Sharon Goes Down Firing

One of the last acts of Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister of Israel was to call on the international community to apply pressure on Teheran immediately after action against Iraq ends because Iran is a “centre of world terror”

In an interview published by the British daily, The Times, Ariel Sharon stated that if Iraq were to attack Israel again during a forthcoming conflict, Israel would retaliate, adding that this time, the strategic mistakes of the Gulf War in 1991 would not be repeated, namely the decision to attack the eastern flack and leaving western Iraq open for Scud missiles to be launched.ґ39 Scuds were fired into Israel during the conflict.

After failing to reach a coalition agreement, Ariel Sharon called fresh elections for the first quarter of the coming year. He failed to deliver on security, and as he spoke in the Knesset last night, another suicide bomber blew himself up, killing two and injuring 20. Having done nothing to forward the process of peace in the Middle East, his declarations on his neighbours are the hallmark of the arrogance which dominates everything this hawkish man has ever done.

For example, he declared that Yasser Arafat could remain as a symbol in the Palestine Authority but never with executive power, while stating that the free world should stop Iran from developing its missiles programme, which was working on a programme to produce a missile capable of reaching Israel and even Europe, he claimed. “That is a danger to the Middle East, to Israel and a danger to Europe”.

The greatest danger to the Middle East is Ariel Sharon himself.

John ASHTEAD PRAVDA.Ru LONDON UNITED KINGDOM