The Guardian 9 November, 2005
Adding Palestine to the map
World attention was galvanised last week by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statement
that "Israel must be wiped off the map". Such crude, far-right rhetoric plays right into the hands of
forces for war and domination. The Iranian Government itself quickly backtracked, emphasising
that Iran is committed to its obligations under the UN Charter and has never tried to use force or
threats against another country.
Amid the torrent of condemnation Ahmadinejad's comment evoked, Palestinian Authority chief
negotiator Saeb Erekat's response deserves special attention.
"Palestinians recognise the right of the state of Israel to exist and I reject his comments", Erekat
told BBC News. "What we need to be talking about is adding the state of Palestine to the map and
not wiping Israel from the map."
The incident highlights the complexity of the long-standing crisis in the Middle East, now greatly
exacerbated by the US war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Despite its formal withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Government continues its military and
economic suppression of the Palestinian people's national and human rights, even though a
majority of Israelis would like to see a two-state solution to the long and deadly conflict. Despite
occasional hand-wringing, Washington has done nothing to move its closest Middle East ally to
take a more reasonable position.
Meanwhile, Israel has threatened Iran with military attack over nuclear facilities the International
Atomic Energy Agency says are entirely lawful. Iran, now surrounded by US forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan, has been named part of the "axis of evil" by President George W Bush.
There is a way out of this deadly snarl. It involves the Bush administration acknowledging that the
only sane solution to its Iraq disaster, which has cost over 2,000 US lives and countless Iraqi ones,
is to end the occupation and withdraw US troops now. Washington must press Israel to follow UN
resolutions and support a viable, sovereign Palestinian state.
Those actions will set the stage for peaceful, mutually acceptable resolution of the region's
remaining conflicts.
People's Weekly World