Israeli prosecutor recommends bribery charges against Sharon By Associated Press Saturday, March 27, 2004
Jerusalem - Israel's state prosecutor is recommending charges against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for allegedly taking bribes from a local businessman. That's according to an Israeli T-V station.
The station says the prosecutor will present a draft charge sheet to Israel's attorney general, who will then decide if prosecution is warranted. The report says his decision will probably be released in about a month.
What am I? A bulemic, chain-smoking stenographer from Staten Island?
Hardly hatred in that post. I'd have thought assasinating disabled people was worse than taking bribes but I'll support any way to get rid of Sharon. But you're right. Not really the place for that in this group.
However, as a European we tend to get a fairly balanced view on the middle east, (we are often told that the US tends to side more with the Isrealis in their coverage, not surprising since they finance the state to the tune of $1billion a year). My take on this has been that when the Nazis first began moving across Europe, some of the Jews began to move back to Palestine, then British controlled in many ways. When the situation in Europe became graver for the Jewish populations, it was decided to remove the limitations of numbers allowed back into the holy land, this leading to a much larger influx.
After the war, it was only right, considering the numbers who had migrated there and what their families had just been through, that they had their own state and so the UN gave some of the land to the Jewish population, who then named it Isreal. Several years later, fearing the threat from the Palestinians who resented the Isrealis for taking "their land", they decided to invade what was left of Palestine and take it for themselves, placing the muslim populations under effective Jewish law and control. Fearing retaliation from their muslim neighbours, they then invaded southern Lebanon and used it as a border control area.
During the Clinton administration, under pressure from the West, and after years of conflict over land, the two sides came together and agreed to peace and some lands being handed back to the Palestinians. The isreali prime Minister was killed shortly afterwards. Since this deal, Isreal has been mostly under right-wing control, this has seen a return to a heavy-handed approach from the military, which has in turn seen a rise in the suicide bombings that began because of frustrations about any land returns being stalled.
The cycle of violence continues, (in a nutshell), due to Isrealis building a wall to keep out bombers, palestinians going in to bomb the Isrealis as they don't agree with the wall, Isrealis gainign revenge by sending the military in to destry strategic targets, palistinians sending in more suicide bombers, Isrealis entending the wall etc.
Most muslims in the middle east would like to see a solution of returning to 1947 borders and believe that this would stop the threat of Palestinian "terrorism". I agree, being an Irish nationlist in my views, the only way that Irish republican terrorism was stopped was by mutual agreement. "We will sit in assembly and negotiations with you, but you must disarm." They have began to do this slowly and peace is gradually becoming a reality, despite some loyalists and unionists demanding more and more each time republicans make concessions.
On 31 Mar 2004 03:58:03 -0800, [email] (Steve Hill) wrote:
What you so convenineintly leave out in your "balanced" view is that the entire Arab world declared war on this new state of Israel the moment it was formed by the UN and the Jews had to fight for their lives to survive. From 1948 to 1967 the Arab world, Jordan and Egypt, controlled the camps that the Palestuineans lived in. The Arabs promised them they would destroy Israel and kill all the Jews so they could get "their" land back. There was never any intention to create a "Palestinean State", only to destroy Israel. Well, for 20 years the poor Palestinean people languished there, under Egyptian and Jordanian rule, without a country, without decent living coinditions. Meanwhile, the Arabs that stayed in Israel lived and prospered in a free democratic society. For these same 20 years the surrounding Arab countries sent rockets, into the farms of the Israelis and sent murderers across the borders. In 1967 the Arab world prepared to invade Israel but were thrwarted by a "6 Day War" that pushed back the aggressors. From that time on the Israelis constantly offered the Palestinean people their own country. Then again in 1973, "The Yom Kipper War" the Arabs attacked from Syria and Egypt, again to be thrown back by the defending Israelis. Israel now was in control of the entire Egyptian Siani peninsula. But Israel made peace with Egypt and returned the area, incuding its oil field(s)...and what happened to Sadat?... On November 19, 1977 Sadat became the first Arab leader to ... (seek) a permanent peace settlement.... In 1978, this resulted in the Camp David Peace Agreement, for which Sadat and Begin received the Nobel Peace Prize. However, the action was extremely unpopular in the Arab world and especially amongst Muslim fundamentalist groups. Many believed that only a threat of force would make Israel negotiate. ...On October 6, 1881, Sadat was assassinated during a parade by army members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization, who opposed his negotiations with Israel..." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Sadat)
Then in 2000... Under intense pressure from Bill Clinton, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered Mr. Arafat a deal more generous - and, for Israel, more risky - than anyone expected any Israeli leader ever to propose. Had Arafat accepted the peace initiative, he would today be the leader of an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian nation, in possession of 97 percent of the West Bank and with East Jerusalem as its capital. Instead, after agreeing to the deal in Washington, he went back and launched a round of lethal Infahda violence that continues to this day. A wave of suicide bombings and other terrorist acts swept across the nation, followed quickly by Israeli reprisals and countermeasures that also increased the level violence. Fueled by frustration and this escalating terrorism, Israeli voters turned to the tough former general, Ariel Sharon, to protect and defend them in what was certain to be a dangerous period.
Today, the peace process is dead, and so are far too many Israelis and Palestinians. Hope for peace has been shattered. But the Palestineans chose terror and death instead of peace and their own county.
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A very smart play by Begin of course, because it meant he could relax with regards to his Southern border, and concentrate on the North which eventually led to the invasion of Lebanon. Obviously it didn't turn out too well for Sadat, and the man who wanted agreement most, Carter, because without it he felt he wouldn't win re-election, ended up losing the next election anyway.
Things started moving earlier than that. Zionism was born in the late 19th Century, the World Zionist Congress was held?/formed? (my notes don't say whether it was party or event) in 1897. They wanted a home in Palestine. There were three Zionist stategies,
1) encourage large-scale immigration (in 1882 there were 24,000 Jews in Palestine, in 1939 there were 500,000)
land acquisition (once bought could never again be sold to non-Jews)
3) get international support (Chaim Weizmann developed good links with UK/US officialdom)
Then we have a series of deals, 1915 Hussein-McMahon (UK promise of Arab kingdom led by Hashimites) 1916 Sykes-Picot (UK and France 'divvy things up', revealed by Russian Bolsheviks) 1917 Balfour Declaration (home for Jewish in Palestine, Zionist promise to UK - preferential access)
Then in 1939 there was a White Paper saying, a) not a Jewish state, b) immigration to be restricted, c) Palestinian state in 10 years. Of course then Holocaust happens, and changes things again. Then we have the Nov 1947 UN Partition Plan (55% Jewish, 45% Arab), then Plan Dalet (Zionist military conquering plan), Deir Yassin, and Britain wants to get out so withdraws in May 48.