|| -----Original Message-----
|| From: Doug Henwood
||
||
|| Bryan Atinsky wrote:
||
|| > > >I think that Sharon targetted Arafat because zionism
|| can't tolerate even
|| >> >the shadow of a Palestinian authority.
|| >> >What's next, "ethnic cleansing"?
|| >
|| >What does he mean by: "what's next, "ethnic cleansing?"
|| >
|| > ....um...excuse me....what the hell does he think has been
|| going on this
|| >whole time?
||
|| Please, he's an American liberal. They can be a bit slow sometimes.
||
|| Doug
||
I think this "slowness" is related to the ratio of violent TV images to commentator spin. An occasional child being machinegunned in his father's arms can be talked out of existence. A few bodies of stone-throwing kids can be interpreted as "clashes between security forces and protesters". Sporadic Israeli shelling of Palestinian neigborhoods can be spun as "exchanges of fire". But when freshly-delivered Apaches and F-16's start tearing up the Palestinians in a rerun of the Lebanon invasion, no amount of spin can disguise the horror. The networks quickly realise that the "story" has changed - i.e. the public wants to see a full-fledged war and not just skirmishes - and start showing us the APC's and Merkavas that were always there but weren't considered "newsworthy" before. Suddenly everybody can "see" that there's a war on. Whence the sudden awakening of the liberals.
Anyway, Sharon's "war on terror" has found no takers outside Israel. The EU has declared that the PA was not behind the terrorist attacks. Israel's ally Turkey has condemned Israel. Here's what The Independent wrote: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?dir=75&story=10862 8&host=3&printable=1 ------------------------------- "The doomsday prophets were right," wrote Tallie Lipkin-Shahak, a prominent Israeli commentator with extensive contacts within the military, "Ariel Sharon is taking Israel to the place with which he is most familiar and enamoured – war."
She stated that Mr Sharon was implementing a long-held combat plan, codenamed Large Pines. {http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0699/9906043.html} "For those who looked closely, it was clear that the Prime Minister, acting under the auspices of a broad national consensus and a yearning for unity, would thwart every chance of reaching an agreement and would capitalise on every opportunity provided by the acts of violence perpetrated by evil-doers in the Palestinian Authority and rejectionist organisations, to achieve his goal."
Within the Labour party, an uneasy partner in Mr Sharon's coalition, suspicions abound that the Prime Minister's plan is to overthrow the Palestinian Authority, abandoning all diplomacy in favour of force.
Its ministers, led by Shimon Peres, walked out of Monday night's cabinet meeting before the vote designating the Palestinian Authority "as an entity that supports terrorism, and must be dealt with accordingly", although they are expected to remain in the government. The former Labour minister Yossi Beilin, an architect of the 1993 Oslo accords, has accused Mr Sharon of planning a war that will set Israel back by years.
The evidence cannot easily be dismissed. Although Mr Sharon claimed to have embraced the US-led Mitchell peace plan, he determinedly blocked it, insisting on seven days of total calm – a demand that was never likely to be fulfilled in any circumstances, and certainly not while Palestinian towns and villages were blockaded by Israeli troops. Shortly before the arrival last week of the US mediator Anthony Zinni, he personally ordered the assassination of Hamas's West Bank military leader. Hamas replied with a weekend of carnage. -------------------------------
Hakki