The Grand Illusion of the Roadmap
by Barry Chamish
It's an illusion, this Roadmap To Peace.
President Bush's trip to Roadmap summits in Sharm
El Sheikh and Aqaba this week were to further the
illusion that he is personally committed to peace
for Israel. Most people did not see through this
illusion; in fact, except for some of my readers,
especially one in Ontario, no one saw through the
illusion. But then, most people are under the
illusion that they have a choice of leadership
when they vote. If PM Sharon has done the Jews
only one favor lately, it is that he has finally
shattered that illusion for good.
The hard reality behind the illusion is that
the Roadmap is one more ugly Vatican manoever to
place those unwanted Jews in a deadly trap. Now
if anyone dares doubt that Bush is being guided
by Rome and its Spanish outpost, please read the
following reports and try to draw another
conclusion.
I will add not another word until you finish
reading:
ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SPAIN, 6 - 10
APRIL
Secretary-General Kofi Annan departed New York on
6 April and arrived in Madrid, Spain, on Sunday,
7 April, to begin a weeklong visit to Europe that
would also take him to Rome and Geneva.
On Sunday evening, he and Mrs. Annan attended a
private dinner hosted by King Juan Carlos and
Queen Sofia at the Palacio de la Zarzuela on the
outskirts of the Spanish capital.
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General visited
the Madrid-based World Tourism Organization and
then addressed a ceremony to mark 160 companies
signing up to the Global Compact. (See Press
Release SG/SM/8193.)
Also on Tuesday, the Secretary-General conferred
with his Special Coordinator for the Middle East
Peace Process, Terje Roed-Larsen, in advance of
his meeting the following morning with members of
the so-called “Quartet” on the situation in the
Middle East.
At that meeting on Wednesday morning, the
Secretary-General discussed the escalating crisis
for over an hour without aides at Madrid’s Palace
of Moncloa with U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Piqu?
representing the rotating presidency of the
European Union, High Representative for European
Union Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier
Solana, and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.
Immediately after the press conference, the
Secretary-General departed Madrid for Rome, Italy.
http://www.clubofrome.org/archive/publications/Pre
sidential_Address_long_version.pdf
New World Order without Ideologies
by HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal (Jordanian
Prince, Uncle of King Abdullah of Jordan and
present President of the Club of Rome.)
Hours after the five-week standoff at Bethlehem's
Church of the Nativity ended, Israeli Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres arrived in Rome for talks
with Premier Silvio Berlusconi and top Vatican
officials. Peres met with Vatican Secretary of
State Angelo Sodano and Vatican Foreign Minister
Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran. During his visit
Peres said Italy would be a good venue for a
peace conference.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, said: ‘We
have excellent relations with Rome and my
personal relations with Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi are great.’
Saturday, May 03, 2003
MADRID, Spain — Pope John Paul II (search) began a whirlwind visit to Madrid on Saturday, testing his frail health and seeking to reinvigorate
those Spanish Catholics who have strayed from
their once-dominant church.
The pontiff, who turns 83 this month, arrived at
Barajas airport outside Madrid aboard an Alitalia
jetliner. King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia
greeted him at the VIP terminal as he began his
first visit abroad in nine months.
King Juan Carlos, speaking before the pope,
praised the pontiff as "a tireless fighter for
the most noble causes."
"This will probably be this pope's last visit to
Spain, although you never know," the archbishop
of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco, said in
an interview published Saturday in the newspaper
El Mundo.
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,65
10636%255E1702,00.htm
Powell To Meet Pope
US Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit
Pope John Paul II next week to discuss the Middle
East peace process and rebuilding post-war Iraq,
US and Vatican sources said today.
The meeting on Monday will be the first high-
ranking face-to-face talks between the US
government and the Vatican since the US-led war
in Iraq, which the Pope vehemently opposed.
http://www.watch.org/showart.php3?
idx=44842&rtn=/index.html&showsubj=1&mcat=1
Pope Meets with Colin Powell,
Calls for a Palestinian State
Again, Pope John Paul II takes a position
regarding God's covenant land that is not
biblical.
As a reminder, PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat had
nine meetings with Pope John Paul II at the
Vatican since the signing of the Oslo I Agreement
on September 13, 1993.
Vatican Signs Agreement with the Palestinians
over Jerusalem
The Vatican and the Palestinians signed an
agreement on February 15, 2000, stating the
following:
An equitable solution for the issue of Jerusalem,
based on international resolutions, is
fundamental for a just and lasting peace in the
Middle East, and that unilateral decisions and
actions altering the specific character and
status of Jerusalem are morally and legally
unacceptable; Calling, therefore, for a special
statute for Jerusalem, internationally
guaranteed, which should safeguard the following:
(a). Freedom of religion and conscience for all.
(b). The equality before the law of the three
monotheistic religions and their Institutions and
followers in the City. ©. The proper identity
and sacred character of the City and its
universally significant, religious and cultural
heritage. (d). The Holy Places, the freedom of
access to them and of worship in them. (e). The
Regime of "Status Quo" in those Holy Places where
it applies.
The Israelis responded by saying, "Israel
expresses its great displeasure with the
declaration made in Rome by the Holy See and the
PLO, which includes the issue of Jerusalem, and
other issues which are subjects of the Israeli-
Palestinian negotiations on permanent status. The
agreement signed by these two parties constitutes
a regretful intervention in the talks between
Israel and the Palestinians."
POWELL HAILS ITALY’S US SUPPORT
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has been
holding talks with Italian Foreign Minister
Franco Frattini in Rome. He said Italy was the
US’s best friend and ally and that President
George W Bush was grateful for Italy's
contribution during the war with Iraq. Mr Powell
also met Pope John Paul II in the Vatican to
discuss Middle East peace efforts and the
reconstruction of Iraq. It was the first high-
level meeting between the US and the Vatican
since the Iraq war. During the audience, the Pope
spoke of his hopes for the United States-
backed 'road map' for Middle East peace. He said
he hoped that Israelis and Palestinians would be
able finally to enjoy the same security and the
same sovereignty.
Source: WorldWatch
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030424/ts_nm/mideast_usa_dc_4
U.S. Ready to Put 'Shoulder to Wheel' on Mideast
Peace
2 hours, 16 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters
to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on
Wednesday called for quick confirmation of a
Palestinian cabinet and vowed to put
its "shoulder to the wheel" to implement a long-
delayed Middle East peace plan.
President Bush discussed the developments and his
plans to release the road map by phone with
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20030318/pl_usatoday/495667
0
Bush's ultimatum recalls post-9/11 remarks
Tue Mar 18, 6:27 AM ET
Judy Keen USA TODAY
Bush spent part of Monday rehearsing. He was up
before dawn, as always, and made phone calls to
his most steadfast allies : Blair, Aznar and
Spain's King Juan Carlos.
http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?aid=11301
Bush on 'axis of weasel' tour
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - US President George Bush
will embark on a week-long day visit to Europe on
Thursday which will take in Berlin, Moscow, St.
Petersburg, Paris, Normandy, and Rome.
Mr Bush will meet with the three leaders of what
some have dubbed the "axis of weasel" for their
opposition to the war on Iraq - German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroder, French President Jacques Chirac
and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Bush will also meet with the Pope, not named a
member of the axis, but strongly anti-war.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/US_electi...,393341,00.h
tml
Victory is in the blood for 'aristocratic' Republican
The Guardian
Press Association
The Republican George W Bush will be elected US
president on November 7 because he has more royal
blood than his opponent, it was claimed today.
Mr Bush has direct descents from William the
Conqueror, Henry II and Charles II, according to
Burke's Peerage.
He also scores better than his father, who lost
the office of president to Bill Clinton, because
of his mother's well-to-do ancestors. Barbara
Pierce Bush's royal connections include French
Bourbon and several Scandinavian monarchs, as
well as members of the Russian, Spanish and
German monarchies.
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?
p=spain+easter&ei=UTF-8
.
Vatican Moves Emperor Near Beatification
Sat Apr 12, 9:57 PM ET
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican (news - web sites)
moved the last emperor of Austria-Hungary on the
path to beatification Saturday, decades after the
monarch died in exile.
Charles I was a man of "moral integrity and solid
faith," the Vatican said, adding that he "always
sought the well-being of his people and was
inspired by the social doctrine of the Church in
his government actions."
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/291756.ht
ml
Danish foreign minister hints at sanctions if
road map stalls
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said
Saturday the foreign ministers of the
international Quartet (the UN, United States, EU
and Russia) had prepared various means of
applying pressure to force Israel and the
Palestinians to implement the road map for a
solution to their conflict.
Moeller, whose country, Denmark, headed the EU
presidency when the road map was put together,
was speaking on the eve of the arrival in the
region of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
He had been asked what sanctions could be imposed
by the EU and the Quartet on any side that failed
to implement the road map.
"We have a series of measures we will come out
with at the appropriate time," Moeller said at a
conference of peace activists from Israel, the
Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Jordan that was
organized by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry. "I
won't expose them now because if I were to do so,
they would lose their effectiveness; but we are
ready to use them if we are required to do so,"
he added.
Delegates at the conference included Haim Ramon,
MK (Labor), former Labor lawmaker Uzi Bar'am,
representatives from the Peres Center for Peace,
Fatah activists from the PA and Jerusalem, and
members of Jordanian and Egyptian peace
movements.
http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?aid=11344
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Ahead of a key Israeli
cabinet meeting and a statement by the US,
representatives of the Madrid Quartet – Russia,
the EU, US and UN are meeting in Paris today and
are set to agree the terms for monitoring the so-
called ‘road map’ to peace.
Remarks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan,
Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov of the Russian
Federation, Foreign Minister Josep Pique of Spain
in the capacity of EU Presidency and Javier
Solana, High Representative for Common Foreign
and Security Policy of the EU
Secretary Colin L. Powell
Benjamin Franklin Room
Washington, DC
May 2, 2002
[audio]
SECRETARY POWELL: Good afternoon, ladies and
gentlemen. I am pleased to welcome to the State
Department today Secretary General Annan, Foreign
Minister Ivanov, Foreign Minister Pique, and High
Representative Solana of the European Union to
the Department to continue the discussion that we
began in Madrid on April 10th on ways to end the
violence and move towards peace in the Middle
East.
Son's approach towards Europe misunderstood, says
Bush Sr
MADRID: Former U.S. President George Bush said on
Friday that some people had misunderstood his
son's attitude towards Europe.
"I know there is a perception in some quarters
here in Europe that this administration of his
hasn't reached out to our friends and allies as
much as some would like. I know that this is a
misperception," the father of current President
George W.Bush told a business conference in
Madrid.
The elder Bush, 79, cited his son's close work
with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as
an example of how the president had reached out
to Europe in the run-up to the war in Iraq.
May. 12, 2003
Spanish foreign minister to tour Middle East
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID, Spain
Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said Monday she
plans to visit governments in the Middle East to
encourage peace efforts in the region.
Palacio said she intended to include Cairo,
Egypt, in her tour but provided no further
information. Her office said details of her trip
were not yet confirmed.
The support of the region's leaders for the so-
called road map to peace proposed by the United
States, United Nations, European Union and Russia
is "very important" in securing its success,
Palacio told reporters.
It is time to move "from statements to action,"
she added.
Enacting the Middle East blueprint for peace has
become one of Spain's main foreign policy goals.
It was one of the main arguments used by Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar to justify to Spaniards
his government's support for the US-led war in
Iraq.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030527/wl_mideast_afp/mideast_
spain_030527123711
Spanish FM to meet Arafat in Ramallah
MADRID (AFP) - Spanish Foreign Minister Ana
Palacio will meet with Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat (news - web sites) and prime minister
Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah,
diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
Palacio was due to head for Jerusalem later
Tuesday after a meeting of EU and Arab ministers
on the Mediterranean island of Crete.
She will meet in Ramallah with Abbas and her
Palestinian counterpart Nabil Shaath on Wednesday
before a "short visit" to see Arafat the same
day, the sources here said, adding there were no
plans to meet with Israeli officials.
*** Now surely, even the most stubborn adherents
of their own understanding of reality, saw the
pattern. Powell and Bush run to Spain and Rome
before planning their moves in the Middle East.
That they are pulling the strings is an illusion.
That they intend to bring peace to Israel is an
illusion. That they are doing the Vatican's dirty
work is the only truth that can be discerned from
their actions.
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