5 - 11 September 2002 Issue No. 602 Editorial	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Poisoned rhetoric

This week has seen 21 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza. Among this number were two men accused by the Israelis of being armed activists. And the rest? As usual they were children, women and young men. According to Palestinian officials, a total of 85 Palestinians have been shot dead in August.

There seems to be no prospect for an end to this ongoing slaughter, which Israeli newspapers themselves are increasingly criticising as unlawful assassinations that serve only to create more hatred, and inspire more suicide bombings.

The trigger-happy Israeli soldiers that perpetrate these crimes, though, are perfectly aware that they enjoy the full support of their seniors. And if an investigation committee is eventually formed to investigate a particular incident, the outcome is a foregone conclusion. The investigation will conclude that a "mistake" occurred, and promise that measures will be instigated to ensure such regrettable incidents do not recur. Though somehow they always do.

Well, that used to be the case, until Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made public his opposition to the decision by his defence minister to form a committee to investigate the increase in the numbers of Palestinian civilians killed by occupation troops. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Israeli Supreme Court for the first time approved the deportation of three Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank to Gaza.

In Washington, where officials immediately issue condemnatory statements following each and any armed Palestinian attacks, the silence was deafening. The administration's spokesmen were resolutely tightlipped except, of course, to reiterate that in the opinion of Washington it is Iraq, and not Israel, that poses a threat to regional security.

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