Sharon and Israeli PoliticsIsrael and Palestine
Two leaders dominate this discussion -- Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon -- even while the US and Israel try to promote Abu mazen.
There is little need to document the shortcomings of Yasser Arafat -- they are covered every day in the American press.
... But what about the other partner in the peace? What kind of man is Ariel Sharon? What's his history? What's the mentality and political picture in Israel under his leadership?
Friday, September 12, 2003
Sharon promised that this war will be a widespread, prolonged, and bloody campaign
Foreign Policy In Focus | Global Affairs Commentary | Sharon's War: by Simona Sharoni April 11, 2002
In his televised address to the Israeli public following another deadly suicide bombing in Haifa, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared that once again Israel has no other choice but to wage war. As the military activated 20,000 army reservists, the largest number since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon--another unnecessary war masterminded by Sharon--the Israeli leader promised that this war will be a widespread, prolonged, and bloody campaign.
...
... Rather, it is part of a broader master plan long in the making. The plan, designed to impose a new political reality on the Palestinians, is now clear: to destroy the Palestinian Authority (PA), militarily reoccupy most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and create small and disconnected Palestinian "Bantustans" forced to make their own separate deals with Israel on Israeli terms. No independent Palestinian state. No Palestinian National Authority. No removal of Israeli settlements. No territorial compromise.
Like others on the far right, Sharon has always opposed any "peace process" with the Palestinians and was the key architect of the settlement colonization plan for the Occupied West Bank and Gaza strip after 1967. He strongly opposed the limited "concessions" that Israel made in order to secure Palestinian compliance for the Oslo Peace Accords of 1993--especially the establishment of Palestinian self-rule in the major cities of the West Bank and most of the Gaza Strip. His provocative visit to Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem in September 2000 triggered the latest round of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians, which all but ended the official diplomatic process between them. Upon his election as Prime Minister in February, 2001, Sharon set into motion his plan for collapsing the Palestinian Authority through systematic assassinations of key political and military leaders, bombarding infrastructure, imprisoning people in their villages, and creating starvation conditions. All this while waiting for domestic and international conditions to "ripen" for the more "advanced" steps of the plan.
The assassination campaign of over one hundred Palestinians in the past eighteen months, which consistently led to retaliatory Palestinian suicide bomb attacks, were designed precisely to create the appropriate justification for this next step.
(Simona Sharoni is a Middle East expert and a professor of peace and conflict resolution at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She is an Israeli-Jew who served in the Israeli army and currently resides in the United States.)
Foreign Policy In Focus | Global Affairs Commentary | Sharon's War: by Simona Sharoni April 11, 2002
In his televised address to the Israeli public following another deadly suicide bombing in Haifa, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared that once again Israel has no other choice but to wage war. As the military activated 20,000 army reservists, the largest number since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon--another unnecessary war masterminded by Sharon--the Israeli leader promised that this war will be a widespread, prolonged, and bloody campaign.
...
... Rather, it is part of a broader master plan long in the making. The plan, designed to impose a new political reality on the Palestinians, is now clear: to destroy the Palestinian Authority (PA), militarily reoccupy most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and create small and disconnected Palestinian "Bantustans" forced to make their own separate deals with Israel on Israeli terms. No independent Palestinian state. No Palestinian National Authority. No removal of Israeli settlements. No territorial compromise.
Like others on the far right, Sharon has always opposed any "peace process" with the Palestinians and was the key architect of the settlement colonization plan for the Occupied West Bank and Gaza strip after 1967. He strongly opposed the limited "concessions" that Israel made in order to secure Palestinian compliance for the Oslo Peace Accords of 1993--especially the establishment of Palestinian self-rule in the major cities of the West Bank and most of the Gaza Strip. His provocative visit to Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem in September 2000 triggered the latest round of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians, which all but ended the official diplomatic process between them. Upon his election as Prime Minister in February, 2001, Sharon set into motion his plan for collapsing the Palestinian Authority through systematic assassinations of key political and military leaders, bombarding infrastructure, imprisoning people in their villages, and creating starvation conditions. All this while waiting for domestic and international conditions to "ripen" for the more "advanced" steps of the plan.
The assassination campaign of over one hundred Palestinians in the past eighteen months, which consistently led to retaliatory Palestinian suicide bomb attacks, were designed precisely to create the appropriate justification for this next step.
(Simona Sharoni is a Middle East expert and a professor of peace and conflict resolution at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She is an Israeli-Jew who served in the Israeli army and currently resides in the United States.)
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Primer on Palestine Uprising-Who is Ariel Sharon? - MERIP
Primer on Palestine Uprising-Who is Ariel Sharon? - MERIP
...
In 1971, he ordered a systematic campaign to "pacify" the population of Gaza through massive repression, expulsions, and arrests.
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Since 1987, Sharon has maintained a heavily guarded residence, draped in an Israeli flag, in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. In the early 1990s, while serving as housing minister in Yitzhak Shamir's Likud government, he promoted a massive construction drive to increase Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Sharon was a vociferous critic of Prime Minister Ehud Barak's decision to negotiate with the Palestinians. His provocative visit to al-Haram al-Sharif on September 28, 2000, and the harsh Israeli response to the protests that followed, helped ignite the Palestinian uprising.
Primer on Palestine Uprising-Who is Ariel Sharon? - MERIP
...
In 1971, he ordered a systematic campaign to "pacify" the population of Gaza through massive repression, expulsions, and arrests.
...
Since 1987, Sharon has maintained a heavily guarded residence, draped in an Israeli flag, in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. In the early 1990s, while serving as housing minister in Yitzhak Shamir's Likud government, he promoted a massive construction drive to increase Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Sharon was a vociferous critic of Prime Minister Ehud Barak's decision to negotiate with the Palestinians. His provocative visit to al-Haram al-Sharif on September 28, 2000, and the harsh Israeli response to the protests that followed, helped ignite the Palestinian uprising.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | A lifetime credo
Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | A lifetime credo | 4 - 10 September 2003
Kill unarmed civilians then lie through your teeth: Ariel Sharon's been doing it for half a century. Azmi Bishara examines the career of Israel's prime minister
...
The first attack carried out by Unit 101 [Sharon] was mounted against Al-Bureij refugee camp on the night of 28 August, 1953. Learning that its presence had been discovered, instead of withdrawing it stormed the camp and escaped from the other side, and thus found itself surrounded by unarmed civilians. The ensuing massacre claimed 43 Palestinian refugees, among whom were seven women, and wounded 22. Losses of Unit 101 totaled two wounded. Sharon had personally led the attack.
...
David Ben Gurion met with Minister of Security Yitzhak Lavon and Moshe Dayan ... to discuss retaliation for the murder of a Jewish woman and her two children in a grenade attack on her home by a Palestinian infiltrator. ...
The order issued by Dayan read, "Operation Shushna: Objective, carry out sharp-response reprisals against villages being used as bases for [Palestinian] infiltration operations. Task A: incursion into Naalein and Shiqba villages with the aim of destroying a number of houses and wounding their inhabitants. Task B: attack Qibya, occupy it temporarily, blow up homes and cause injury, forcing inhabitants to flee the village.
...
The operation was carried out after midnight on 15 October. Carrying 700 kilos of explosives the [Sharon] task force blew up 54 houses within three hours. Seventy villagers were killed, most of them women and children. Most of the victims died from bullet wounds. A significant portion perished beneath the rubble of their homes, having been given no warning to vacate.
Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | A lifetime credo | 4 - 10 September 2003
Kill unarmed civilians then lie through your teeth: Ariel Sharon's been doing it for half a century. Azmi Bishara examines the career of Israel's prime minister
...
The first attack carried out by Unit 101 [Sharon] was mounted against Al-Bureij refugee camp on the night of 28 August, 1953. Learning that its presence had been discovered, instead of withdrawing it stormed the camp and escaped from the other side, and thus found itself surrounded by unarmed civilians. The ensuing massacre claimed 43 Palestinian refugees, among whom were seven women, and wounded 22. Losses of Unit 101 totaled two wounded. Sharon had personally led the attack.
...
David Ben Gurion met with Minister of Security Yitzhak Lavon and Moshe Dayan ... to discuss retaliation for the murder of a Jewish woman and her two children in a grenade attack on her home by a Palestinian infiltrator. ...
The order issued by Dayan read, "Operation Shushna: Objective, carry out sharp-response reprisals against villages being used as bases for [Palestinian] infiltration operations. Task A: incursion into Naalein and Shiqba villages with the aim of destroying a number of houses and wounding their inhabitants. Task B: attack Qibya, occupy it temporarily, blow up homes and cause injury, forcing inhabitants to flee the village.
...
The operation was carried out after midnight on 15 October. Carrying 700 kilos of explosives the [Sharon] task force blew up 54 houses within three hours. Seventy villagers were killed, most of them women and children. Most of the victims died from bullet wounds. A significant portion perished beneath the rubble of their homes, having been given no warning to vacate.
Monday, September 08, 2003
With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956).
Truth Of The Middle East: "ARIEL SHARON Interview
'I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian childs existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956).
I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian women is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do.'
- Ariel Sharon, current Israeli Prime Minister,
In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956"
Truth Of The Middle East: "ARIEL SHARON Interview
'I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian childs existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956).
I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian women is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do.'
- Ariel Sharon, current Israeli Prime Minister,
In an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956"
Sunday, September 07, 2003
Israeli Politics -The vision of a blind goat
Israeli Politics -The vision of a blind goat: "The vision of a blind goat By Yoel Marcus Haaretz May 23, 2003
I could write a big fat book about why I changed my mind about Ariel Sharon at least 20 times. Why I once wrote that only Sharon was capable of dismantling settlements for the sake of peace, and then turned around and wrote that the man who built most of the settlements in Samaria would never be able to knock them down.
...
... Sharon the politician is a pleasant fellow and very persuasive in private conversation. He creates the impression of whispering secrets in your ear, and most of all, he tells you what you want to hear - which is not always the truth
...
From the way he acts, you'd think Sharon was from the UN: He doesn't get involved in domestic affairs. He hasn't lifted a finger to strengthen the Abu Mazen administration, which ultimately came into being as a result of his pressure and influence.
...
Without a dream, without strategy, Sharon, the man with the balls of steel, has the leadership vision of a blind goat.
Israeli Politics -The vision of a blind goat: "The vision of a blind goat By Yoel Marcus Haaretz May 23, 2003
I could write a big fat book about why I changed my mind about Ariel Sharon at least 20 times. Why I once wrote that only Sharon was capable of dismantling settlements for the sake of peace, and then turned around and wrote that the man who built most of the settlements in Samaria would never be able to knock them down.
...
... Sharon the politician is a pleasant fellow and very persuasive in private conversation. He creates the impression of whispering secrets in your ear, and most of all, he tells you what you want to hear - which is not always the truth
...
From the way he acts, you'd think Sharon was from the UN: He doesn't get involved in domestic affairs. He hasn't lifted a finger to strengthen the Abu Mazen administration, which ultimately came into being as a result of his pressure and influence.
...
Without a dream, without strategy, Sharon, the man with the balls of steel, has the leadership vision of a blind goat.
Saturday, September 06, 2003
Belgium asserts right to try Sharon
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Belgium asserts right to try Sharon | Ian Black in Brussels, Thursday February 13, 2003
Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, can be tried for genocide in Belgium once he has left office, the Belgian appeal court ruled last night.
The judgment opens the way for survivors of a 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in Beirut to press their case against the Likud leader when his retirement loses him his immunity from prosecution.
...
Mr Sharon, who was defence minister at the time, is blamed for the death of 800 Palestinians killed by the Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia, then allied to Israel.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Belgium asserts right to try Sharon | Ian Black in Brussels, Thursday February 13, 2003
Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, can be tried for genocide in Belgium once he has left office, the Belgian appeal court ruled last night.
The judgment opens the way for survivors of a 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in Beirut to press their case against the Likud leader when his retirement loses him his immunity from prosecution.
...
Mr Sharon, who was defence minister at the time, is blamed for the death of 800 Palestinians killed by the Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia, then allied to Israel.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews want him 'burned to a cinder'
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Is this the man to break the mould of Israeli politics? | Chris McGreal in Jerusalem | Monday January 20, 2003
Yosef 'Tommy' Lapid developed a mantra as he made his way through Jerusalem's bars in search of votes. 'I am not against Jews,' he insisted to Israeli soldiers who slapped him on the back and wished him luck.
...
Unusually for a campaign dominated by security, Mr Lapid has not set his sights on the Palestinian issue but other Jews. His target is the ultra-Orthodox - the Haredim - whom he likens to a mafia extorting taxes and dictating lifestyles to the mass of Israelis while refusing to risk their lives in defence of the nation.
Mr Lapid wants a secular state. His party's name means "change", and its slogan is "freedom of religion and freedom from religion".
...
Shinui is the revenge of Israel's middle class, drawn from Jews with European roots who have seen their political power and cultural domination eroded by immigrants from the Middle East and north Africa.
Much of the welling anger is targeted at the ultra-Orthodox and their political parties which hold the balance of power in the outgoing knesset.
In return for keeping successive Likud governments in office, including Ariel Sharon's of late, the Haredim have demanded a disproportionate slice of the budget to fund special interests such as religious schools and the protection of illegal Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories. Eighty percent of Haredim are not employed and rely heavily on government stipends to study religious texts.
But while taking from the state, the ultra-Orthodox are exempt from the military service compulsory for just about every other Israeli, except Arabs. Mr Lapid calls the Haredim "draft dodgers" and "anti-democratic".
The middle class is in uncommon cause with a slew of immigrants from the former Soviet republics who bring skills and education but find their Jewishness questioned by ultra-Orthodox rabbis who refuse to marry, and sometimes to bury, many Russian immigrants.
Mr Lapid wants the introduction of civil marriage, army service for all and public transport on the Jewish Sabbath. He would cut subsidies to religious schools and force them to introduce subjects such as science, maths, English and Zionism."
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Is this the man to break the mould of Israeli politics? | Chris McGreal in Jerusalem | Monday January 20, 2003
Yosef 'Tommy' Lapid developed a mantra as he made his way through Jerusalem's bars in search of votes. 'I am not against Jews,' he insisted to Israeli soldiers who slapped him on the back and wished him luck.
...
Unusually for a campaign dominated by security, Mr Lapid has not set his sights on the Palestinian issue but other Jews. His target is the ultra-Orthodox - the Haredim - whom he likens to a mafia extorting taxes and dictating lifestyles to the mass of Israelis while refusing to risk their lives in defence of the nation.
Mr Lapid wants a secular state. His party's name means "change", and its slogan is "freedom of religion and freedom from religion".
...
Shinui is the revenge of Israel's middle class, drawn from Jews with European roots who have seen their political power and cultural domination eroded by immigrants from the Middle East and north Africa.
Much of the welling anger is targeted at the ultra-Orthodox and their political parties which hold the balance of power in the outgoing knesset.
In return for keeping successive Likud governments in office, including Ariel Sharon's of late, the Haredim have demanded a disproportionate slice of the budget to fund special interests such as religious schools and the protection of illegal Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories. Eighty percent of Haredim are not employed and rely heavily on government stipends to study religious texts.
But while taking from the state, the ultra-Orthodox are exempt from the military service compulsory for just about every other Israeli, except Arabs. Mr Lapid calls the Haredim "draft dodgers" and "anti-democratic".
The middle class is in uncommon cause with a slew of immigrants from the former Soviet republics who bring skills and education but find their Jewishness questioned by ultra-Orthodox rabbis who refuse to marry, and sometimes to bury, many Russian immigrants.
Mr Lapid wants the introduction of civil marriage, army service for all and public transport on the Jewish Sabbath. He would cut subsidies to religious schools and force them to introduce subjects such as science, maths, English and Zionism."
Anyone who finds fault with Sharon is a traitor or an Arab-lover
Dear reader | By Yoel Marcus | Ha'aretz - Article
It's hard to write a word of criticism about the prime minister these days without being swamped by angry letters: letters packed with threats like 'Traitor - your days are numbered;' letters full of insults and vulgar curses, from 'shmuck' to 'Nazi;' letters that address me in the plural like 'You Arab-loving leftists,' and 'You Oslo signers who gave the Palestinians guns.'
Most of these letters set up an equation: Anyone who finds fault with Sharon is a traitor or an Arab-lover
How can I criticize Sharon "when the Palestinians murder women and children, and all they want to do is destroy us?"
Dear reader | By Yoel Marcus | Ha'aretz - Article
It's hard to write a word of criticism about the prime minister these days without being swamped by angry letters: letters packed with threats like 'Traitor - your days are numbered;' letters full of insults and vulgar curses, from 'shmuck' to 'Nazi;' letters that address me in the plural like 'You Arab-loving leftists,' and 'You Oslo signers who gave the Palestinians guns.'
Most of these letters set up an equation: Anyone who finds fault with Sharon is a traitor or an Arab-lover
How can I criticize Sharon "when the Palestinians murder women and children, and all they want to do is destroy us?"
Once a bully, always a bully
The mask is off | By Uzi Benziman | Ha'aretz - Article
Ariel Sharon has in recent days delivered a conclusive answer to those who had been wondering whether he had changed his stripes since his election as prime minister. The answer is this: once a bully, always a bully.
Sharon is the perfect exemplar of the violent Israeli, the sort who tramples his neighbor and who responds wildly and screams bloody murder whenever anyone tries to put him in his place
...
As an army officer, Sharon's military talents were often counterbalanced by criticism of his proclivity to interpret orders given to him as he saw fit. Whenever his actions were scrutinized, Sharon responded as though he were being persecuted by people seeped with envy of his success, who wanted to blame him for misdeeds done by others. That is how he acted after acts of reprisal undertaken at Qibya (in 1953), after the misadventure at the Mitla Pass (during the 1956 Sinai War), the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the Lebanon War. "
The mask is off | By Uzi Benziman | Ha'aretz - Article
Ariel Sharon has in recent days delivered a conclusive answer to those who had been wondering whether he had changed his stripes since his election as prime minister. The answer is this: once a bully, always a bully.
Sharon is the perfect exemplar of the violent Israeli, the sort who tramples his neighbor and who responds wildly and screams bloody murder whenever anyone tries to put him in his place
...
As an army officer, Sharon's military talents were often counterbalanced by criticism of his proclivity to interpret orders given to him as he saw fit. Whenever his actions were scrutinized, Sharon responded as though he were being persecuted by people seeped with envy of his success, who wanted to blame him for misdeeds done by others. That is how he acted after acts of reprisal undertaken at Qibya (in 1953), after the misadventure at the Mitla Pass (during the 1956 Sinai War), the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the Lebanon War. "
The iron leader who will never surrender
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The iron leader who will never surrender | Peter Beaumont | Sunday January 12, 2003
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By 1953 he had founded the controversial Unit 101, a revenge squad designed to strike fear into the hearts of Palestinians
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As Minister of Defence he was forced to resign after a government commission found him 'indirectly' responsible for the September 1982 massacre by Lebanese Christians of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, a war crime for which some countries would still like to put him on trial.
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His visit to the Haram al Sharif - known to Jews as the Temple Mount - on 28 September 2000 was designed, in the words of his friend Uri Dan, 'to arouse Jewish public opinion' to the idea that the site was in danger under the peace negotiations ...
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Instead it led to the second intifada"
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The iron leader who will never surrender | Peter Beaumont | Sunday January 12, 2003
...
By 1953 he had founded the controversial Unit 101, a revenge squad designed to strike fear into the hearts of Palestinians
...
As Minister of Defence he was forced to resign after a government commission found him 'indirectly' responsible for the September 1982 massacre by Lebanese Christians of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, a war crime for which some countries would still like to put him on trial.
...
His visit to the Haram al Sharif - known to Jews as the Temple Mount - on 28 September 2000 was designed, in the words of his friend Uri Dan, 'to arouse Jewish public opinion' to the idea that the site was in danger under the peace negotiations ...
...
Instead it led to the second intifada"
Shady deals bring Israel's Bulldozer [Sharon] close to defeat
The Observer | International | Shady deals bring Israel's Bulldozer close to defeat | Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem | Sunday January 12, 2003
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sat down in his Tel Aviv office on Wednesday night with members of his inner circle.
They had a single purpose: to decide how to counter newspaper allegations that Sharon's son, Gilad, had procured a payment of $1.5 million (�968,000) from a British businessman and old family friend named Cyril Kern.
That money, says Sharon's many enemies, was used as part of an illegal transaction to pay off a debt incurred by Sharon senior from an illegal fundraising effort for his campaign to lead the right-wing Likud Party in 1999 - a fund-raising effort set up by his other son, Omri. "
The Observer | International | Shady deals bring Israel's Bulldozer close to defeat | Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem | Sunday January 12, 2003
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sat down in his Tel Aviv office on Wednesday night with members of his inner circle.
They had a single purpose: to decide how to counter newspaper allegations that Sharon's son, Gilad, had procured a payment of $1.5 million (�968,000) from a British businessman and old family friend named Cyril Kern.
That money, says Sharon's many enemies, was used as part of an illegal transaction to pay off a debt incurred by Sharon senior from an illegal fundraising effort for his campaign to lead the right-wing Likud Party in 1999 - a fund-raising effort set up by his other son, Omri. "
Israelis have toughened their views on security ... and their willingness to compromise
This failure has a father Ha'aretz - Article, By Yoel Marcus, Tuesday, August 06, 2002
...
The security situation has changed the way we live. People keep their distance from public places; tourists and investors keep their distance from Israel; the economy is in the dumps; and unemployment is sky-high. While the citizens of this country are being called up for emergency reserve duty and the IDF is fighting a war in the territories, two-thirds of the ultra-Orthodox males don't work or serve in the army.
And no one protests; no one fills the public squares....
...
According to a public opinion poll on the state of national security in 2002 conducted by Prof. Asher Arian, Israelis have toughened their views on security in general, and their willingness to compromise in particular. Support of Oslo has declined from 58 percent last year to 38 percent this year. Support of a Palestinian state (in the wake of a peace agreement) has gone from 57 percent to 49 percent. Willingness to hand over Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the Palestinians has dropped from 51 percent to 40 percent. Altogether, 41 percent of the respondents said that Palestinian violence had negatively affected their readiness to make concessions, compared with 10 percent last year.
This failure has a father Ha'aretz - Article, By Yoel Marcus, Tuesday, August 06, 2002
...
The security situation has changed the way we live. People keep their distance from public places; tourists and investors keep their distance from Israel; the economy is in the dumps; and unemployment is sky-high. While the citizens of this country are being called up for emergency reserve duty and the IDF is fighting a war in the territories, two-thirds of the ultra-Orthodox males don't work or serve in the army.
And no one protests; no one fills the public squares....
...
According to a public opinion poll on the state of national security in 2002 conducted by Prof. Asher Arian, Israelis have toughened their views on security in general, and their willingness to compromise in particular. Support of Oslo has declined from 58 percent last year to 38 percent this year. Support of a Palestinian state (in the wake of a peace agreement) has gone from 57 percent to 49 percent. Willingness to hand over Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the Palestinians has dropped from 51 percent to 40 percent. Altogether, 41 percent of the respondents said that Palestinian violence had negatively affected their readiness to make concessions, compared with 10 percent last year.
Thursday, September 04, 2003
Israeli peace protesters may face treason charge
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Israeli peace protesters may face treason charge | Jonathan Steele in Jerusalem | Tuesday August 6, 2002
Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is trying to stamp out dissent over army actions on the West Bank by ordering an inquiry into whether a peace group committed treason by telling officers they could be charged with war crimes.
The radical group, Gush Shalom, sent letters to 15 senior officers advising them that imposing collective punishments or making hostages of civilians violated the Geneva convention. It said the officers had been identified by their own statements to the media.
Mr Sharon was reportedly enraged by the letters and spent much of a cabinet meeting on Sunday discussing it. "
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Israeli peace protesters may face treason charge | Jonathan Steele in Jerusalem | Tuesday August 6, 2002
Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is trying to stamp out dissent over army actions on the West Bank by ordering an inquiry into whether a peace group committed treason by telling officers they could be charged with war crimes.
The radical group, Gush Shalom, sent letters to 15 senior officers advising them that imposing collective punishments or making hostages of civilians violated the Geneva convention. It said the officers had been identified by their own statements to the media.
Mr Sharon was reportedly enraged by the letters and spent much of a cabinet meeting on Sunday discussing it. "
