AMY GOODMAN: And you are listening to Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now!, as we move to another headline story today, and that is what is happening in the Middle East. Israel has caved to international pressure, says it will give international mediators more time to end the violence between Israel and Palestinians. A statement issued by Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s office after the expiration of the 48 hours he had given Palestinians to stop clashes indicated he’s willing to extend that deadline, according to Israel Army Radio. The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said he made the decision after speaking with President Clinton.

We’re joined on the telephone right now by professor Naseer Aruri, who teaches political science at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

What do you make of this extension, Professor Aruri?

NASEER ARURI: Well, I think that the extension really is a relief to the Palestinians, especially the civilians, who have taken the brunt of it with the nearly a hundred people dead and more than 2,000 injured, as much as it is, I think, to Barak and his government, because I think that Barak has really put himself in a quandary when he gave that deadline two days ago. The question is: What was he going to do? I mean, this is not really a war between two armed nations. You have basically people living under occupation, under Israeli occupation, and they’ve been waging a struggle for independence. So, what was he going to do? I mean, the question is: Would he send his tanks and helicopters now against all these civilians? You know, he did use these tanks and helicopters against demonstrators, but, I mean, did the deadline mean that it was going to be an all-out massacre? This is really the question that’s been on many people’s minds. So, I think that the extension is probably a welcome relief to both sides.

I do want to emphasize, however, here that the extension is going to give a chance to the mediators to see if they can arrange for a settlement. A settlement — the issue is: settlement on what basis? I mean, if it’s going to be on the basis of Oslo as Oslo has been interpreted by the United States and by Israel, because they took a similar stand on it, then I think it’s a nonstarter. I mean, this is an issue that really belongs to the world community, to the United Nations. Most conflicts were resolved by the U.N. and are being resolved by the U.N. This has been taken away from the United Nations. And for the past nine years, it has really produced nothing. And that is the explanation for the demonstrations. These are demonstrations against Arafat’s regime as much as they are against Israel. And so, to expect Arafat to hold the demonstrations off, I mean, it is not really — it’s foolhardy, because he does not have a remote control. And as I said, these are really against his regime, which has been working in tandem with Israel for the past nine years.

AMY GOODMAN: You’ve been reading the U.S. press. Robert Fisk had an interesting column in the British press, in The Independent, the Middle East correspondent for that newspaper. He said when the U.S. press talks about crossfire, that means that Palestinians were killed by Israelis. That’s as far as they’re willing to go. We have a figure now, a death toll at something like 88 — who knows if someone has been killed since this program came on — overwhelmingly Palestinian. What is your take on that?

NASEER ARURI: Well, I think that what Robert Fisk has written in that article is quite correct. It’s too bad that this is not really what is being told. I mean, that’s not what the media has been telling the American people for the past 10, 11 days. I mean, if one even reads some of the writings by Israelis, by some of the Israelis in the peace camp, like Uri Avnery, let us take that for an example, I mean, Uri Avnery said the other day that Israeli forces have been training for this kind of thing for quite some time, and they’ve been training specifically for the use of helicopters, for the use of snipers, the sharpshooters who actually have been given orders to shoot to kill. That’s why most of the health personnel testified that the casualties that came to the hospitals, most of them were hit from the chest and above. So it’s not a question of a crossfire here. I mean, everyone saw on television the picture of Muhammad al-Durrah and his father trying to protect him. This is not a crossfire whatsoever. Demonstrations are not quelled by the use of air-to-ground missiles and by tanks.

You see, I think what is happening in the Occupied Territories and in the Arab world, which seems to be united behind the Palestinians today, is utter frustration, that why did Mr. Clinton say the other day — why did he applaud the victory of the masses in Belgrade, in Yugoslavia, and yet, when you have this rebellion for independence, this is being called violence, and then Arafat has to stop the violence? So, there’s really an utter frustration in the region as a whole. And I’m afraid that we have probably reached a turning point now. What really worries me most about this is that here is a conflict between a people struggling for independence and an occupier, that is threatening to become now perhaps a religious conflict, to take on this rather ominous dimension. And that, I think, could throw the whole region into turmoil.

AMY GOODMAN: Naseer Aruri, I want to thank you for being with us, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Thank you