Mideast: peace is an illusion

Illusions rule the world. Peace between the Jews and Palestinians is just another illusion that has broken to pieces after clashing with real life.

One more act of terrorism as against civilians occurred in Israel. As a result, five Israelis were killed and thirty more wounded by an explosion in a bus. The tragedy occurred early on Wednesday. The bus was on its way from Tel-Aviv to Nazareth. A young man entered the bus at one of its stops, probably near the Arab settlement of Hadera. Later, when the bus passed by a large settlement of Israeli Arabs, Um-el-Fahm, he blew himself up. The explosion occured in northern Israel, several kilometers from the West Bank at about 7 a.m. local time, when people are on their way to work. The Associated Press reported that a police spokesman has said the number of passengers was large.

The attack occurred the day after the completion of US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s visit to Israel. Dick Cheney tried to convince both conflicting parties to resume cease-fire talks. He had no time to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, but, on his departure, he said that a meeting will take place in the future. An obligatory condition is required for the meeting: a cease fire and the recommencement of the peace talks.

Today, US envoy to the Middle East Anthony Zinni is to meet with spokesmen for Israeli and Palestinian special services and discuss a cease fire between the conflicting parties. Today’s act of terrorism will certainly hamper the peace talks. Prime minister Ariel Sharon’s position is rather shaky, as right-wing forces accuse him of opportunism and betrayal of Israel’s interests. The only way for him to stop such accusations is to achieve considerable success with peace talks. However, it is going to be a really hard task if more terrorist acts occur.

Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva]

In the photo by BBC: Yasser Arafat and Anthony Zinni

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/03/20/38476.html