British Foreign Secretary Cook's Visit to Occupied Palestine

Here are two of them: 267 - 'acquisition of territory by military force is inadmissible'; 452 - that calls upon 'the government and people of Israel to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967'. These have a direct bearing upon Cook's position, and form the basis of the policy of the European Union (of which Britain currently holds the presidency) toward illegal Israeli settlements. Here's my view of what happened...

The British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, displayed great integrity and courage during his recent official visit to Israel...and has been viciously attacked for it.
He quite properly, but without precedent and to the astonishment of the Israelis, declined to lay a wreath at the holocaust memorial Yad Vashem - but insisted upon paying his respects at the site of the Deir Yassin massacre. Was he issuing a reminder that the sins of Europe should not to be visited upon the Palestinians and can be allowed to play no part in any attempt to justify the past record and future aspirations of the Jewish state of Israel? Was he suggesting that the memory of the holocaust must not be manipulated and superimposed upon the relentless violence that is integral to the Zionist adventure?
Upon being met by the 'mayor of Jerusalem' with the greeting 'Welcome to the city of Jerusalem - the capital of Israel', he replied, 'It is also the capital of the Palestinians.'

His visit to the illegal (not 'controversial') building site 'new Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa' in the illegally occupied (not 'disputed') territory of Jebel Abu Ghneim got off to a similar start. Upon being welcomed by a Jewish municipal functionary he cut the lackey short with 'I don't want any briefing from you. I don't recognize your right to be here.' His media-fate was sealed when he shook the hand of a Palestinian Arab. Dinner chez Netanyahu was canceled and he was left to board his plane with no official send-off. All he did was stick to the official policy of the European Union (and, lest we forget, the U.S.) toward illegal settlements. It would have been hypocritical of him to do otherwise - yet, the bulk of our newspapers, which not too long ago, even if not fond of Mr. Cook would not doubt his intellect or efficiency, attempted to blur the main issue with accusations of incompetence and ineptitude.

No doubt Prime Minister Blair will smooth things over next month when he makes the trip. No doubt Cook's visit has done little to ease the pain and distress of innumerable Palestinians watching over the desecration of their ancient homeland. No doubt the activists of AIPAC, BIPAC, and every other PAC of Zionists is busy right now flexing its muscles to neutralize or paralyze any response to Cook's visit which might reduce the blur. But for a few hours, for a couple of days, it was almost as if there might be a new dawn, there just might be an end in sight to this interminable black night. And, for a moment, I was not ashamed to be British.