- Ariel Sharon has declared war on the USA. It can't be
defined any other way.
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- He has not declared war on the Palestinians, because
that is not necessary. The military confrontation between Israel and the
Palestinian people has already been going on for a long time, and nothing
has changed this week. But in Israeli- American relations there has been
a dramatic change.
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- Thursday, a plane flying from Tel-Aviv to Siberia was
brought down. When the terrible news arrived, Sharon at once ordered a
press-conference to be called at prime television time, to be broadcast
live on all Israeli television and radio stations. As usual, the media
stood to attention and followed orders.
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- Sharon was sure that the plane was brought down by terrorists
(who else?) and intended to exploit the incident for a dramatic indictment
of Arafat, "bin Laden's twin brother." But the bad Americans
spoiled the performance out of sheer spite: at the very last moment they
announced that the plane was actually shot down by a Ukrainian missile.
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- But Sharon was already on his way to battle. When this
happens to him, no force on earth can stop him. Like a bull, he charges
forward.
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- This time he had prepared something special. "He
has written the speech himself," his assistants announced proudly.
And, indeed, nobody else could have, except the loonies of the extreme
right.
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- Addressing the "Western democracies, headed by the
United States," Sharon compared the present situation of Israel to
that of Czechoslovakia in 1938. The comparison is obvious: Arafat is Hitler,
"the Arabs" (all of them) are the fascist axis, George Bush is
Neville Chamberlain, the Americans are about to sell Israel down the river
in order to appease the Arabs. Munich 2001.
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- Pedantic historians could point to some faults in this
comparison. At that time, Germany was a mighty military power facing little
Czechoslovakia. While in today's Middle East the situation is the opposite:
Israel is the mighty military power and the Palestinians are a small and
weak people. Furthermore, Germany was not living under a Czech occupation.
Bush is not waving an umbrella, like Chamberlain, but a sword. He is building
a great coalition for starting a war.
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- But Sharon does not pretend to be a historian. Like his
companions and partners, he lives in the world of his own images, cut off
from international reality. He does not care two hoots about America's
geopolitical considerations, particularly when they are trying to build
a coalition with the Arabs and other Muslims. To make this possible, the
Americans must bring about an end to the Palestinian uprising, which inflames
the masses in all Arab countries. They must prove that they are striving
for a peace that will satisfy the national requirements of the Palestinians.
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- Because of this Bush declared that the Palestinian state
is a "vision", and Colin Powell is preparing a peace plan for
the Middle East, after consulting with the Saudi prince.
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- Israeli peace activists see this as a positive development.
They know that at this point in time only foreign intervention can put
an end to the violence and promote the peace. The daily bloodbath, the
calls for vengeance on both sides and the mutual lack of confidence prevent
an Oslo-style face-to-face Israeli-Palestinian dialogue without intermediaries.
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- But for Sharon, any such intervention would be a disaster.
It would lead to a cease-fire that would compel him to stop all the settlement
activity that is so close to his heart and is also the basis of his government
coalition. These days, thinly disguised new settlements are being set up
at a frantic speed, dozens of others were set up in the last few months
under the auspices of the IDF.
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- In this situation, Sharon must choose between two options:
either to be flexible and then quietly sabotage the American initiative,
or to stand up and fight the Americans. Shimon Peres, his close associate,
counsels him to choose the first option. After all, since 1948 there have
been dozens of American "peace plans" and all of them were buried
by Israel with the help of the Jewish lobby, the members of Congress and
the American media. So why not now, too?
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- But Sharon is made of different stuff. He is starting
a head-on attack on the Bush administration, at a time when the Jewish
lobby does not dare to open its mouth and Congress, as well as the media,
are marching obediently behind the President.
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- One thousand eight hundred and sixty nine years ago,
the Jewish leader Bar- Kochba declared war on the Roman Empire and brought
about the total destruction of the Jewish people in Palestine. Now the
new Bar-Kochba challenges the American empire. It will be interesting to
see what the result will be this time.
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- Finis
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