Palestinian rioters and terrorists escalated the renewed intifada in recent days throughout Gaza and Judea/Samaria, including Jerusalem, in a move meant to “test†Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon even before he formally assumes office.
Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo over the weekend and demanded that Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon stick to the land-for-peace script laid out in UN resolutions and the Madrid and Oslo peace talks or else.
JERUSALEM (BP)–Arab reaction to the Feb. 6 election of Ariel Sharon ranged from wary to warlike, with moderate states waiting for Israel’s next prime minister to make his first moves and radical states calling his election a declaration of war, CNSNews.com reported Feb. 7.
In the final days of the snap Israeli election for prime minister, incumbent Ehud Barak courted the Arab and Russian immigrant blocs, but had little chance of catching the surging Likud candidate Ariel Sharon, especially after the ultra-Orthodox jumped on his bandwagon.
If all those lopsided opinion polls are reliable, Israeli voters will install Ariel Sharon as their next prime minister on Tuesday, completing a most remarkable comeback for this native-born farmer whose long military and political record engenders considerable doses of both respect and scorn.
The violent crisis that has rocked the Lord’s land since the Jewish year 5,761 began last September 28 deepened significantly last evening.
Three Syrian soldiers were reportedly killed and five wounded overnight in an Israeli air raid on a Syrian radar station near the Beirut-Damascus highway in eastern Lebanon.
Following Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s departure for Washington, Palestinian terrorists ambushed a Jewish motorist early Monday morning, just hours after the first mortar attack inside Israel proper.
wo terrorist bombings in Jerusalem on Tuesday, following hard on the heels of the shooting of a 10-month-old Jewish girl in Hebron by Palestinian snipers on Monday evening, have increased calls by the Israeli public for strong action against terror just as the Arab League summit opens in Amman, Jordan.
It looked like smooth sailing, but the bid by Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon for a quick national unity government has run into rough waters due to sharp divisions within the Labor party over outgoing PM Ehud Barak’s decision to stay on as defense minister.
QUOTES FROM SHARON SUPPORTERS:
“[The Oslo Accords were] illusions that one-sided concessions to an authoritarian regime, who is ready to use terror as the leverage on us, can really bring peace. Ariel Sharon will no doubt try to build the government which will be based on the broad consensus and to negotiate, to negotiate on the basis of reciprocity.” – Natan Sharansky, noted Soviet refusenik and head of the Yisrael B’Aliyah party.