Abstract

Israel Plays With Fire

The author argues that the assassination by Israeli forces of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Palestinian Hamas, was a political maneuver on the part of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon. The attack--condemned by the entire world apart from the United States--is yet another reminder of Sharon's disregard not only of Arab life but of the lives of his fellow Israelis, many of whom are likely to perish in the "earthquake" of revenge Hamas has promised in retaliation. Some "friends" of Israel--a curious term for those who cheer Israel on as it marches down the road to self-destruction--will doubtless observe that Yassin would not himself have flinched from a comparable attack on Israelis. But that is precisely the point. Under Sharon's leadership, Israel is increasingly behaving like a rogue state, heedless of international legal norms and contemptuous of civilian life.The Yassin assassination, a turning point in a conflict that grows uglier by the day, appears to be a calculated and deeply cynical move by Sharon, "the champion of violent solutions," in the words of Israeli historian Avi Shlaim. Contrary to official claims, the intention is not to fight terror but to exploit it politically. The Yassin killing comes on the heels of Sharon's February 2 announcement that he intends to withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza in one to two years and to evacuate Gaza's 7,500 Jewish settlers. Sharon's deepest fear is that the Gaza withdrawal will be perceived as a victory for Hamas and Islamic Jihad. To avert such an outcome, Sharon appears determined to decapitate Hamas's leadership--Israel has vowed to carry out more such attacks--and to make Gaza bleed.