<<Don't hold your breath expecting peace just yet>>
... arrogance in Israel ... and now Sharon is trying to look like a 'man of peace', even though he acts and believes the same as his party ...
Ken Wilson
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May 12, 2002
Likud Rejects Palestinian State
By The Associated Press, Filed at 6:07 p.m. ET
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party voted Monday to reject the creation of a Palestinian state, a major defeat for Sharon.
The vote, by a show of hands of members of the Likud Central Committee, was overwhelmingly against accepting the eventual creation of a Palestinian state. Sharon had strongly opposed the resolution and had tried to prevent the vote, concerned that it would increase international pressure on Israel and tie his hands diplomatically.
Though the party body does not have the power to remove Sharon from office, the vote showed his political weakness in his own camp and might limit his effectiveness.
Behind the confrontation with Sharon was ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who has announced his plans to challenge Sharon for party leadership and eventually replace him as prime minister.
Only a handful of delegates voted against the Netanyahu-backed resolution, which read, "No Palestinian state will be created west of the Jordan (River)," referring to the area including the West Bank, Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Opposition to a Palestinian state has been the traditional position of the Likud, but Sharon has said that under stringent conditions, he would agree to creation of such a state, at one point calling it "inevitable."
Responding to the vote, Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said it "unmasked many things. This just shows that the war being waged by Israel against the Palestinians is not a war against what they call terror, it's really their war to maintain the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza." He told The Associated Press that the vote was "a real slap in the face" for President Bush, who has spoken in favor of setting up a Palestinian state.
Instead of the measure opposing a Palestinian state, Sharon asked the convention to approve a resolution backing his government in its efforts for peace and security. In a secret ballot, delegates voted against Sharon's proposal by a margin of 59 to 41 percent, a stinging defeat for the prime minister.
Looking defiant but uncomfortable, Sharon took the podium and made a brief statement after losing the vote on his resolution. He said he would honor the decisions of his party's central committee, but added, "I will continue to lead the state of Israel and the people of Israel according to the same ideas that led me always -- security for the state of Israel and its citizens and our desire for real peace."
Then Sharon exited the hall, walking behind Netanyahu without looking at him, before the delegates quickly approved the resolution opposing creation of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu said that the vote showed how the Likud party activists view peacemaking. "In the midst of a terror campaign run by (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat, they don't want to envision a terrorist state which would threaten the destruction of Israel."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press | Privacy Policy
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... as I said to my friends on April 25 ...
I agree with you that Israel, given the suicide-bomber-murder attacks, had little choice but to respond as they have done in the West Bank (and I do not have a view or opinion that Israel committed crimes in Jenin or anywhere else). However, with public opinion turning against Israel in Europe, (and slowly moving more against them even in the U.S.), when a world wide publication with a solid and professional reputation such as "The Economist" raises the issue of war crimes, it is not a good development for anyone.
Unfortunately, Israel often makes its problems worse for itself. To determine whether my memory was correct or not in this case, I researched the course of events that led us to the situation we have there today.
(1) On September 28, 2000, just as Ariel Sharon was about to begin his Likud Party campaign to unseat Barak as Prime Minister, he surrounded himself with over 1,000 Israeli security police and marched on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in an extremely provocative, dangerous and most visible manner. Although it is impossible to be 100% sure about motive, I remember thinking at the time, and still believe today that Sharon was using this cynical tactic to destabilize the area and hurt the chances of the peace settlement that Arafat would so stupidly and weakly declined. Sharon was and is 100% against where the peace process stood, given that it would lead to the eventual abandonment of many or all of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Sharon knew what he was doing ... and he got what he wanted, the 2nd Palestinian "Intifada" ... he knew the Palestinian people hated him ... he knew they were emotional ... and he knew that they were ignorant and uneducated. So Sharon got what he wanted ... we are now further from peace there than we have been in years ... and that is exactly what the Likud Party and Sharon want.
(2) The biggest issue overall are the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. If this land is to become the Palestinian homeland, how can that ever happen with dozens and dozens of Jewish settlements spread through the West Bank. Find yourself a map of the West Bank and look for yourself ... Israeli settlements dot the entire area as if they were heavily and evenly peppered on the map.
(3) Sharon is no man of peace. For our President to say so (and I generally approve of GWB's time in office to date) is almost laughable. The biggest mistake he has made to date was staying disengaged with what has been happening in Israel, etc. Now he is in trouble.
(4) The U.S. and World economies could be easily destabilized right now. If Saudi Arabia gives the word, the Saudis, Iran, Libya, UAE, Qatar will give us an oil-shock like we have not seen in the past - not even in the 70s. And why ... the answer is two words ... Ariel Sharon. |
