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From Left and Right, Critics Assail Sharon's West Bank Clampdown
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's month-long military clampdown on Palestinian cities and villages in the West Bank faced growing criticism from across Israel's political spectrum today after two deadly Palestinian attacks in as many days. ---------- U.S. opposes plan to exile families of Palestinian militants The United States on Friday criticized a proposal to deport the families of Palestinian militants from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, saying it would not bring security to Israel.
"We expect that Israel's actions in its campaign against terror will be based on information related to an individual's culpability and not on personal or family relationships," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. ----------
I Was Schooled in Hate:
The Israel Defense Forces this week cynically capitalized on an earlier public relations coup, releasing yet another snapshot of a Palestinian toddler posed with weapons. The photograph, purportedly seized during a military operation in Hebron, is reminiscent of last month's notorious "Terror in Diapers" photo, which showed a Gaza child decked out as a suicide bomber.
But as I watched Zionist spinmeisters drawing ugly conclusions on CNN, I couldn't help flashing back to fond memories of dear old Camp Milldale, where -- to borrow a phrase from the ADL -- I myself was "schooled in hate" during the summer of 1967. --------- One of the best-kept secrets in Israel is that most Israelis are fed up with the occupation, and just want to get out.
According to June's findings by Mina Zemach, Israel's foremost pollster, 63% of Israelis are in favor of "unilateral withdrawal." In fact, 69% call for the evacuation of "all" or "most of" the settlements. thanks to Dr. Menlo @ American Samizdat --------- Sharon's War on Moderate Palestinians IF ONE NEEDED further proof that Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's real intentions are not just the suppression of terrorism but the relentless termination of Palestinian national aspirations, you need look no further than the recent closing of the offices of Sari Nusseibeh, the Palestinian representative for Jerusalem. The Oxford- and Harvard-trained Nusseibeh, president of Al Quds University, is one of the Palestinian camp's most articulate voices for compromise between Palestinians and Israelis. Fluent in Hebrew as well as English, Nusseibeh is on record as recognizing the Jewish people's rights in the Holy Land, and he has publicly told the Palestinians that they must give up the right of return to Israel proper. He was also a leader in the recent move among Palestinian intellectuals to denounce the use of suicide bombings. He is also a voice for reform within the Palestinian leadership. One might have thought that Nusseibeh was just the sort of leader President Bush was calling for to replace Yasser Arafat. As Israel's opposition parliamentarian, Naomi Chazan, told National Public Radio: ''This is a man who has courageously opposed terrorism.... This is a person who has been a pillar in the creation of a Palestinian-Israeli peace coalition and really a man who is a moderate voice and a very key person in the attempt by Israelis and Palestinians to keep some channels open.''
But Nusseibeh has earned the enmity of two powerful players in the Arab-Israeli drama - extremists in Hamas and the Islamic Jihad who are against compromise with Israel and the Israeli hard right, personified by Sharon and his security minister, Uzi Landau, who are against compromise with the Palestinians. |