Letters to the Editor, January 30, 2004

Again - as on so many terrible occasions - the cycle of bloodshed is set rolling precisely when new peace initiatives are in the offing. Yesterday, Israel's armed forces launched a massive invasion of the city of Gaza, in order - so the generals declared - to defend the settlement enclave of Netzarim (an absurd enclave which Sharon himself reportedly took the decision to evacuate). Nine Palestinians were killed in the raid, including an eleven year old child.

This morning - another madness - a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Jerusalem bus, killing ten random Israelis and wounding many others. This afternoon Sharon's cabinet is due to meet and - of course - to decide on another punitive action.

Meanwhile, the far-reaching peace initiative, mooted by the Saudi Crown Prince in preparation for the March Arab summit seems swept off the agenda, and the latest efforts to revive the literally dead-locked Road Map for Peace are set at naught. For Sharon the suicide attack comes as "additional justification" of his Wall. We beg to differ: the Wall is part of the provocative government poilicies.

GUSH SHALOM, http://www.gush-shalom.org/

Mexico buys missile launchers from Israel

Israel pleads poverty to the USA which obliges and pays out American taxpayers money, ad infinitum, to Israel without consulting its people and then as a slap in the face, Israel uses this money not to defend herself, but to build up her nuclear armoury and sell some of it for profiteering . Considering this transaction and the amount she received for selling to China and India,( maybe covert sales to Iran and Ex soviet republics like Azerbijan) I wonder just how much Israel is really worth? Suspect she is probably, per capita, worth a hell of a lot more than America, despite the disproportionate size between the two countries!!

Maisoon Rice

LORD HUTTON COMES TO THE AID OF BLAIR

RE: NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL : TESTING TWO LEADERS Tony Blair, Vindicated

Lord Hutton had performed a magic act by hiding behind strict technicalities to give a full bunch of fig leaves to Blair and his war cabinet to tide over his ordeal around the death of David Kelly, till another day of reckoning that's sure to come. However much Blair and Alistair Campbell may shout from the rooftops of the British Parliament and 10 Downing Street, people will never be convinced that the war on Iraq was not fought on wrong pretexts and misrepresentations. This is a pyrrhic victory for Blair. BBC has come in as a convenient fall guy. This is the most blatant case of mugging free media. But this media blitz against BBC will not fool the public into fully accepting Blair’s bona fides as a man of above board politics.

GHULAM MUHAMMED, Mumbai, India

Ariel Sharon And The Wall

In Israel, not everyone is in favor of building and maintaining The Wall. As one hard-line Lukid supporter stated recently, "The Holy Land stretches from the Euphrates to the Nile. If we put up a wall cutting off the western areas of Israel, we will be vastly limiting our dream for a New Jerusalem."

The Lukid party serves as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's power base. They have supported Sharon even in the face of recent corruption charges against him. As a result, Sharon clearly understands that The Wall -- and its consequential "facts on the ground" -- can only be a temporary measure if he is to weather the political storms ahead.

"After this Wall, there will be another Wall -- and another -- and another," stated one Jewish peace activist. "You can count on it. Sharon will not stop until he has either been pushed out of office by Israeli citizens tired of war or until all of the Muslim Middle East resembles a movie backdrop from 'The Pianist'."

In Israel, Ariel Sharon appears to be riding a whirlwind. His political position -- that force is the answer to all of Israel's problems -- seems to be leading that country into a downward spiral of never-ending violence as his calls for revenge piggyback upon even more calls for revenge. Yet, for Sharon, calmer heads cannot prevail. His power base, obsessed with the idea of creating the historical vision of a New Jerusalem, will not allow it.

Jane Stillwater

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.

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