 |
|
Sharon ignited the Intifada by violating the sanctity of al-Aqsa Mosque two years ago
|
Report
by Khaled Mamdouh, IOL Staff
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, September 17 (IslamOnline) – Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon Tuesday, September 17, claimed that the violence between Israel
and the Palestinians over the past two years might have been prevented,
had Israel responded promptly to the (alleged) Palestinian Authority’s
violations of the Oslo Accords. Observers refuted Sharon’s ‘lies and
twist of facts’, to ‘mislead the Israelis and the whole world’.
Sharon
made the comments during a speech at a memorial ceremony at Mount Herzl
in Jerusalem for Israeli soldiers killed in the 1973 October War, when
Israel was defeated by the Egyptian army.
“The
violence of the intifada might have been averted, had Israel promptly
responded as needed to the Palestinian Authority’s violations of the
Oslo Accords, from the first day it was implemented,” he claimed.
“Sharon
himself ignited the Intifada by his provocative and unjustified visit to
al-Aqsa Mosque in September, 2000. Everyone knows that. However, the
Israeli Premier wants, as usual to twist the facts and put the blame on
the victims of his bloody tactics,” Egyptian analyst, Hamid Abdul
Majid told IslamOnline Tuesday.
He
added that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands, Israel’s
refusal to respect U.N. resolutions and the accords signed by the
Israeli governments themselves are the main and only causes for the
violence in the Middle East.
“However,
Sharon’s lies will fool no one, outside Israel or even inside it. Look
at the growing numbers of young Israelis refusing to join his army of
occupation. Wide segments of the Israeli soceity are bored and tired
from war and violence. Sharon failed to guarantee security for the
Israelis, and he will never achieve that, simply because he has no
political agenda.
“Only
a short-sighted politician, like Sharon, can expect his military tactics
to succeed in convincing the Palestinians to live humiliated under
curfews and occupation. The Palestinian resistance will never stop
unless Israel withdraws its forces from their territories, allowing them
to have their own independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Any other way will lead to more deaths on both sides. Sharon must
understand that, or else he must keep fighting till the last Palestinian
and also the Israeli,” Abdul Majid added.
Sharon
listed the so-called violations of the PA; incitement against Israel in
the Palestinian education system and media; ongoing weapons smuggling
efforts and arming of Palestinians; the PA’s failure to deal with what
he called “terror networks of Hamas and Islamic Jihad”. Apparently,
Sharon wants the PA’s main and only job to stop legal resistance
against the crimes committed by his ‘trigger-happy’ soldiers.
“If
we would have responded aggressively to all of these [violations], and
in time, we would have likely prevented [the events] that have taken
place over the last two years, as well as the last nine years,” Sharon
claimed.
“Thus
it is in the Middle East,” he said. “There is no kindness and mercy
for showing weakness or restraint in response to violations of
agreements. That is the lesson.”
According
to the Israeli Prime Minister, “another lesson” learned in the past
few years was “not to accept anything as self-evident. Not to blindly
believe any promise. We must be prepared for everything and to mainly
rely on ourselves.”
“The
Arab world has yet to reconcile itself to our existence, and has yet to
accept our right to establish a Jewish state in our homeland,” the
Prime Minister said. “Such a reconciliation will mark the end of the
conflict. But that will also come, if we stand up firmly for our
rights.”
“It
seems that Sharon forgot that the Arabs, during the last Summit of their
leaders in Beirut last March, offered Israel a golden opportunity to
live in peace and stability, within definite borders recognized by the
international community. The Arabs offered Israel full normalization of
relations. You can not normalize relations with a country that you yet
have to reconcile yourself to its existence, as Sharon claimed.
“All
what the Arabs asked, and still ask for, is implementation of U.N.
resolutions calling on Israel to withdraw from the Arab lands it
occupied by force during its 1967 aggression against its Arab neighbors.
Who is refusing peace then?” charged the Egyptian analyst.
