Issue No. 596
Editorial
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25 - 31 July 2002 Issue No. 596 Editorial |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Sharon's chosen sacrifice
The surgical timing of the Israeli army's bombing of a densely populated residential quarter of Gaza is telling. That the ostensible target of the operation, Hamas Military leader Salah Shehada, was among the 15 Palestinians, including nine children, killed in the attack could have come as no more than the icing on the cake for Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. No one, not even the blindly supportive White House, is under any illusions: Shehada was simply an excuse.
For days it had become increasingly likely that an agreement was about to be reached between the various Palestinian factions that could end suicide bombings within Israel. According to senior officials, including the EU's Javier Solana, the signing of that agreement was only hours away when the attack, ordered by Sharon, took place. There could have been no more effective way of scuppering the deal, no better way of guaranteeing that suicide attacks would continue. Sharon had achieved his objective, and the immediate response of Palestinian groups promising vengeance could only have left him rubbing his hands in glee. Once more he had managed to undermine every effort to restore calm and curb the sickening spiral of violence.
Sharon, in ordering the attack, confirmed in the most blatant way what we in the region have long known and others only suspected: that the present Israeli government has a vested interest in undermining not only any moves towards reinvigorating a defunct peace process, but wants to bury the very possibility of a negotiated settlement once and for all.
History has its lessons, and Sharon has learned them: in 1996, when Peres was prime minister, he ordered the assassination of Hamas military leader Yehia Ayash. Hamas responded by launching a series of armed attacks which left scores of Israelis dead. Sharon is no doubt hoping to top that particular death toll, and among the victims of his determination to ensure the conflict continues, and as bloodily as possible, will be Israeli civilians alongside Palestinians. And the carnage will be justified, at least in the mind of Sharon and the present government of Israel, simply because it will lead to greater carnage. In pursuit of goals that preclude peace, there is no difference between Israeli and Palestinian citizens. Both are Sharon's necessary sacrifice.
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