'Sharon feels little constraint'

Daily Mail
Editorial, October 5

"For those friends of Israel - and this paper counts itself one of them - the last few days have been extremely distressing. With the world's eyes turned on Iraq and the American elections, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been engaged in a brutal attack on Gaza ...

"The scale of [Israel's] latest intervention is out of all proportion to the threat. Excessive use of military force will test the loyalty of Israel's many allies. More pertinently, it will convert a new generation of Palestinians to terrorism. Only the US, which has invested so much in the Iraq war, can deliver a solution. If it had devoted a tenth of this energy to building a Middle East peace, this crisis might not have come to such a tragic pass."

Irish Times
Editorial, October 5

"Israel's assault on northern Gaza ... is just as large-scale and destructive as previous operations there and on West Bank towns over the last year, but international reaction has been much more muted than before ...

"[That] is partly explained by the fact that the operation was provoked by the despicable killing of two young children in the Israeli town of Sderot in a rocket attack launched from Gaza and claimed by the Hamas resistance movement. But it is also because the more severe violence in Iraq has overshadowed this Israeli operation and because the US presidential election has diverted the attention of the principal internationa players with an interest in the conflict. As a result, Mr Sharon feels little constraint on his plan to deal a lethal military blow against Hamas prior to the proposed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza."

Linda S Heard
Gulf News, United Arab Emirates, October 5

"President George Bush's war on terror has been a veritable godsend for Israel's rightwing parties, providing an ostensible pretext for state-sponsored atrocities ... The Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, [has] called for third-party intervention to stop the killing. As long as Israel labels the conflict as an internal matter it isn't going to happen.

"Iran's foreign ministry has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. France's foreign minister has appealed to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority for an end to the violence. Egypt's foreign affairs minister has called for restraint and Tunisia has expressed its concern ... [But] as long as the UN, the EU, Russia and the Arab League spout punch-less platitudes and allow Israel and the US to remain a law unto themselves - to the shame of all of us - the cries, the blood and the tears of the people of Gaza will remain virtually ignored."

Wall Street Journal Europe
Editorial, October 5

"One of the things that sets this incursion apart from similar Israeli military campaigns in the past is Europe's rather muted reaction. While normally jumping on every opportunity to criticise the Jewish state for trying to protect its citizens, most European capitals have so far remained unusually silent ...

"Could it be that Europe is finally waking up to the reality in the Middle East? ... Without openly acknowledging it, most European leaders have followed Israel's and America's calls to isolate Mr Arafat ...

"Only a military solution can end the Palestinian terror. And thanks to improved intelligence, targeted assassinations and the security barrier, the Israelis are saying that it can be done. Palestinian suicide bombers now find it almost impossible to reach their targets. That's why Hamas has resorted to firing rockets ... Israel, like any sovereign nation, cannot allow its population to come under missile attacks from enemy territory."

Evelyn Gordon
Jerusalem Post, October 4

"When enemy soldiers are actively hunting armed men through the streets, using tanks, machine guns, and helicopter missiles, what kind of parent endangers his children's lives by taking them outside to mingle with the targets and watch the show? No matter how hot and humid it is, one would expect a parent to keep his children in the house under those circumstances. But not, apparently, a Palestinian parent ...

"So many Palestinian civilians deliberately chose to put themselves and their children into the line of fire. In our modern civilised world, it is apparently perfectly reasonable to sacrifice your children for the sake of generating anti-Israel propaganda."

Danny Rubinstein
Haaretz, Israel, October 4

"Palestinian commentators say the excessive force used by Israel in Gaza is first and foremost an indication of the weakness of Mr Sharon's government ... Such a thought encourages the attackers to continue until the Israeli withdrawal, and after it as well.

"All these things are true not only for Gaza, but also for the West Bank. Without an agreement and settlement in Gaza, it is almost certain that the rockets and mortar fire will reach the West Bank. They will be the Palestinian answer to the separation barrier, and they will overcome it even after the Israeli Defence Force makes the wall in Jerusalem three metres higher ... The talks with the Palestinians may be frustrating and annoying - but the truth is that there is no alternative."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1320480,00.html