4 Israeli Ex-Security Chiefs Denounce Sharon's Hard Line - NYT

[goforit]

<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/15/international/middleeast/15MIDEhtml?th>

4 Israeli Ex-Security Chiefs Denounce Sharon's Hard Line
By GREG MYRE

Published: November 15, 2003


JERUSALEM, Nov. 14 — In a joint interview published Friday, four former heads of the Shin Bet security service delivered a blistering collective criticism of Israel's tough military policies toward the Palestinians, saying Israel urgently needed a political solution to the Middle East conflict.

"We are taking sure, steady steps to a place where the state of Israel will no longer be a democracy and a home for the Jewish people," said Ami Ayalon, the Shin Bet chief from 1996 to 2000.

Israel's largest circulation daily, Yediot Ahronot, splashed a huge front-page headline over the interview with the ex-chiefs of Shin Bet, or the General Security Service. "Four directors of G.S.S. warn: Israel in grave danger," read the headline above photos of the four, who ran the agency for nearly two decades. Interviewed, besides Mr. Ayalon, were Carmi Gilon, Yaakov Perry and Avraham Shalom.

The blunt critique of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's policies was the latest in a series by security officials and soldiers, current and former, questioning Israel's strategy in its battle against the three-year-old Palestinian uprising. Last month, the army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, said the network of restrictions placed on the Palestinian population had proved counterproductive, breeding greater militancy.

Mr. Sharon, a former general, has relied heavily on the military, and has insisted that Palestinian violence cease before the two sides can restart negotiations toward a settlement. Granting concessions during the fighting would be "rewarding terrorism," he has often said.

A solid majority of Israelis has backed his aggressive military approach, according to polls. Mr. Sharon, Israel's most prominent hawk, has won two landslide elections, in March 2001 and in January of this year. But the army has not been able to halt attacks, prompting some calls for a greater emphasis on diplomacy. Mr. Sharon is currently considering whether to hold talks with the recently installed Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei.

The former security chiefs said the government was focused almost entirely on military solutions, at the expense of finding ways to reach a permanent peace deal.

(con't).........

Good for them!!!.......Democracy is at stake.

[goforit]

1. I hope you all will read this and see two sides of the coin.

:tinfoilhat:

[Paschall]

2. Just saw the former French ambassador to Turkey...

...commenting on the Istanbul bombings. He said the attacks were not directed at Jews per se, but against Israel, in retaliation for Sharon's approach to the Occupied Territories. Unfortunately, he said, Jews are seen in the Middle East as unfailing supporters of Israeli government policies.

This would seem to jibe with the assessment of these Israeli security chiefs: Sharon is putting Israel in danger. That's why I've been so adamant about pointing out again and again the thousands of Jews, both in Israel and abroad, who are opposed to Sharon's hard-line approach. Standing up against the Israeli occupation is an individual act of counter-terrorism.

Similarly, as an American living abroad, I believe firmly that handing out leaflets with Americans Against the War in Paris's city center week after week, many to young Muslims, is an individual act of counter-terrorism that may in some small way protect me and other Americans abroad. After reading our leaflets they cannot claim ALL Americans are war-mongering Bushistas on a "crusade."

<end of rant>

[Lurking Dem]

3. Yeah it must be

the fault of that "shitty little country" the French are so fond of.

I have a right to pray.

I have a right to listen to my Rebbi speak.

I have a right to attend services in peace.

When some asswipe tries to blow up civilian Jews praying at their Temple, they are attacking JEWS. Not Israel, not Sharon, not the IDF, not soldiers, not governmental policies. JEWS. Because they are JEWS.

I don't know what is so fucking hard to understand about that.

[tinnypriv]

4. LOL

NY Times manage to describe that headline, but somehow manages to miss the even more prominent one right next to it on the same front page saying "ISRAEL WARNS SYRIA".

This is also on the same page that has an image of the new fighter-bombers the US is providing Israel gratis.

Then the article above has the temerity to say: "Mr. Sharon, a former general, has relied heavily on the military"

No shit. The US is providing it. If the NY Times wasn't so busy kissing ass, they'd inform their readers that and maybe some pressure would come to bear on that military aid, and Sharon wouldn't be able to rely on it.

:eyes: