Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon admitted in an interview published Thursday in the Ma’ariv daily, that he regrets not killing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Beirut during the 1982 Lebanon war.
"In Lebanon, there was an agreement that we wouldn’t eliminate Arafat. … I’m sorry that we didn’t eliminate him," Sharon said.
"If Arafat will take the steps being asked of him, he would return to being our partner in negotiations," Sharon expressed. "There is a military answer to the issue of terror", Sharon said in the interview, after breaking a long silence in the Israeli media.
Sharon remarked that he does not support the agreement that Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres worked on with Palestinian Authority Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) last month. However, Sharon believes he could work out a paper together with Peres that can bring forth an agreement to end the fighting with the Palestinians.
"An agreement can be derived from the [Peres] proposal that will end the conflict with the Palestinian Authority," Sharon said, adding that with Arafat’s cooperation, the current conflict will end with "an independent Palestinian state”. “For a true peace, I’m ready to give up pieces of Israel” he added.
Sheikh Yassin
Hamas spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin announced “at this moment in time, the Palestinian struggle does not need the contribution of Palestinian women to carry out suicide bombings”.
Yassin explained, in an interview with the London based A-Sharq al-Awsat, that his opposition is not merely one of principle, but of practical reasons, “The Islamic Movement has not succeeded in coping with the many offers made by men, who wish to engage in suicide activities. Our resources are scarce, and we can not absorb all those who wish to take part in the confrontation with the enemy”.
Yassin added, “The decisive day of the confrontation with the Israeli occupation will arrive, and then, also women, elders and children would take part in the Jihad”.
According to the Hamas leader, “from this aspect, we have entered a new era in which women are willing to fight just like men. At this stage, we do not have a military organization for women, but when such an organization would be established, a massive women recruitment would me made”.
The leader explained that according to Islamic tradition, there are incidents in which a woman is allowed to fight. “The Prophet said that if the enemy enters your home, the woman can stand up without the permission of her husband, and the servant without the permission of his master”.
A 28-year-old divorcee from a refugee camp in Ramallah has been identified as the attacker who carried out a bombing in Jerusalem on Sunday, killing an elderly Israeli and wounding dozens of people. It was the first time a Palestinian woman had carried out such an attack against Israel.(Albawaba.com)
