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Israeli Analyst Says Israelis Want Conflict
additional reporting by Mohammed al-Saleh
JERUSALEM, Feb 7 (IslamOnline) - Israeli society has given neighboring Arab countries a message of war after Israeli voters chose hardline Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon as their new prime minister, Middle East analysts said Wednesday.
In an interview with Israeli Television, Mickey Hartmann, a leading Israeli commentator on Israeli-Arab relations, said Israelis wanted a showdown with Arabs.
"Let's speak frankly, the Israelis have elected Sharon because they think he's capable of facing Arabs and defeating them," Hartmann said. "The message the Israelis wanted to convey to the Arabs was a clear message of war."
The normalization process between the Jewish state and its neighbors "has no future," she said, adding that, "Israeli society has proved to the world that it's an immature society who is not ready yet to any peace with the Arabs, not to mention normalization."
"This sounds bitter and cruel, but we should confess that the Israeli street has left no alternatives to the Arabs but hatred and aggression towards the Jewish state."
Sharon is reviled by Arabs due to his role in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, and an ensuing massacre of Palestinian refugees in Sabra and Shatila, as well as his championing of Jewish settlements on occupied Arab land.
Israeli military intelligence estimated that 700 to 800 persons were slaughtered in those camps, but others place the count closer to 3,000.
The invasion led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinian civilians, massive displacement of the civilian population, and culminated in the infamous massacre of civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut.
The Israeli analyst warned Sharon of any attempts to improve his image in the Arab world, or to issue any last ditch appeals to Arabs, who would doubt any such attempts.
Hartmann said Israel has given Arabs and, more increasingly, the rest of the Muslim world, since Sharon has often tampered with Islam's holy sites, "a serious message" that all Israelis are the same.
"The problem is not in the person who will lead Israel, it's rather in the nature of … Israeli society," she said.
Seemingly echoing Hartmann's statements, Talal Salman, editor-in-chief of Lebanon's as-Safir, wrote, "A ghoul has replaced a monster."
Abdel-Moneim Said, director of Egypt's Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that, under Sharon, the peace process was destined for stalemate at best.
''It might be worse, because I think the Intifada will continue, and will probably intensify,'' he added.
''That will be the test for Sharon. He came on the premise that he would suppress the Intifada, that he is capable of cutting the Palestinians down to size. So we have to see what his reaction will be, and most likely it will be bloody.''
Hartmann said Israeli society is controlled by fears, doubts and "nightmares". Moreover, she added that Israelis are not only worried about their own personal security, but also the security of the entire state.
Hartmann affirmed that pro-normalization organizations and leaders of "peaceful" movements in Israel are no longer capable of convincing Arabs of establishing normal relations with Israel - Palestinian land occupied since 1948.
Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries that have signed treaties aimed at normalizing relations with the Jewish state. Egypt signed its peace treaty in 1979, while Jordan signed an accord in 1994.
Normalization of relations with Israel has been one of the most controversial issues within Arab countries, caused much debate between those who are for normalization and those against.
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