolfowitz’ and Sharon’s push
to “change regimes” in Iran and Syria even as it bares the insidious
intent of their efforts. Deception destroys discernment of truth and
omission of any reference to this argument, made by a major newspaper
in Israel, can be nothing more than intentional deception.
Consider now a second myth that has prominence in America, one
defended by Israel’s most renowned apologist, Alan Dershowitz, in his
most recent book The Case for Israel. According to Dershowitz, “Jews
were a substantial majority in those areas of Palestine partitioned
by the United Nations for a Jewish state.” The official UN estimate
of the population of mandatory Palestine allocated to the Jewish
state, according to Dershowitz, although he provides no source
for his numbers, only the claim that they are authoritative, are
538,000 Jews and 397,000 Arabs. Interestingly, he does not question
the accuracy of the population numbers provided by this writer in
a CP article that appeared 4/6/03 (figures Dershowitz questions),
he simply changes the base of the argument and thus allows himself
to offer numbers that fit his argument.
What he does not provide, what he omits to record, are numbers based
on historical and archeological data collected in a huge tome that
identifies the populations of every village within the pre-1967
borders of Israel, titled appropriately, All That Remains, a work
edited by Walid Khalidi a distinguished historian and one time Senior
Fellow at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies. In this work,
Khalidi accounts for 418 towns and villages that were systematically
raised by the Jewish military, citing exact population statistics
for each location, statistics that appear as they did in the Mandate
Government’s 1945 Village Statistics. Each of these 418 towns and
villages had been in recorded existence since the 16th century
inhabited by an overwhelming Arab population.
The statistics tell the story. In excess of 390,000 inhabitants of
these towns and villages were forced to move in 1948, in addition
to an estimated 254,000 inhabitants of cities in the same areas
and 70,000 to 100,000 Beduins, a mobile population driven out by
the Jewish forces. Another 13,000 were killed in the battles that
took place in these areas. The total amounted to an estimated 54%
of the population in the areas that constituted the UN proposed land
to be given to the Jewish state. Khalidi’s accounted for population
of approximately 727,000 Arabs gives the lie to Dershowitz’ figures
even if one accepts his argument that the population of the proposed
Jewish state only should be the basis of determining that the creation
of it was justified.
But statistics do not tell the human side of this catastrophic
movement of people. These major urban areas–Acre, Beersheba, Baysan,
Lydda, Majdal, Nazareth, al-Rama–were emptied of their Palestinian
residents. “Their immovable assets–commercial centers, residential
quarters, schools, banks, hospitals, clinics, mosques, churches, and
other public buildings, parks and utilities, all passed en bloc into
the possession of the nascent State of Israel. Also appropriated intact
by Israelis were the personal moveable assets: furniture, silver,
pictures, carpets, libraries, and heirlooms–all the accoutrements
of middle-class life of the erstwhile Palestinian residents.”
In All That Remains, Khalidi provides two maps, divided by areas that
constitute the proposed Jewish state, with graphics that demonstrate
the population comparison between Palestinian and Jew. There are
8 areas that make up the proposed state: Safad, Tiberiae, Baysan,
Haifa, a large section of Tulkarm, Jaffa, a sizeable section of Al
Ramla, and Beersheba; a separate area designation is provided for
Jerusalem. Only in Jaffa did the Jewish population outnumber the Arab,
including Jerusalem which had an Arab population of 62% versus 38%
Jewish. One might note that Dershowitz mentions only that western
Jerusalem had a majority of Jews; how deceptive. He also notes that
Hebron, not designated as part of the proposed state, had a Jewish
population for thousands of years, a fact somewhat at odds with the
population statistics in 1946 when there were less than 1% Jews in
the area.
Hidden within the myth that Jews were the larger population in the
proposed Jewish state thus making legitimate their right to the land,
is another myth, more insidious than the first: Palestinians left
that area of their own accord or upon the demands of the Palestinian
authorities. This myth opens the door for innocent Israelis to claim
the deserted land for themselves. But according to Henry Siegman,
in a rebuttal letter in the New York Review of Books to Benny
Morris the Israeli historian who had questioned a Siegman article,
“The issue I addressed in my article is whether the mass exodus of
700,000 Palestinian Arabs from the areas in Palestine assigned to
the Jews was the consequence of the chaos of war or whether it was
‘planned’-the result of a deliberate decision by Jewish leaders to
expel Palestinian Arabs from these areasI noted in my article that in
the revised edition of Morris’s book, he writes that he had conclusive
evidence that there was indeed a deliberate decision by Ben Gurion
to expel–the term ‘cleanse’ is used extensively–700,000 Palestinian
Arabs. Their flight was therefore not the unintended collateral damage
of a war started by the Arabs but the result of decisions and actions
taken by the Yishuv’s top political and military planners.”
Siegman goes on to point out that Morris does not object to
the decision to “expel” Palestinians from their land because he
understands that a Jewish state could not exist in an area where
the Arab population outnumbered the Jews: “Without the uprooting of
the Palestinians, a Jewish state would not have arisen here.” The
title of Siegman’s article suggests the consequences of the lies
that give feigned legitimacy to illegal actions: “Israel: the Threat
from Within.”
My third myth, presented as truth universally, may best be presented
by Elsa Walsh from her article for the New Yorker (3/24/03), titled
“The Prince.” The article is something of a brief biography of
Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia and his political manipulations in our
nation’s Capitol. Walsh writes “But when Dennis Ross showed Bandar
the President’s (Clinton) talking papers Bandar recognized that in
its newest iteration the peace plan was a remarkable development. It
gave Arafat almost everything he wanted, including the return of
about ninety-seven per cent of the land of the occupied territories;
all of Jerusalem except the Jewish and Armenian quarters, with
Jews preserving the right to worship at the Temple Mount; and a
thirty-billion-dollar compensation fund.” Arafat, as Walsh notes,
agreed to accept the proposals as offered by Clinton, but only as
the basis for new talks. The world heard that Arafat had refused the
proposals and offered no explanation or alternatives.
Did Clinton’s papers offer Arafat “everything he wanted” as Bandar
claims? In 1993, Arafat sent a letter to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin,
September 9, stating most pertinently these points: The PLO recognizes
the right of the state of Israel to exist in peace and security;
the PLO accepts United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and
338, the 1948 and 1967 borders and right of return; the PLO commits
itself to the peace processall outstanding issueswill be resolved
through negotiations.
Did Clinton offer Arafat all of the land captured by the Israelis in
1948? Did he offer a return to the borders as delineated by the UN
in 1967? Or did he offer Arafat 97% of the West Bank and Gaza? Did
Clinton provide a set process for the refugees, a right to return to
their homes whether in the remaining Palestinian land or in Israel?
Did Clinton’s plan provide for recognition of the right to exist of
a Palestinian state, a state recognized by Israel?
It’s clear that Clinton did not offer Arafat everything he wanted.
Arafat had no option but to refuse Clinton’s proposal or accept
it only as a basis for new negotiations, and that he did. It’s
instructive to note that the one-sidedness of Clinton’s offer was so
blatant that Yossi Beilin, an Israeli architect of the Oslo Accords,
and former Palestinian minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, worked for two
and a half years to create the Geneva Accords to right the wrongs of
the original proposals. The GA, while not official, stipulates the
immediate recognition of a Palestinian state by the state of Israel.
It addresses forthrightly the issue of refugee right of return and
compensation for their suffering and loss of homes in accordance with
UN Resolutions 194 of 1948 and the principles of International Law.
And it notes that the relations between Israel and Palestine shall
be based upon the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
Furthermore, it makes the borders that compose the state of Palestine
those of June 1967 in accordance with Resolutions 242 and 338. Most
of the settlements are to be disbanded and territorial integrity to
be respected by both parties. Palestine will be a non-militarized
state protected in part by the creation of a multinational force
established and deployed in Palestine. Finally, a joint committee
will monitor the crossing borders, an item originally in the Oslo
agreement but later cancelled by Israel. This document addresses
the issues Arafat had to contend with, without which he could not
commit his people. Curiously enough, the GA offers a resolution to
the dilemma addressed by Ha’aretz in its editorial, a just resolution
to the conflict that rages in Palestine.
There you have it, three myths presented as truth to a world benumbed,
especially in the US. All three exist because our press and our
talking heads, especially those that snarl on FOX or obsequiously
fawn disbelief on CNN or MSNBC, intentionally omit the requisite
investigation of the truth or coddle to the power of corporate America
and to the belief, in itself a myth, that we must not question our
one true friend in the Middle East, the “Democratic” (sic) state of
Israel. But, then, myths are the staple of those who want to know
without engaging the mind or the senses. Besides, a little blather
about issues of no consequence coddles the public mind and doesn’t
really disturb their contentment.
William Cook is a professor of English at the University of La Verne
in southern California. His new book, Psalms for the 21st Century,
was just published by Mellen Press. He can be reached at: [email protected]