FOREIGN Office Spokesperson on Sunday observed at a press briefing in Islamabad that the donors’ response was now impressive. The world, it seems, is now beginning to appreciate the extent of widespread devastation and the logistic nightmare in the relief operations as hundreds of ruined villages on hilltop could not be reached so far. Taking into account Islamic Development Bank’s relief package of U.S.$ 251 announced by its President, Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali in Islamabad, the foreign assistance committed so far has crossed one billion dollar mark with more in the pipeline. IDB President stated that he would acquire tents from Saudi Arabia for the survivors in the devastated area. The Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanogue, and Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali, IDB President, who met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Sunday told newsmen that all Islamic countries were deeply concerned with the scale of disaster and shared Pakistanis’ grief and pain. OIC Secretary General and IDB President also met President Pervez Musharraf and told him that they were appalled to see the extent of damage caused to infrastructure in the quake-hit areas. While President Musharraf expressed his profound appreciation of the assistance given by the world community as also Islamic countries, he observed that the Government of Pakistan could not meet the monumental challenge of relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the millions rendered homeless without continued support of the global community. Meanwhile, Gen. John P. Abizaid, Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command who personally came over to assess the colossal damage wrought by October 8 killer earthquake has announced that his country would enhance its assistance for the relief and rehabilitation work. U.S. will shortly send 25 more helicopters to beef up choppers’ fleet involved in rescue and relief work before the winter sets in.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz has launched a donation-raising campaign and during the last two days the overall public response has been spontaneous and most encouraging. Over three hundred million Riyals have already been collected and the weeklong campaign is continuing. Turkish public is also donating generously. According to figures available from Ankara, even school children have donated over one million U.S. dollars. Of all the persons, Al Zawahiri, AI-Qaeda’s chief in Iraq, has appealed to the Ummah to rush assistance to quake victims in Azad Kashmir and NWFP. While relief work is being speeded up, the fears of second wave of deaths persist in the quake-devastated region in view of the impending winder. The prospects are however brightening up with the continued arrival of relief goods from Pakistan and abroad which are being distributed amongst affectees by the Pakistan troops. The valour, commitment and dedication demonstrated by our soldiers has been lauded by every one who has witnessed them in action. While the nation is beginning to recover from the initial shock of the monumental tragedy, there is a growing realization that much more has to be achieved in the coming months and years. The response from the world community is now impressive that should give us greater strength and confidence to move ahead. The world help is late but it is surely never too late.

Shifting goals

FOR the first time since he took office, President Bush is suggesting that a Palestinian state may not be created before he leaves the White House. Last year, he set a four-year goal for achieving Palestinian statehood. He has more than three years remaining in his term but, it does not appear as if his earlier statements will become reality. The revelation, made a day after Bush hosted Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House, certainly knocks the wind out of Palestinian sails. Things had seemed to be steadily improving following the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in the summer and the maintaining, more or less, of an eight-month-old cease-fire between Palestinian activists and Israel. For Bush, though, these positive steps do not amount to a state. He did not elaborate on why he now had second thoughts about a Palestinian state becoming reality before he leaves office in January 2009. Perhaps he knows something we don’t.
Or perhaps the myriad of problems yet to be resolved — the status of Jerusalem, the right of return, political prisoners, the wall of separation, settlements — are too many to generate optimism for the early creation of a state. Whatever the reasons, Bush’s about-face is a body blow, made worse by his repeated carping — which does nothing for the peace process — that Abbas crackdown on what Bush called “armed gangs” or, in other words, Hamas. But by urging Abbas to confront and dismantle armed factions, Bush is putting too much pressure on the PA which could well create internal Palestinian strife. Abbas has condemned attacks on civilians and has made cease-fire agreements with Hamas but he cannot rein them in as the US and Israel want him to. At this stage it would simply be too difficult and too dangerous. Any such military campaign against Hamas could likely escalate into a full-scale civil war.
Of course, just because Bush does not envisage a Palestinian state while he is in office does not necessarily mean the state cannot be created before he leaves. But it is hard to imagine how a Palestinian state could happen without the wholehearted support and involvement of an American administration without uncertainties about what it was doing.
Some Palestinians are looking at the bright side. Bush’s criticism of Israel — that it needs to do more to foster peace by halting settlement expansion and construction of the barrier wall around the West Bank — and the fact that he did not publicly back Sharon’s demand that Hamas be barred from the coming parliamentary elections somewhat compensated for his departing from the concept of a fixed timetable for the creation of a Palestinian state. Those wearing rose-colored glasses would rather point to Bush’s saying that if it could not be done before his tenure ends, he would lay the foundation so that the process becomes irreversible. In that case, they reason, deadlines are not important. But they are. Target dates are important. They set up goals to be reached within certain timeframes, not to shift them at convenience. Or is it going to take forever to set up a Palestinian state?

—Arab News