Return to 1967 ME borders
Netanyahu's rejection impedes peace
The differences which have cropped up between Barack Obama and Binyamin Netanyahu over the former’s Middle East pronouncements are misplaced. Israel’s hawkish prime minister has unnecessarily tried to push the reality under the carpet. The reality is that a solution to the Palestinian issue demands Israel’s return to the borders that existed prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The standard argument here is UN Security Council Resolution 242, adopted soon after the war, demanding that Israel go back to its earlier geographical position by vacating all territories it occupied in the course of the Six-Day war.
That any question of a solution to the Middle East problem rests on a return to the pre-1967 realities has also been an article of faith with successive American administrations, particularly since Bill Clinton’s, when the United States brokered a deal between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin in the mid 1990s. Therefore, when President Obama publicly called for a peace deal to be shaped around the pre-1967 borders, he was only reiterating what has long been American policy. Besides, he also made it clear that such a deal would need to guarantee mutually agreed swaps of territory, which could be a subtle way of letting Israel hang on to the illegal settlements it has built on the West Bank. It cannot be expected that Palestinians will agree to having a state for themselves that will be a throwback to the ‘bantustans’ created in apartheid-era South Africa. For Israel’s prime minister to dismiss the Obama initiative is really to complicate matters, for the attitude suggests Israel’s unwillingness to give up territory it has long occupied in clear, brazen defiance of international law. Additionally, Israel’s unwillingness to negotiate with a Palestinian authority which includes Hamas is a patent excuse on Netanyahu’s part to have the crisis prolonged. It ought to be the Palestinians’ prerogative as to who they want to represent them in government and in dealings with nations abroad.
Mr. Netanyahu should not expect the world’s sympathy for his belligerence. For President Obama, the emphasis must now be on pushing his plan harder if the projected Palestinian state is to be a reality.
Help Biman to its feet
Urgent overhaul imperative
Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the national flag carrier, has been in a state of disorder for quite a long time now. We have more or less got used to the news of its declining performance.
The severe cash crunch that it is faced with is cause for worry. It had to borrow Taka 20 crore from bank to pay salaries to its 2600-strong staff strength in April. It owes more than Taka 20 crore to Padma Oil while its London office is in debt of over Taka 49 crore to different airports and organsitions. It also owes Taka 125 crore to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh. Biman's earnings from ticket sales fell by more than Taka 100 crore between January 17 and April 30 this year. The statistics paint a dismal picture. It is now in a near-bankrupt situation.
Although Biman had accumulated Taka 510 crore in cash reserves in February 2008, it has gone in the red for the last three and a half years. Why is Biman persistently under such crisis when other airlines are doing good business operating in our routes?
Mismanagement, lack of planning and failure to operate flights on schedule have brought the national carrier to this perilous situation.
Biman is so cash-strapped that it cannot send its aircraft to Singapore for a routine check up, let alone purchase new ones. Corruption plagues the organization, some putting the drain at a whopping figure of Taka 700 crore.
It is high time the government took up some serious overhauling and streamlining in the management and operational areas of the organization. The government should help Biman realize the huge amount of arrears that different ministries and departments have run up with the Biman. Besides, the unbridled corruption should be brought to a speedy end.
0 comments:
Post a Comment