is GW Bush a Christian Zionist?
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is GW Bush a Christian Zionist? |
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Posted by Jordan Times on January 31, 19102 at 14:21:50:
http://www.jordantimes.com/Wed/opinion/opinion2.htm
'A dose of sober-mindedness'
By George S. Hishmeh
WASHINGTON — These are heady days for George W. Bush. The American president
must feel intoxicated with the praise he has been given at home for his swift
success in Afghanistan, where the American-led war has led to the ouster of the
extremist Taleban regime and the dissipation of Osama Ben Laden's Al Qaeda. And
Hamid Karzai, the new appreciative leader in Kabul, was here for the State of
the Union address, always an occasion marked by abundant patriotism,
exaggerated achievements and promises.
The distracters, however, may point out that the Taleban's Mullah Omar or Al
Qaeda's Ben Laden are still at large. Or, more to the point, this celebratory
occasion in Washington has been marred by the downward spiralling of the
Palestinian-Israeli war of attrition which saw, for the first time, a woman
suicide bomber who was a university student.
Yet, President Bush continues to mix apples and oranges in his fight against
international terrorism after the horrific events of last September in New York
City, Washington and the fields of Pennsylvania. He and his vice president,
Dick Cheney, lambasted the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, for failing to
make “a 100 per cent good-faith effort to put an end to terrorism”, without
once recognising the dilapidating effect of the Israeli occupation. President
Bush went a step further and accused Arafat of “enhancing terror”, and pressed
him to accept responsibility for the arms-smuggling operation. Talk has been
rife here that the US may even sever its ties with the Palestinian leadership.
The single-mindedness of the American president and his unabashed support of
the hawkish Israeli government has puzzled many observers here. An intriguing
report circulated by the Religion News Service may shed new light on this
mystery.
There are an estimated 98 million Christian evangelicals in the United States,
but of concern here is its sub-group, known as Christian Zionists. They believe
that Jews are God's chosen people and have a divine deed to their contested
land, in accordance with a covenant described in the first book of the Bible.
But Christian Zionism is about more than private belief. “Its `anything for
Israel' theology has the potential to affect US foreign policy in the same way
that the Christian Right has influenced (US) domestic issues through political
pressure,” the lengthy feature, written by Mark O'Keefe, pointed out.
“One intriguing question, posed frequently in Israeli government and US
evangelical circles,” O'Keefe continued, “is whether President Bush, who has
been outspoken in his evangelical beliefs, privately holds Christian Zionist
views.”
“It's one of the common explanations (of) ... why and how Bush is sympathetic
to Israel and its cause,” Moshe Fox of the Israeli embassy admitted to
O'Keefe. “I haven't had a chance to talk to the president about this, but that
view is out there, and it is quite common.”
The White House would not comment on whether Bush's religious beliefs might
affect his actions towards Israel, insisting that he makes policy
decisions “based on policy factors”.
Bush's single-track approach does not sit well with many former officials. For
one, Robert Malley, who was special assistant for Arab-Israeli affairs in
President Clinton's White House, has described current US policy vis-ý-vis the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a “recipe for catastrophe”.
He wrote in The New York Times last Friday: “Of course, the United States is
justified in pressuring Chairman Arafat to act against Palestinian terrorists.
But so, too, must it admonish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to cease those
policies that inflame the Palestinian public and paralyse its security service:
the targeted assassinations, home demolitions, suffocating closures and
creeping reoccupation.”
He added: “By his actions ... Mr Sharon has done all in his power to make it
unfeasible for (the Palestinians) to meet their obligations.”
The point here is that the more the US and Israel humiliate the Palestinian
leader, now confined to his headquarters compound in Ramallah, the more the
Palestinian people are likely to rally to his support. In other words,
dismissing the Palestinian leader as “irrelevant”, a point now adopted by some
key American politicians, only underlines the empty-headedness of these Israeli
copycats.
One is tempted to echo the remarks of the Swedish foreign minister, Anna Lindh,
who described Bush's policy as “stupid” and “crazy”. Regardless, isn't it quite
obvious that neither the Bush administration's threats, which in its latest
manifestation has only yielded some foul and inelegant language against the
Palestinian leader from the new American peace envoy, nor the Israeli stress on
security above everything else has produced a workable solution. This Israel
rendition has actually camouflaged Zionist expansionist objectives; since
assuming office a year ago, Sharon has reportedly established 26 illegal
settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In their upcoming get-together, the fourth in a year, both Bush and Sharon need
a good dose of sober-mindedness or else hell may break loose.