He read out the written text of his speech, word for word, without raising his eyes from thepage. It was vital for him to stick to the exact wording, since it was an encoded text. It is impossibleto decipher it without breaking the code. And it is impossible to break the code withoutknowing Ariel Sharon … Read more
The spectacle was disgusting. “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lestthe Lord see it, and it displeaseth Him, and He turn away His wrath from him!” Thus commandeththe ancient Jewish moral code (Proverbs, 24, 16). The writer of this warning knew, of course, that every … Read more
photo gallery More than 500 Israeli demonstrators joined today (Saturday 13.12.03)two thousand Palestinians at A-Ram, just north of Jerusalem,in order to protest against the monstrous Wall that’s going to be built there.The action was organized by Gush Shalom, Ta’ayush and Yesh Gvul,and was the biggest joined Israeli-Palestinian demonstration for a long time.A-Ram municipality and schoolchildren … Read more
He is at it again, and again it is working. He is launching colorful balloons, and the wholeworld is looking on with rapture and wonderment. Ariel Sharon needs to divert attention. His popularity has dropped in recent opinion polls.The Geneva initiative has captured the national and international agenda. The policeinvestigations into his corruption affairs have … Read more
photo gallery More than 500 Israeli demonstrators joined today (Saturday 13.12.03)two thousand Palestinians at A-Ram, just north of Jerusalem,in order to protest against the monstrous Wall that’s going to be built there.The action was organized by Gush Shalom, Ta’ayush and Yesh Gvul,and was the biggest joined Israeli-Palestinian demonstration for a long time.A-Ram municipality and schoolchildren … Read more
It is not yet a tidal wave. But it is more then a ripple. It is a wave in the process of formation. During the last few months a realignment of Israeli public opinion has started to becomenoticeable. It has several causes: public tiredness of the endless cycle of bloodshed, theperception that there is no … Read more
(Instead of my usual weekly article, this time I am posting my acceptance speech on receiving, together with Sari Nusseibeh, the Lev Kopelev prize. The award ceremony took place last week in Cologne, Germany.) Ladies and Gentlemen, The Ambassador of Palestine and the former Ambassador of Israel, (I am sorry that I am unable to … Read more
What has happened to the Chief-of-Staff, Lieutenant-General Moshe (“Bogie”) Ya’alon? Until recently, he was the most aggressive hawk in the army, perhaps in the whole country.Suddenly he is almost turning into a dove. Has he had a divine revelation like Rabbi Saul of Tarsus, who went to Damascus to persecute theChristians and arrived there as … Read more
photo gallery About a thousand demonstrators – half of them Israelis, half Palestinians – converged on Saturday morning on the East Jerusalem neighborhoodSawahra, where a section of the “separation wall” is going to be built. It will cut tens of thousands of Palestinian off from the world – from schools, universities, hospitals, businesses, workplaces – … Read more
Immediately after leaving the army, Ariel Sharon created the Likud. It was 1973, when herealized that the army top brass would never tolerate his appointment as Chief-of-Staff. For the creation of the Likud, he had a simple recipe: to unify all the four factions of theRight: Begin’s Herut (“freedom”) movement, the Liberal Party, the “Free … Read more