By: Eyad Khalifa
Albawaba.com - Amman
Arab Knesset member Mohammed Barakeh said that any harm against the Palestinian leadership and President Yasser Arafat in particular will put Israel in confrontation with all Palestinians worldwide.
“[Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon has already had his plans to launch military operations against the Palestinian lands whether there were martyrdom operations or not,” Barakeh told Albawaba.com over phone.
He said that Sharon has his weak points which the Arab community in Palestine will attempt to exploit in order to make him step down, despite the US umbrella under which he is acting.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
Q. How do you look at the Israeli recent escalation in the Palestinian lands?
A. Sharon was in no need for suicide bombing operations to launch his aggression but he used these operations as a political excuse to destroy the Palestinian Authority and its leadership under what he describes as fight against terrorism.
Basically he managed to win the elections through his promise to the Israeli voters that he would be able to stop the Palestinian uprising by the use of force. In fact, he has had the the bloodiest record of massacres starting with Qibya [in 1953] till now.
Nevertheless, the problem is that the Israeli Prime Minister moves under full American cover. This proves that the US decision to send its envoy [Anthony] Zinni to region was only a means to placate the Arab and Muslim public opinion after its aggression on Afghanistan.
Q. In light of this, do you see any easing of tension with Sharon as a prime minister?
A. I believe that reaching it is impossible for things to cool down as long as Sharon is in office. I also believe that the Arabs and the international community should push for an international force for the protection of the Palestinians. It is very important that Israeli, Arab and international actions be taken to shorten the tenure of Sharon as a premier. This has been our goal since the first day he took office.
There are undoubtedly many factors that can weaken Sharon. First the Palestinian people will not succumb to his aggression, which proves that Sharon will not achieve peace and security for the Israelis by force as he promised.
Secondly, despite the weak state of the Arab countries nowadays, they can still play a more active role in this conflict and meet the expectations from them.
Thirdly, the severe impacts of the Palestinian uprising on the Israeli economy will be more evident in the next year’s budget. This will deprive the Israelis of social security and high living standards. Therefore I believe the Israelis should reach a moment of truth and realize the impacts of Sharon’s harmful policies on their life.
For our part, we believe that we can play a pivotal role as Palestinians in Israel or as their representatives at the Knesset. We should open channels of dialogue with the Israeli community to pinpoint the facts about Sharon’s government. On the other hand, we can use our weight in the Knesset at the right time. But the last move needs the labor party to leave the coalition government and distance themselves from Sharon.
Q. Would you count on the Labor party to do something in the near future?
A. Not at all. However, we believe that if the Labor Party walks out of the coalition, two things will happen. First, Labor will automatically act as an opposition party. Second, this will limit the influence of the National Unity Knesset bloc headed by Sharon and so he could be threatened by a vote of no confidence.
I would like to point out that the Israeli premier wouldn’t stop his bloody actions. Betting on reaching an agreement with Sharon is out of question. What we need now is to provide means of international protection for the Palestinians through intensive Arabic efforts.
Q. Do you believe that security meetings would lead to any fruitful results after more than a year of uprising and hundreds of martyrs?
A. The Palestinian side acts under an almost impossible formula. It lacks any political support and it is the weaker militarily. We have always stressed that restricting the meetings between the Palestinians and Israelis to the security and military issues is an attempt to transform the PA into a body tasked with protecting Israel, a matter which can neither be accepted by the PA nor by President Arafat himself.
I believe the attempts to separate security from politics are absurd because the struggle is originally political.
Q. Sharon has reportedly threatened that he would target Arafat’s life. Do you think that he was serious or was it a gambit to put pressure on the Palestinian leadership?
A. There is some talk in the Israeli political lobbies about this matter. I think it is linked to Sharon’s calculations regarding the consequences of Arafat’s elimination. But we as the one million Palestinians in Israel understand that we have no right in determining the proposed Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza. But I believe that if Arafat is harmed, Israel will be confronted by all Palestinians including Arafat’ supporters and opponents worldwide.
Any stupid action by Sharon will ignite a big fire that no body can imagine -- Albawaba.com
