Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism
Israelis are not expected to respond - just to die.
March 30, 2002 -- AT the heart of Ariel Sharon’s decision to unleash the Israeli military against Yasser Arafat’s compound in Ramallah and to "isolate" the PLO leader lies one simple statement from the prime minister’s address to his people:
"No sovereign nation would tolerate such a sequence of events."
By which Sharon meant that every show of Israeli restraint, of willingness to withdraw its lines in the sand in order to accommodate the Bush administration’s efforts to bring the two sides together, was rejected by Arafat.
Three times in the past few days, Sharon noted, Israel accepted the cease-fire terms put together by President Bush’s special envoy, Gen. Anthony Zinni, though doing so violated Sharon’s promise not to negotiate under fire.
Each time, Arafat said no.
"All we have received in return," Sharon declared, "was terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism."
For too long, much of the world has condemned Israel’s attempts to protect its citizens, yet has offered no alternative.
It’s reminiscent of a famous line in the James Bond film "Goldfinger": As 007, strapped to a gurney, watches nervously as a deadly laser beam moves toward him, he asks the villain: "Do you expect me to talk?"
"No, Mr. Bond," responds Goldfinger, "I expect you to die."
Too much of the Western world, even while criticizing Palestinian terror, has made excuses for it, and/or blamed Israel for "instigating" it. At any rate, Israelis are not expected to respond - just to die.
In just 36 hours this week, 30 Israelis were murdered in three Palestinian terrorist attacks. Given the population differences, that figure is equivalent to about 1,325 Americans.
World Trade Center numbers, in other words.
And those are only the latest victims in an assault that has been raging for 18 months.
The American public would never allow its president to ignore such murderous attacks. Indeed, the American public would never let its leader show the kind of painful restraint that Sharon has exhibited.
In declaring Arafat an enemy who must be isolated, Sharon is saying that the PLO leader lost his last chance to prove that he’d put his decades-long record of terrorism and murder behind him.
No more second chances, Sharon is saying. Israel’s declaration of weeks back that Arafat is "irrelevant" to any peace process is now being put into effect. No more talks, no more pleas, no more negotiations.
"Ariel Sharon has declared war on Yasser Arafat," NBC’s Tom Brokaw declared yesterday.
Not so - Sharon merely responded to a war that was unleashed 18 months ago by Yasser Arafat - against all Israelis. Not just Sharon, but all the prime ministers who came before him and all the citizens of the Jewish state.
That’s the reality the Bush administration seemed to understand some time ago. Last November, Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that "Palestinians must eliminate any doubt once and for all that they accept the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state. They must make clear that their objective is a Palestinian state alongside Israel, not in place of Israel."
Instead, Arafat’s Al-Aqsa Brigades joined with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in mounting attacks against Israelis, while Arafat pleads that he’s unable to control terrorism.
Meanwhile, Arafat himself negotiated a secret agreement with terrorist-sponsoring Iran to supply him with sophisticated arms. (Luckily, Israel intercepted the first shipment back in January.)
For all the agreements he’s signed, Arafat has never abandoned the Arab dream, codified four decades ago in the PLO charter, of ultimately replacing Israel with an Arab state. And he’s prepared to achieve it by any means necessary, no matter how many innocents must die.
And that war against Israel has the support of the larger Arab world. Even as it was adopting the Saudi so-called peace plan this week, the Arab League called on Palestinians to continue their "legitimate resistance" to Israel.
Until now, Israel has absorbed more deadly blows than any other nation would accept. And Sharon has bent over backwards to show his willingness to reach a political solution.
But he also knows that you can bend over backwards just so far before you break.
If the Palestinians are genuinely interested in a real peace agreement, they’ll have to find someone else besides Yasser Arafat to bring it about. And that person will have to do it through negotiations, not murder.
That’s the message Sharon drove home yesterday.
"No sovereign nation would tolerate such a sequence of events."
By which Sharon meant that every show of Israeli restraint, of willingness to withdraw its lines in the sand in order to accommodate the Bush administration’s efforts to bring the two sides together, was rejected by Arafat.
Three times in the past few days, Sharon noted, Israel accepted the cease-fire terms put together by President Bush’s special envoy, Gen. Anthony Zinni, though doing so violated Sharon’s promise not to negotiate under fire.
Each time, Arafat said no.
"All we have received in return," Sharon declared, "was terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism."
For too long, much of the world has condemned Israel’s attempts to protect its citizens, yet has offered no alternative.
It’s reminiscent of a famous line in the James Bond film "Goldfinger": As 007, strapped to a gurney, watches nervously as a deadly laser beam moves toward him, he asks the villain: "Do you expect me to talk?"
"No, Mr. Bond," responds Goldfinger, "I expect you to die."
Too much of the Western world, even while criticizing Palestinian terror, has made excuses for it, and/or blamed Israel for "instigating" it. At any rate, Israelis are not expected to respond - just to die.
In just 36 hours this week, 30 Israelis were murdered in three Palestinian terrorist attacks. Given the population differences, that figure is equivalent to about 1,325 Americans.
World Trade Center numbers, in other words.
And those are only the latest victims in an assault that has been raging for 18 months.
The American public would never allow its president to ignore such murderous attacks. Indeed, the American public would never let its leader show the kind of painful restraint that Sharon has exhibited.
In declaring Arafat an enemy who must be isolated, Sharon is saying that the PLO leader lost his last chance to prove that he’d put his decades-long record of terrorism and murder behind him.
No more second chances, Sharon is saying. Israel’s declaration of weeks back that Arafat is "irrelevant" to any peace process is now being put into effect. No more talks, no more pleas, no more negotiations.
"Ariel Sharon has declared war on Yasser Arafat," NBC’s Tom Brokaw declared yesterday.
Not so - Sharon merely responded to a war that was unleashed 18 months ago by Yasser Arafat - against all Israelis. Not just Sharon, but all the prime ministers who came before him and all the citizens of the Jewish state.
That’s the reality the Bush administration seemed to understand some time ago. Last November, Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that "Palestinians must eliminate any doubt once and for all that they accept the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state. They must make clear that their objective is a Palestinian state alongside Israel, not in place of Israel."
Instead, Arafat’s Al-Aqsa Brigades joined with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in mounting attacks against Israelis, while Arafat pleads that he’s unable to control terrorism.
Meanwhile, Arafat himself negotiated a secret agreement with terrorist-sponsoring Iran to supply him with sophisticated arms. (Luckily, Israel intercepted the first shipment back in January.)
For all the agreements he’s signed, Arafat has never abandoned the Arab dream, codified four decades ago in the PLO charter, of ultimately replacing Israel with an Arab state. And he’s prepared to achieve it by any means necessary, no matter how many innocents must die.
And that war against Israel has the support of the larger Arab world. Even as it was adopting the Saudi so-called peace plan this week, the Arab League called on Palestinians to continue their "legitimate resistance" to Israel.
Until now, Israel has absorbed more deadly blows than any other nation would accept. And Sharon has bent over backwards to show his willingness to reach a political solution.
But he also knows that you can bend over backwards just so far before you break.
If the Palestinians are genuinely interested in a real peace agreement, they’ll have to find someone else besides Yasser Arafat to bring it about. And that person will have to do it through negotiations, not murder.
That’s the message Sharon drove home yesterday.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$230.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network
What about Christmas, or Ramadan, or any other holy
time that Israel and it's allies don't respect...What about the terrorism of Israel, the US, and Turkey...as they combine to inflict terror around the world and train others in the use of terror...And who else did they learn from but England...And in the end Sharon's final solution to the problems in Israel(um...Palestine), is to get rid of every palestinian...to push them back to Jordan, take their land, kill them, strip them down and give them numbers, put them in refugee camps
We have all seen this kinda stuff happen before...What ever happened to what we declared after WW2...
NEVER AGAIN....Rise up now and call Israel and the US on this bogus PIECE plan
irlandeso - chuckE
There is another way than Sharon or Bush, and for that way people would need to begin listening to the refuseniks and the Israeli peace movement.
As in all modern wars, most of the victims who are targeted and killed on both sides are civilians. That is something war-lovers and war profiteers do not care about.
Last December, the U.S. was the only country on the UN Security Council to vote against the resolution that condemned both Israeli and Palestinian terrorism. That unfortunate vote has only encouraged Sharon and other warmongers to do more killings.
If Arafat, who has had his entire infrastructure destroyed by the brutal Israeli military and who has been held a prisoner, is to be held responsible for all Palestinian terrorism, we should equally also hold Sharon responsible for all the Israeli terrorism. Certainly, Sharon is in a much stronger position to control the people on his side of the fence.
For the past 40 years, all American presidents have criticized the Israeli right-wing, illegal settlement policy. Despite this fact and despite the fact that Americans politicians has given over $100 billions of our tax dollars to the Israelis, they have continued to thumb their noses at us.
A more balanced and rational foreign aid policy in the Mideast would be welcomed by most of the world, and this would lead to a reduction in hate and terrorism against Americans.