Global Attention Reverts To Israel UN To Disarm Whole Middle East? Israel - Middle East Saturday, April 19, 2003 Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor Jack Kinsella Syria asked the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to approve an Arab-backed resolution calling for the Middle East to be free of weapons of mass destruction. Damascus submitted the resolution with lightning speed, only hours after Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the United States would like to see WMD-free Middle East. The proposed resolution calls on all countries in the Middle East to ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the nuclear test ban treaty, and the conventions to control chemical and biological weapons. "We believe such a draft resolution ... is a very important factor for the peace process and settling the peace and security in the Middle East," Syrian U.N. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said. With the war in Iraq winding down, the United States has accused Syria of sheltering senior members of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime. U.S. officials have also said Syria has chemical weapons and is sponsoring terrorism. Earlier Wednesday, U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity in Washington said Farouk Hijazi, Iraq's ambassador to Tunisia and once the No. 3 man in the Mukhabarat, Saddam's intelligence service, apparently had surfaced in Syria. Syrian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Bouthayna Shaaban denied the accusation, and said Syria was not sheltering any members of Saddam's regime. Not surprisingly, the Arabs immediately blamed Israel for the escalation in U.S. threats against Syria. Wehbe said the draft resolution demonstrates Syria is ready to prove it has no nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. He cited a statement by Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa that the government was ready to sign 'any U.N. agreement or treaty' on setting up a Mideast zone free of weapons of mass destruction. Or course, this is pure baloney. Syria's weapons of mass destruction program is legendary and well documented. Syria is sponsoring the resolution specifically to put pressure on Israel. The Syrian resolution was aimed directly at Israel, the existence of whose nuclear weapons arsenal is the most poorly-kept secret in military history. Israel refuses to confirm or deny the claim and refuses to participate in global treaties aimed at controlling the spread of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The proposed resolution calls on all countries in the Middle East to ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the nuclear test ban treaty, and the conventions to control chemical and biological weapons. Syria is a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but not the chemical or biological weapons conventions. Syria's deputy U.N. Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad said his country would join the other conventions if Israel does as well. Syria pointed out that Russia, China and Pakistan supported the idea of the Middle East being a zone free of weapons of mass destruction,- and so did the United States. Unfortunately for the Syrian resolution, Israel has steadfastly (and wisely) refused to be a party to global treaties aimed at controlling the spread of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Israel understands what Washington never has, and seems incapable of learning. Surrendering control over national security by treaty is only a good idea if the other parties to the treaty don't want to destroy you. Case in point would be France, Germany or Russia and the treaties fractured and entanglements knotted by their obstruction of the US war plan for Iraq at the Security Council. When we made all our treaties with the French and Germans, they were our good friends whom we had recently liberated from the Nazis and then saved from the Russians. Last week, the Russians, French and Germans met in Moscow to formulate a future strategy to further embarrass or weaken US foreign policy. The Israelis are far less likely to take the same chances with treaties that affect their security. Golda Meir observed after the Six Days War that 'the Arabs can fight and lose and come back to fight another day. Israel can only lose once.' Israel knows better than any people on earth how quickly fortunes can change and friends can become bitter enemies. The Arabs, through the offices of the United Nations, continue to whip up global sentiment against the Jewish State. Throughout Gulf War II, Israel kept a low profile, held its fire, restrained its rhetoric and distanced itself from the coalition. It was rewarded by being blasted in the Arab press for being the 'Zionist occupiers' of Iraq, the masterminds behind the Iraq invasion, etc. etc. Although Israel had NOTHING to do with the Iraq war, it is impossible to pick up a newspaper without reading that somebody in France, the UK, Germany, Russia, at the UN or in the Arab world has found a way to tie it to the Arab-Israeli problem. In the aftermath of Gulf War II, with the liberation of the Iraqi people under our belts, with threats facing us from Syria to the west, Iran to the east and Russia to the north, where is US foreign policy turning? To Israel and the so-called 'Roadmap for Peace' -- together with the so-called 'Quartet of Nations', the US, EU, UN and Russia. A road map that Israel has already said it won't accept without changes. The Quartet says the road map is non-negotiable, once again putting Israel on one side, and the rest of the world on the other. "And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:3