|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 29 August 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
West Bank expansion, a `skunk'bomb By P. Muthiah Sharon returns to his office today after a week's holiday with many new and old problems that haunt his government. Sources close to Sharon, according to `Jerusalem Post', say he would return today with clear thoughts to confront the situation. The slap of the Likud Party Convention that made him to give up the formation of a coalition government with Labour Party is not resolved yet. The rejection of his coalition plan is nothing new. The Central Committee of the Likud Party adopted a resolution in 2002, that rejected Palestinians should be allowed a State alongside Israel. A party referendum held in May this year also rejected the Gaza disengagement plan. Rebel leaders of the Likud want Sharon's disengagement plan to be dropped and, therefore, they fear that the inclusion of the Labour Party in the coalition government would hasten the removal of 8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza. These settlers also resisted the attempts to remove them with a huge sum of compensation - one hundred thousand US dollars for each family. The only weapon in the hands of Sharon is the threat of an early general election, though he has a mandate till November 2006. But Sharon's recent announcement that 1530 new homes would be built in the West Bank has caused an outrage among Palestinians and other peace lovers.The UN Secretary-General has condemned both Israel and the United States and urged to halt the expansion of homes in the West Bank. Bush Administration, that seeks Jewish votes in the November 2 Presidential Elections, supported the scheme. He has also urged Israel not only to halt the expansion of homes, but also to fulfil its `Road Map` obligations, agreed upon with the international mediators comprising the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations. Meanwhile, in the violence-marred Ramallah and Abu Dis, thousands of Palestinians gathered last week to hear Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, who emphasised the need for Palestinians to adopt peaceful methods in their struggle against Israel. Palestinian President Yasir Arafat, who met Arun Gandhi, too has accepted non-violence as an option for the struggle against Israeli occupation. In contrast to this, a report in Maariv daily said the Israeli military, which had used tear gas and rubber bullets on Palestinians, was now ready to use the so-called `Skunk'bomb as a `non-lethal' mean to disperse crowd. Although the odour emitted by the bomb would have the same effect, tests conducted revealed that only a few drops of odour could cause an unbearable stench and it could also make clothes smell for five years. This clearly shows what is in store for the Palestinians in the future. Sharon is the architect of the Settlement Policy that made it bitterly hard for Israel to extricate itself from the Palestinians. Sharon is also responsible for triggering the present intifada by his provocative walk on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Palestinians, who knew very well the true face of Sharon, would never succumb to his intrigues. They fear that the expansion of settlements would make it impossible to establish a viable State on the land Israel occupied from Jordan in 1967 war and annexed in 1981. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahamed Querie, with whom the Bush Administration hopes to replace Arafat, has also warned the US position would destroy the peace process. The Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Mousa said America's unilateral re-drawing of the Road Map was a very grave development. Sharon's West Bank expansion plan is nothing but a `skunk' bomb directed against Palestinians and, the Road Map, would smell for many years if international community failed to noose the Jewish State. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
