A roadmap to misery As US President Bush’s envoy to the region, it would see reasonable to presume that Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns is committed to advancing Bush’s Middle East policy. In order to assess Burns’s chances of success in advancing Secretary of State Colin Powell’s boss’s plans, we think it is…
In an interview with London's Guardian this past February, revisionist historian Benny Morris referred to the Palestinian Authority as "a virtual kingdom of mendacity." On Monday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office announced that his government supports this kingdom. Ahead of Sharon's junket to the White House, a high-ranking official in his office told this newspaper that Israel has agreed…
In the shifting sands of Arab alliances, it is hard to find instances of enduring relationships. But in a world where raw power struggles and dictatorial jealousies reign sovereign, one alliance stands out for its vitality, durability, and the mutual benefit it accrues to both sides. This rare relationship is Yasser Arafat's partnership with Saddam Hussein. Fuad Shubaki, Arafat's…
As the beat of the US’s war drums against Saddam Hussein boom ever louder, the voices of opposition sound ever shriller. On Monday night, US President George W. Bush gave yet another speech in which he set out to answer these voices. One of the primary arguments that have been made against the Bush administration’s plans is that by…
In a speech before his Labor Party on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a rallying cry that the world as a whole should welcome. Calling for moral and political courage in dealing with a world in transformation, Blair said, "The radical decision is usually the right one. The right decision is usually the hardest one. And the…
Meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is very much like visiting with your grandfather. He is warm and engaging. He lives in the history he did so much to write, speaking of events that happened 50 years ago with the same spark with which he speaks of the latest developments. His personal warmth, clear love for his people, and his…
Sharon: No military solution to the war with the Palestinians Caroline B. Glick Sep. 26, 2002 In a comprehensive, exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon offers his perspective on the possibility that Israel is forced to respond to an attack by Iraq during a US-led campaign against Saddam Hussein's regime. He also details his…
MKs Yossi Sarid and Ofir Pines-Paz are huffing-and-puffing mad. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has just committed the most cardinal of sins. He has appointed a man overtly supportive of the prime minister to head the Mossad. "This is a dangerous precedent," Pines-Paz huffs. "This should be a professional, not a political appointment," Sarid puffs. Fighting…
On Wednesday, the IDF carried out a successful operation in damage control. By spiriting Intissar and Kifah Ajouri into the Gaza Strip at Netzarim rather than having them pass through at the Erez checkpoint, where the international press corps was waiting to photograph the first targets of the government's new policy of punishing relatives of terrorists, the IDF prevented…
In one of the most virulent attacks on the IDF in recent memory, Ha'aretz's senior diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn penned an article published in The Washington Post on August 18 in which he accused former Chief of General Staff Shaul Mofaz specifically and IDF commanders generally of responsibility for the war. In Benn's view, the IDF's definition of the…