Sharon: Israel 'Shall Not Leave'

NEWSMAX ^ | 4/12/02

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday said the 2-week-old offensive would continue in the Palestinian territories even through the visit by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"We shall not leave Jenin, not Nablus, not Ramallah and not Bethlehem ... before there is an arrangement for the terrorists' surrender," Sharon said, just hours before Powell's peace mission was to reach Jerusalem.

The prime minister said Israel would not lift the siege it has imposed on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah before the Palestinians hand over people involved in the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavaam Zeevi, and hand over Arafat's aide Fuad Shubaki, whom Israel said was involved in buying 50 tons of arms from Iran and in funding terror operations.

Israel has been ignoring international pleas, including from its close allies in the United States, to stop the offensive it began March 30 after suicide bombings killed dozens of Israelis. In the early stages of the attack, tanks broke into the Ramallah compound holding Arafat's headquarters and have since refused to let the Palestinian leader leave the building. Hundreds of people, mostly Palestinians, have died in the fighting.

Powell has been dispatched to the region to try to work out a cease-fire. He has meetings with leaders of both sides set for today.

Addressing police officers in Kfar Sava, northeast of Tel Aviv, Sharon noted that an Israeli force Wednesday night returned to the West Bank town of Tulkarim, which it evacuated earlier in the week, and arrested a female suicide bomber who was about to carry out an attack.

Intelligence Col. Miri Eisin later told reporters in Jerusalem the Tulkarim incident showed that the army had not completed its sweep for armaments before it pulled out. Foreign Minister Ambassador Nimrod Barkan said the Israelis had left Tulkarim because of U.S. pressure.

Sharon said that once the units leave, they would create a 5-kilometer-wide buffer zone along the pre-1967 lines.

[hove]

Sharon is looking out for the interests of Israel and it's people. It may not be popular with the world. And it might not serve America's interests....but he is not the Prime Minister of the world...or America. His country has been a victim of terrorism. He must secure the situation....and then negotiate the peace from a postion of strength. That is in Israel's best interest. And folks who don't give a hoot about the existance of Israel will tend to be against Sharon and Israel in this operation. I am suprised that our administration seems to be trying to interfere with Sharon at this time in history.

[Hugin]

Good for Sharon! No wonder his approval rating at home has gone from 17% to about 80% in the last month.