Sharon Dooms Israel—and Perhaps the United States—to Endless War

“We, as Arabs, condemn what happened to the Jews and would stand with the Jewish people to prevent it from happening again. Yet we want to prevent it not only from happening to them, but from happening to anybody.”

—Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, speaking at the United Nations conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, Sept. 2.

“The strike is painful, but it may push the American people to ask, ‘Why are the terrorists targeting us?’”

—Faisal Salman, in Al Safir, Sept. 13.

As children all over the world began a new school year this September, two pictures in The New York Times illustrated far better than words the current nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One showed Israeli children riding to school in an armored truck escorted by Israeli soldiers. The other showed Palestinian girls dressed in school uniforms being confronted by an Israeli soldier holding a machine gun. In this picture the Israeli soldier was not protecting the children but stopping them from entering their school. It was one of 24 schools in Hebron closed by the Israeli army because they were close to Israeli settlements or army outposts and therefore regarded as security threats.

The two contrasting but equally sad situations reflect the fact that Israelis now live in constant fear of suicide bombings, while Palestinians are forced to endure the very conditions that breed violence—restrictions on their every movement, impoverishment, house demolitions, and almost nightly aerial bombardment. Even where children are allowed to attend school they face formidable obstacles, according to a Sept. 1 report by the Palestinian Ministry of Education. Like students at West Bank universities, either they are delayed for hours at army checkpoints or, where roads are blocked by trenches and cement barriers, they must climb over mountains of dirt and rocks to get to class. More than two thousand children injured by Israeli gunfire must grapple with crutches or wheelchairs as well. At least 95 schools have been severely damaged by shell fire. In many areas school principals often have to transport books and supplies on donkeys or horses. One of the most serious blows to the school system is Israel’s continued refusal to turn over the $65 million in tax revenues it owes to the Palestinian Authority, money that is needed to pay teachers.

Education Minister Abu El-Humos has called on the Israelis to end the rocketing and other heavy artillery fire that terrifies, injures, and kills children, and to restore Palestinian revenues, but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he has no intention of doing either. Sharon has made it unmistakeably clear that his object is to nullify the Oslo agreements and undo any gains made by the Palestinians since the accords were signed. In an interview with The New York Times on Sept. 7 Sharon outlined peace terms that call for the Palestinians’ unconditional surrender. “Oslo failed,” he said, and declared that once a truce is reached, the two sides will have to work out a whole new set of guidelines.