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Sharon
Does Not Want Peace
by Ibrahim Farhan
http://www.studentorg.vcu.edu/fpn
U.S. President George W. Bush calls him "A Man of Peace."
But, do the actions of the far-right wing leader Ariel Sharon
really show that he is interested in lasting peace?
What would a realistic Palestinian state consist
of? The West Bank, Gaza Strip
and East Jerusalem, with full control of its borders.
While Sharon repeatedly calls for a Palestinian state in the
distant future, and even went against Binyamin Netanyahu in a Likud party
policy vote, this is only lip service to appease Bush's idea of a two
state solution. Sharon's own
party says that they will never accept a Palestinian state west of the
Great Rift Valley, effectively the West Bank, because they feels it would
be a threat to Israeli security. On
the contrary, Israeli security can only be achieved when a Palestinian
state has been established, which will wipe clean any desire in the hearts
of the Palestinian people to attack innocent Israeli civilians within
Israeli proper.
But, has Sharon pushed forward this agenda of a
two-state solution, and tried to create an environment suitable for
negotiations? No.
He has repeatedly disrupted talks between Palestinian liberation
movements, ended or condemned negotiations, and even angered the
Palestinian people enough to help spark the second Intifada.
Ariel Sharon is not highly viewed upon in the
region. He earned his
reputation as "The Butcher of Beirut" when in September 1982 he
led an Israeli sanctioned militia into the refugee camps of Sabra and
Shatila in Lebanon and killed thousands of innocent civilians.
He was forced to resign as Defense Minister after his genocide.
In 2000, the IDF reported a reduction in the number of attacks and
planned attacks in Israel, because there was a general feeling of
anticipation of a Palestinian state. However, Ariel Sharon, a man hated by the Palestinian people,
decided to make his controversial visit, with many armed Israeli guards,
to the Al-Aqsa Masjid in Eastern Jerusalem: the second holiest Masjid in
Islam. His visit, along with
several other factors, such as the failure of Camp David 2000, helped
spark the second Intifada (uprising) against the brutal Israeli
occupation. Had he been serious about peace, he would have gone along
with his advisors and never visited, but rather, he chose to anger the
Palestinian people, and create more hatred.
As just mentioned, the only possible agreement
would be an independent Palestinian state, consisting of the West Bank,
Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Though
this was never the actual offer, Eduh Barak offered the PLO much of the
land, split into four non-consecutive unacceptable regions during Camp
David 2000. And being
unacceptable, this plan was never accepted by the PLO.
In Ariel Sharon's campaign, he called the offer by Barak at Camp
David, an offer viewed on as too little and divided by the PLO, "too
much." If Sharon were serious about peace, he would have offered the
Palestinian people more land, not less.
Yassir Arafat once said, "The biggest
obstacle to a cease-fire is the very real fear of civil war."
The reason many Palestinian liberation movements exist is because
there is no unified view on how to achieve lasting peace, but it is
generally regarded that attacks on innocent civilians within Israel must
be stopped. To solve this
problem, the many liberation factions agreed to have talks among
themselves, and even gained legitimacy in the international eye. During these talks, no suicide bombing operations were
executed in Israel, or even in occupied Palestine.
Hamas released a press statement saying that they were considering
a halt against Israeli civilians, in exchange for Israeli withdrawal of
Palestinian Authority areas. Then,
on July 23rd 2002, Sharon ordered a one-ton bomb to be dropped
on the house of Salah Shehada, a founder of the military wing of Hamas, in
the Gaza Strip. This
excessive force killed Salah Shehada, and 13 innocent civilians, including
his wife, daughter, and nine children.
It also should be noted that the assassination in the Gaza Strip
took place in a densely populated neighborhood.
The Israeli forces committed this assassination knowing many
innocent civilians would die, but did it anyways.
The attack was described as "a great victory for Israel."
Though the Israeli occupational forces can justify the
assassination by claiming that Shehada was the organizer of numerous
terrorist attacks, the timing of the assassination was inappropriate.
As a result, numerous Palestinian movements vowed revenge, and the
cycle continued.
Before December 27th 2002, Israel
experienced nearly month without a suicide bombing within Israel, or even
the illegal Israeli colonies. In this time, numerous Palestinian factions met in Cairo,
Egypt to discuss talks to halt operations within Israel. Then, on December 27th, Israeli forces launched numerous
political assassinations across the West Bank and Gaza Strip in an attempt
to incite Palestinian retaliation and revenge.
Amran Abu Hamediye was found beaten to death in Hebron, shortly
after being detained by the Israeli army, at least four Palestinian
children under the age of 16 were shot and killed by Israeli fire,
including an 11-year-old girl, who was shot in the chest and killed as she
leaned out of her bedroom window to watch the funeral of another teenage
boy who was gunned down by Ariel Sharon’s Israeli army the previous day.
In one political assassination, the Israeli Special Forces
disguised as Palestinians surrounded the home of a Palestinian militant,
and killed him as he prepared to eat a meal with his family.
In a separate incident, a Palestinian militant was shot once in the
left leg, and again in the abdomen as he attempted to flee from his house.
For two hours, neighbors heard his cries of anguish, but the
Israeli forces denied him any medical treatment, and he died from
blood-loss. As Nabil Abu Rudaineh, an advisor to Yassir Arafat said,
"ongoing escalation in the Palestinian territories; the
assassinations and demolitions of houses; is a deliberate attempt to
sabotage [negotiations between Palestinian factions]."
And just as before, excessive force was exercised to ensure that
innocent Palestinian civilians would be killed.
Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon said, "We're taking
legitimate actions to stop these terrorists.
How Come so many dead? Too
bad. It's a sad day for
terrorists and a victory for those fighting against it."
On January 5th 2003, after six weeks of not a single
Israeli civilian dying during the talks in Cairo, two Palestinian men blew
themselves up in the streets of Tel Aviv, killing 22, and injuring more
than 100 others. This attack
was in revenge for the many Palestinians who had died in those six-weeks.
Ariel Sharon had the ability to cease-fire, but instead its
aggression on the Palestinians incited another attack.
Ariel Sharon has the ability to bring peace in
the region. He can easily
offer a Palestinian state, end the occupation, or at least end all
killings of innocent Palestinians. Instead,
he denies the Palestinians their land, and incites violence during
peace-talks. Ariel Sharon:
Man of War.
Sources
Used
Hamas Militant Killed in
Nablus
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37938-2002Dec25.html
Gaza Civilians “Beyond
Trauma”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2212112.stm
Bloody Thursday in Middle
East
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41936-2002Dec26.html
A Brutal Routine
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3878-2003Jan2.html
Two Suicide Bombers Kill 22
in Tel Aviv
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13236-2003Jan5.html
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