I am impressed with Jessie Jackson's comments.
<<< JACKSON: See, that might be the simplistic analysis. You know, we met with Arafat after having met with Mr. Peres and Ben-Eliezer twice in Jerusalem. And Arafat and his council met, make an appeal for a cease-fire, end terror, end suicide bombers, reaching out to Hamas. Apparently, had gotten them to agree on agree some kind of tentative cease-fire. Within four hours, the F-16 American-made plane and the bombs dropped. Then Hamas said, we will retaliate. And of course, they did.
What amazes me is that when they said, we will retaliate, we have not talked with them to ask them to not retaliate. We have not said to them, there’s a way out. Let’s stop it now. Let’s choose negotiation and reconciliation over more confrontation. We’ve taken pride in not talking. If you don’t talk, you don’t act, you don’t change things, ever. >>>
This situation was a very clear example of Sharon attempting to keep the cycle of violence alive in the face of possible peace. This has happened numerous times during the Intifada, most notably at its very outset.
Tom |
