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Our Life and Times by Kevin A. Barry and Mary Holmes
May 2001
Sharon escalates Middle East conflict
Since his election as Israeli prime minister under the slogan "Only Sharon
can bring peace," Ariel Sharon has lost little time in harnessing state
power to crush the Palestinian intifada. The situation became more ominous
when Sharon ordered retaliatory air strikes on April 16 against Syrian
radar installations inside Lebanon. The Israeli Defense Minister described
the raids as a signal that "the rules of the game have changed."
Since Sharon became prime minister, he has launched these events:
March 28: Sharon ordered a retaliatory air strike on the headquarters of
Yassir Arafat. Israeli officials called the raid the first in a series of
"pinpoint attacks."
April 5: Sharon's housing minister authorized construction of 700 new
homes, expanding two Israeli West Bank settlements. During the same week,
the Israeli government ordered the demolition of 30 Palestinian houses,
built in West Bank areas under Israeli control, because they were
constructed without permits.
April 11-21: Israeli tanks and bulldozers mounted three separate invasions
into Palestinian-controlled Gaza, demolishing homes, commercial buildings,
government structures and orchards.
April 20: Israeli police massed against Palestinians throwing stones in the
Temple Mount area, the largest police turnout inside the old part of
Jerusalem since the intifada began. On the same day, Sharon termed the
Israeli state's campaign to crush the intifada a "prolonged struggle."
The thus-far "limited interest" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
expressed by the U.S.-Bush administration has given tacit support to
Sharon. He was invited to Washington to meet with Bush in March. At that
time, Secretary of State (also a former general, like Sharon) Colin Powell
stated the U.S. would honor its "complete commitment" to Israel's security.
The U.S. also vetoed the Palestinian request for a UN-sponsored
international observer force.
The Arab summit held in March again pledged additional financial aid for
maintaining social services, but Palestinians have seen few results from
the multi-billion dollar support fund, much of it being siphoned off by
corrupt officials.
Saddam Hussein, whom Palestinian leaders were alone in supporting during
the Gulf War, has threatened to send thousands of volunteers to join the
intifada, although Iraq has demonstrably been more of a threat to Arab
rulers than to Israel.
In a recent interview in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, Sharon openly
stated what he alluded to during the election campaign: he will not return
any more land, from settlements in Gaza to the Golan Heights, regardless of
whether Palestinians meet his government's demands. He said he would
consider allowing Palestinians to control 42% of their own territory, what
HA'ARETZ termed "truncated enclaves of humiliatingly circumscribed
independence." As far as the Israeli people's desire for an end to the
conflict, Sharon declared "A normal people does not ask questions like
'will we always live by the sword'...the sword is part of life."
There is still a core of committed, principled peace activists and leftists
within Israel who continue to struggle. One of the newer oppositions
emerging is among reservists who are refusing military service.
--April 22, 2001
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