Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(May 2002)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
The end product.
 I
firmly believe that Mr. Powell's peace mission in the Middle
East will come to no avail unless he can convince Sharon
to remove all Israeli troops from the Palestinian lands
back to the 1967 demarcation line, as stipulated in Crown
Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia peace proposal, and convince
Arafat that the suicide bombings and other terrorist act
have to cease immediately.
Mr. Powell has shown a remarkable amount of restraint in
his dealing with Sharon and Arafat, and must be congratulated
on political skills in his endeavor to produce a "temporary"
peace.
Unfortunately Sharon refuses to provide a scheduled pull
out of Israeli troops from the Palestinian Arab towns and
refugee camps, and Arafat refuses to condemn suicide bombings.
Mr. Powell returned to the United States yesterday, the
17th of April, and reported that a "cease fire is not
a relevant term at the moment, and Israeli incursions into
West Bank Palestinian Arab towns must end before any cease
fire could hold".
Mr. Powell stopped off in Cairo on the way back home and
apparently was rebuffed by President Mubarak as the meeting
between the two was cancelled because President Mubarak
was indisposed!
Read into that what ever you will.
The Morning after. (18th of April 2002)
 President
Bush congratulated Mr. Powell on his efforts to attain a
peaceful solution, and stated that the mission was a success.
Not a tremendous success---not a meaningful success---just
a plain success!
It would appear that the only success attained, (if any
success was attained), was the Israeli troops take over
and destruction of several Palestinian Arab towns with the
subsequent loss of lives on both sides. The world press,
have recently been allowed into the refugee camp in the
town of Jenin and the destruction shown in their photographic
footage is reminiscent of cities destroyed during World
War Two (see below) and is "horrific beyond belief".
It was reported that United Nations Envoy Terge Roed Larsen
said "Israel's refusal to allow rescue teams into the
ruins of the Jenin refugee camp is "morally repugnant".
The loss of lives has yet to be accounted for, but from
the destruction shown I would think that it will run into
the hundreds.
Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of UNRWA was said to
have stated that an International investigation should be
convened to determine if the Palestinian Arabs claim that
in excess of one hundred people were massacred in Jenin,
(and the Israeli claims that the Palestinian Arab number
of dead is exaggerated), are accurate estimates.
It has been suggested that this was not a battle by Israeli
troops to strengthen the security of the Jewish people and
their towns, but was more a battle of retribution and revenge.
!!!
The only one to come out of this situation with any degree
of distinction appears to be Mr. Powell, who apparently
conducted his meetings and discussions with the prominent
leaders of the region that he visited with diplomacy and
honor.
Memories.
 Many
people, who survived World War Two, may still remember the
story of the small village of Lidice in Western Czechoslovakia.
Lidice was destroyed in a retaliatory raid by the German
Army in revenge for the assassination of powerful German
administrator Reinhardt Heydrich in May of 1942. In response
to the assassination, the German forces stormed Lidice in
the early hours of the 10th of June, 1942 and killed 173
men of the village by machine gun fire. The women and children
were sent to concentration camps and the village was raised
to the ground.
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