Peace is the hope of all nations, including quite a large number of Jews both inside and outside Israel. It is unfortunately a hope that is fading because of the reckless and greedy policies of a politically corrupt man. To this day Ariel Sharon doesn’t understand the meaning of peace. He insists on ending all ties with the Palestinians in Gaza without being committed to international law.
Exaggerated security considerations and party expectations are creating agitation in Israel and causing Sharon to strike out in opposing directions. They have also driven him to announce that the democratically elected Palestinian president, Arafat, no longer enjoys immunity against assassination. Along the same sick lines, the Israeli minister of war on April 19 stated that his ministry would continue its policy of wiping out the Palestinian leadership — considering them ‘the murderers of Israeli children,’ totally disregarding the daily murder of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories.
According to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, Israeli security sources announced that any leadership that takes the place of the martyred Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Dr Abdelaziz Al-Rantissi will face the same fate. During a visit to Cairo a few days ago, a delegation of Palestinians confirmed that the end was near and that the threats to Arafat are genuine and are part of the larger plan of doing away with the top echelon of the Palestinian leadership and thus depriving Palestinians of any authority. Sharon is not seeking peace; he is carrying out state terrorism.
The end came when, in a television interview broadcast on April 27, Sharon said that the death certificate had been issued for the road map to peace — ascribing it to the Palestinians’ failure to abide by the map and evading their commitments. Saying in fact that Palestinians are terrorists who must be struck wherever they are.
Since the beginning of the second intifada and until Jan. 1, 2004, the Israeli Army of occupation had assassinated 438 members of the Palestinian leadership at all levels, killed more than 3,000 Palestinian civilians, most of whom children, women or the elderly. Up to the end of April 2004, they had illegally arrested 7,500 Palestinians. All these acts of course are acceptable as it is in line with the principles of Israeli security.
Is this the democracy that some consider should be an example for the Middle East? Is the continued presence of Arafat the only obstacle to achieving peace and bringing an end to the Arab Israeli conflict? Definitely not, because what Arafat is demanding — the Palestinian people’s rights — would be the demand of any Palestinian leadership, regardless of the facts or variables surrounding the issue. There is not a single Arab or Islamic leader who could back down on the issue of Jerusalem or any of the other legitimate rights relating to the continued presence of the Palestinian people and the establishment of an independent state. The real obstacle to peace is Israeli policy and ideology and the desire to take over other people’s land. So long as Sharon steers Israel along this course, peace will not be achieved.
Sharon is now living the most uncomfortable moments of his political career, following the failure of his military option in providing Israelis with the security and stability promised. His credibility has also been shaken and that has also eroded his popularity.
In addition he is involved in an internal political struggle with Netanyahu and is being pursued by the law for his involvement in cases of bribery and scandal that may end his career. He knows full well that human rights organizations which have the documents to prove his abuses, whether against Palestinians or Egyptians, will very likely pursue him when he is no longer prime minister.
Can peace ever be achieved with a man like Ariel Sharon?
