Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom talked with the Editorial Board about the assassination of Hamas' Sheik Ahmed Yassin and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza.
Question: Was the assassination of Yassin necessary and how does it change relations with the Palestinians?
Answer: Yassin was our Osama Bin Laden. He was behind hundreds of attacks that cost us hundreds and hundreds of casualties. He is the godfather of suicide bombers and was the one who extended that terrorism by recruiting women and children. His death sends a strong message to the other Hamas leaders that if they plan more attacks, they will pay with their life.
Won't it provoke revenge attacks?
They don't need a reason to try to kill Jews. Their ideology is to destroy the State of Israel.
Will it take another attack before you hit Hamas' new leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi?
We tried to attack him, too, seven months ago, and failed. He can't rely on immunity from Israel. Not anymore. They are trying to attack us all the time. There are about 50 pinpoint alerts every day. We are lucky enough to prevent them before they succeed.
Yasser Arafat has expressed concern he might be next. Are his fears groundless?
I don't think the right thing to do is to kill him. To expel him would be better.
Prime Minister Sharon has proposed a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza. How does the Yassin assassination affect that?
I don't think there is any connection. We are still committed to [President Bush's] road map, but Sharon believes that as long as there is no partner we should come up with this new plan. As you say here in the States, we need two to tango. As long as we don't have the second dancer, we should do it by ourselves.
Sharon's plans also include a security fence in the West Bank. Has the U.S. expressed concern about that?
They are always talking to us about the fence. It is, unfortunately, not acceptable to the international community. But it's weird that after we've suffered from more than 90,000 terrorist attacks, everyone blames us for building it. We didn't start the fence until 2002. Since then, there has been a huge decline in attacks.
How has the Iraq war changed things?
The war in Iraq has brought a huge change in the Arab countries. They are moving toward a better understanding and better relations with Israel and the U.S. In Iraq, I was very surprised to find out that they accomplished their constitution. [Grand Ayatollah Ali] al-Sistani [the leading Iraqi Shiite cleric] is more moderate than I predicted. If they have an election, it will give a very strong signal to other Arab people to ask for the same freedom. I don't accept the axiom that Muslim countries can't have a democracy. That's nonsense.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/177178p-154186c.html
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We can only hope.
I'd like to believe this - an uprising of muslims against terror - but I don't. In my head I still see the dancing pali woman of 911 infamy.