The year 2001 is about to end, but at the last moment a new word – a Latin one to boot – has enteredthe Hebrew political lexicon: “irrelevant”. This is a new phase in the fatal duel between the two veteran gladiators, both experienced andshrewd, Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat. Sharon has declared that Arafat … Read more
For the fall of the Taliban I shall not weep. Like every regime of religious fundamentalists -Muslims, Jews, Christians or any others, you name them – it was based on cruelty, oppressionand backwardness. It’s enough to mention its attitude to women. But this victory of the United States frightens me. Frightens me terribly. Because this … Read more
Stockholm 2001 Madam Speaker, Honorable Members of Parliament, Jacob von Uexkull, Honorable Ambassador of Palestine, (I would have liked to greet also my own ambassador, but he did not see fit to attend,) Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me start on a personal note: On this day, the seventh of December, exactly fifty-three years ago, I … Read more
Anthony Zinni has made a request to Ariel Sharon: Please, stop enlarging the settlements. Atleast for some time. Do you mind? Zinni is a general from the Marines, his thinking is straight and logical. It’s difficult forhim to understand why Sharon doesn’t comply. What the hell is it all about? A few housessomewhere. Is it … Read more
Israel resembles a speedboat. It moves quickly and turns easily. Israelis are proud of theirtalent for improvisation, which goes together with an inability to plan anything. These areto two sides of the same coin. The United States resembles a giant aircraft carrier. It moves heavily and can turn only in avery wide circle. It cannot … Read more
At the reception desk of the War-Against-Terror Coalition, there lies an application formfor new partners. After stating his name, country and function (king / president / emir /dictator / tyrant), the applicant is invited to answer the question: “Do you have localopponents that you wish to have branded as terrorists and dealt with accordingly?” Nearly … Read more
“Like a whale that has lost its sense of direction, you are storming the shore, storming itagain and again, wanting to commit suicide!” cried Haim Ramon excitedly from the rostrum ofthe Labor party to his party colleagues, in one of the great moments of his life. That was in January 1994. Ramon was then Minister … Read more
President Bush has declared a “war on terrorism”. Indeed? Osama bin Laden is undoubtedly a terrorist. Killing 4800 civilians at the World Trade Centerwas a terrorist outrage. But the United States would have declared war on bin Laden even if hehad been satisfied with killing American soldiers in Saudi Arabia or blowing up oilinstallations across … Read more
The Daily Life of Kawther Salam Thursday, November 1, 2001 Today I’m going to leave my apartment. I’m getting out of the hell, Made in Israel, in the city ofHebron. I’m running away from death. I’m not ready to die, or to kill, or to make revenge. I’m prepared to make peace and to be … Read more
The United States is about to be entangled in Afghanistan. Gone is the idea that it is possible to vanquish the Taliban by aerial bombardment. Gone is theillusion that some tribal fighters, who were given the grandiose name of the “NorthernCoalition”, could put up a real fight, much as the Israelis lost the illusion that … Read more