middle east
...nd 69 Palestinian civilians— Clark 2 about half of them women and children. Ariel Sharon as Minister of Defense was also involved in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. He is currently being tried by the Belgian courts for alleged involvement in and leading two massacres against the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in the 1980’s. In 1990-1992, he served as Minister of Construction and Housing. Because of his position, Sharon led the settlement explosion throughout the 1977-1992 Likud-era of Israeli government. Having no respect whatsoever for the original inhabitants, Israel set about systematically seizing Palestinian property, building colonies on these “occupied territories” and refusing to return the land. United Nations resolutions told Israel to hand back the occupied territories were met with an arrogant laugh of denial to this “request.” On February 6, 2001, Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister of Israel and given full power over foreign affairs, including the Palestinian conflict. Ariel Sharon has developed into an Israeli leader who is an extreme hard-liner and will accept no less than the complete destruction of Palestine. Sharon’s war-like manner of dealing with politics interferes with normal relations and a nonexistent peace settlement. The hardliner attitude and uncompressing position interferes with the peace process and further strains the relations in the Middle East. Yasser Arafat has been the leader of the Palestinian movement since the 1960’s and was elected the leader of the Palestinian Leadership organization in 1996, after Palestinians received limited autonomy in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under the Cairo Extra-Ordinary Arab Summit. Yasser Arafat has devoted his entire political career toward one goal: the destruction of Israel. When the Israelis brought him from Tunis, installed him as leader of the Palestinian Authority, and armed his police force, Israel Clark 3 installed a ruthless foe that they must continually come against. In complete violation of the Olso Accords, Arafat proceeded to indoctrinate Palestinian children to hate Israel and that is ok to kill Jews. He managed to conceal from the world his ultimate goal, the destruction of Israel. With Arafat’s main goal being the destruction of Israel, not the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state, the peace conferences will not end in peace. In order to reach peace, one must be looking for peace. Yasser Arafat is certainly not looking for peace. In the quest for peace, the first step must be finding new officials on both sides that desire peace. As stated earlier, both Sharon and Arafat have clearly defined their objectives and their feelings toward one another. With such hate involved, neither Arafat nor Sharon is qualified to make beneficial decisions regarding the future of their individual nations. In order to correct this, Arafat and Sharon must have their power and the peace negotiations revoked and given to others from their nations with a clearer head and fresh ideas. The process of removing Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat from the peace negotiations must be a slow yet deliberate action. Both men are strong, proud men, and will not look kindly upon having their power taken away, but it is a necessary step towards peace. The process must not begin with simply removing them, but a gathering of the world, demanding peaceful talks with people of peace. The first step shall be taken by the United Nations, they will gather together leaders of nations through out the world, including several Arab leaders and create a small panel of people to dis...