13 - 19 December 2001
Issue No.564
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 13 - 19 December 2001 Issue No.564 |
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To each his dead
The European Union issued a statement this week that echoed the US's stand, blaming Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for the violence in the occupied territories and Israel. EU officials who have been close to the peace talks and know the facts on the ground asked Arafat "to work against terrorism and dismantle the organisations that support terrorist activities."Not a word of criticism was heard from Washington or from the EU when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon continued to assassinate Palestinian activists. Sharon even ignored US envoy Anthony Zinni's plea that Israel cease attacking Palestinian areas, at least for 48 hours, to allow the resumption of talks on security arrangements.
On Monday, Sharon, acting with his usual disregard for international opinion, sent Israeli forces in US-made Apache helicopters to assassinate a leading member of Al-Jihad. The high-precision US missiles missed their target, and killed two children, one aged three, the other 13. A few hours later, Israeli soldiers at a check-point shot dead two Palestinian workers.
Daniel Kurtzer, the US ambassador to Israel, who served in Egypt before his current posting, simply repeated the same statements that fuel the anger of Arab public opinion. He said that beyond expressions of sympathy with the families of the two children killed, nobody should expect the US to pressure Israel to stop what he described as its war against terrorism.
Early yesterday, Sharon again ordered his helicopters to storm a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza, killing four Palestinians and wounding over 20.
After the Hamas attacks in Jerusalem and Haifa last week, European and American diplomats rushed to the scene to pay homage to the 25 Israelis killed. Strangely, no diplomats lay flowers on the graves of the Palestinian children Israel kills every day with the weapons Europe and the US have sold it. As long as the world's leaders refuse to recognise that occupation is the worst form of terrorism, nobody should expect the violence to end.
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