Word: arabize
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...smart sanctions" proposals have emerged from a Bush administration policy review, based on the recognition that the existing sanctions package is on the verge of collapse as a result of waning support in the Arab world and beyond. To be sure, the primary purpose of the revisions being proposed is to make continued sanctions more palatable to governments that question whether they serve any positive purpose. Essentially, the proposals reverse the current sanctions formula by lifting blanket restrictions on Iraqi imports, except for a list of specified items to prevent Baghdad refurbishing its military or developing weapons of mass destruction...
...Although Secretary Powell in February reported substantial enthusiasm in the Arab world for the revisions, most Arab regimes will be constrained from openly supporting Washington's proposals for continued sanctions by the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence and the tendency on the Arab street to equate the U.S. with Israel. And Iraq may look for ways to more actively play the Israel card in the coming weeks in the hope of rallying support against the U.S.-British plan...
...Palestinians, it doesn't seem to be having that effect. With Tuesday marking the anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel - an event called "Al Nakbah" (the catastrophe) by Palestinians - they're expecting trouble all over the West Bank and Gaza, and possibly even among Arab communities inside Israel. Still, Sharon has chosen the route of ratcheting up the pressure on Arafat, and he's not likely to change that decision...
...Rumsfeld and his fellow hawks certainly had to swallow a couple of minor setbacks early on in the new administration. They were forced to bite their tongues as Powell moved to bring Washington's Iraq policy more in line with its Arab allies by calling for a relaxation of many sanctions against Baghdad while seeking to tighten control over access to military technology. And during the Hainan spy plane standoff, the Defense Secretary found himself sidelined - it was prudent for the Bush Administration, during those difficult days, to muzzle the man who'd only weeks earlier told the U.S. military...
...Both sides, then, may be more inclined to allow the conflict to simmer, in the hope that the process of attrition will wear down the other side. But that doesn't work for Israel's moderate Arab neighbors, for whom the ongoing intifada poses a domestic political crisis, nor for Washington, whose overriding concern is regional stability. And that may be what brought Peres to Washington this week. But while his discussions in Washington were over cease-fire terms - on the ground in Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza - nobody, right now, is talking seriously about peace...