19 - 25 April 2001
Issue No.530
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 April 2001 Issue No.530 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Fools rush in
The measures taken by Ariel Sharon this week -- bombing a Syrian radar station in Lebanon and re-occupying parts of the Gaza Strip -- are more than simply a dangerous escalation in the extreme aggression he has displayed since taking office. Sharon is threatening to sink the region into a new cycle of violence and war.Egypt was among the first countries to accept the US call for "restraint" and to give the "bulldozer" a chance. Even during President Mubarak's visit to Washington, the Egyptian leader said he still had hope Sharon would take serious steps towards peace. Instead of showing gratitude and willingness to reciprocate, however, Sharon and members of his cabinet believed they could question Egypt's commitment to peace and reject its efforts at mediation.
By bombing the Syrian radar station and escalating its brutal aggression against the Palestinians, at any rate, Israel is giving no one a chance to show self-restraint.
Washington, bowing to Israeli pressure, has been pressing Egypt and Jordan to order the return of their ambassadors to Tel Aviv. After this week's events, it will be impossible to consider the request. Indeed, public opinion across the Arab world is demanding a response to Israeli aggression.
In essence, Sharon is telling the Arabs that the rules in force since 1991 have changed. But changing these rules will not affect the Arab countries alone. For this reason, the US should do more than describe Sharon's order to reoccupy parts of Gaza on Monday as "excessive." President Bush must remind Israel forcefully that it is bound by the agreements it has signed. US and European silence amounts to tacit approval of the atrocities Israel is committing on the ground, and has damaged -- perhaps beyond repair -- the credibility of both parties as potential brokers in the Middle East conflict.
In the past decade, much work has been done to reach a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It seemed, at one point, that this difficult goal was at hand. Sharon, however, has rushed to destroy ten years of cautious exertion and drag the region back towards a state of all-out war.
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