The Cacophonix Quartet

There is something terribly wrong in this picture!

A new game in town has become the latest craze. Almost everyone seems to accept its rules, and enjoy playingit accordingly.

The Palestinian Authority considered it a triumph. The wimpy Russian and European governments welcomed it as abelated adoption of their vision. And the ever so servile Kofi Annan hailed it as an embodiment of newdiplomatic thinking from Washington, finally substituting a multilateral process for an entrenched,decades-old unilateral approach to "resolving"--or managing--the Arab-Israeli conflict. The extremistright-wing government of Israel could not hide its glee, despite its public grumbles about it.

The subject of all this frenzy is a new creature called the Quartet. It comprises the United States (playingthe drum, and acting-maestro), the European Union (playing the violin), Russia (trying to play the flute) and,yes, the United Nations (playing the maestro’s baton), in their respective order of relevance, and it aimsat tackling the conundrum, otherwise called Middle East peace.

Seriously, now, the mere fact that the UN should be relegated to the status of a junior partner with twostates--one and a half, really--and a collection of states is a telling sign of the newest world order, wherethe international organization--by definition, an umbrella that should be above the three others--instead ofleading the efforts to resolve the age-old conflict in the region, according to the precepts of internationallaw, is being herded by a rope, a tight one at that, and is forbidden from even barking when scolded forstepping out of line.

A non skeptic might protest: what matters is what the Quartet actually does, not its composition, or who leadswhom. Let us for the sake of argument grant the validity of this pragmatic attitude. In other words, let’saccept--for now--that the recently throned American Empire is entitled to command even the union of nations ofwhich it is ostensibly a mere member, and focus on that "team’s" actions instead.

Well, the Quartet’s first sonata was to draft a so-called roadmap aimed at bringing peace to the MiddleEast, by showing both parties how to get "there" from here. Of course, no one agrees on quite where "there"might be, but who cares? We were told about this draft in the media, but hardly anyone really saw it. Sincethen, everyone has been literally begging the US president--who?--to publish that document in order to launchthe negotiation process. "Why the US president?", a semi-intelligent observer might ask? "Shouldn’tKofi do the honours? He is, after all, the most senior of all four players." He is, theoretically speaking.But why get bogged down in such superficial detail? Let’s focus on the big picture, we are urged. Ok. Let’s.

Regardless who ought to decide on the date and manner of publication of this miraculous map--it is soundingmore like a faintly legible map to some treasure in the Twilight Zone--why has it been delayed to this extent.Isn’t the situation between the Palestinians and Israelis pressing enough to grant a prompt internationalinvolvement? Depends whom you ask.

First, Sharon lobbied to delay the publication until after the Israeli elections. Bush et al immediatelyaccepted that wise suggestion. When election day was behind us, though, Sharon asked for another delay untilafter the new Israeli government has been formed. Of course, that makes sense. For how can the venerableQuartet sell its stuff without having a stable party representing Israel on the other side of the table. Andafter the most fanatical right-wing government to ever lead Israel was sworn in, the whole circus waspreempted--sorry, no better term to use here--by the War on Terror: The Sequel. With everyone busy planning,executing or protesting that, no one really had the energy or resources to engage in deciphering thornyroadmaps.

Have some faith, please! Eventually, we shall be blessed with the disclosure of this jewel.

Whenever the US president feels perfectly focused--as if that were at all possible--and ready, he willannounce its contents. And each of the other members of the orchestra will play along in impeccable harmony.Except, the thundering thumps of the US drum will humble the rest of the pitiful orchestra. And if we listenacutely enough we may well hear echoes of a drum-beat that we’ve heard before. A relentlessly abrasive,repressive, dominating beat that we grew sick of hearing. Only then shall we recognize that we’ve beenduped. It is Sharon’s bloody war-beat, fixed, mixed, carefully filtered, equalized, recycled, and marketedto us as a genuine Vivaldi.

"Sharon," said a senior official of the first Bush administration, "played the president like aviolin: 'I'm fighting your war, terrorism is terrorism,' and so on. Sharon did a masterful job." [RobertG. Kaiser, Washington Post, February 9, 2003]

So it turns out that the US was not really the actual maestro after all.