AFTER F-16s, WHAT NEXT, A NUCLEAR BOMB? ASKS ISRAEL PRESS
PARIS 21 May (IPS) As international criticism mounted over Israel for the use of its American-made F-16 jet fighters to bomb targets inside the areas held by the Palestinian Authority, an adamant Ariel Sharon, the hard-line Israeli Prime Minister reiterated that he would continue air strikes until the Palestinians stop terrorizing Israeli civilians.
In an operation that constituted a new escalation in the eight-months long Israeli-Palestinian armed conflict, the Jewish States Friday bombed Gaza and other parts of the Palestinian territory, using sophisticated F-16 fighters, in response to Friday's killing of five Israelis by a Palestinian suicide bomber, killing at least five Israeli shoppers and wounding more than thirty others.
In the Israeli attack, 11 Palestinians were killed and fifty wounded, putting the total death toll for the day at more than 20, as more Palestinians and Israelis have been killed in other operations and shoot outs.
In their first reaction, the Israeli press strongly criticized Saturday Mr. Sharon for sending the bombers into operation.
"What would he do next, after another suicide bombing by the Palestinians? Using atomic bomb on Ramallah?", asked the influential "Ma’ariv".
Even the conservative "Jerusalem Post" joined the chorus by observing that the bombardment increased Israel’s isolation on the international scene and made it to lose the "other important battle of propaganda on international scene".
Informed Israeli sources told Iran Press Service that the brief but meaningful statement by US Vice-president Dick Cheney calling on Israel to "refrain" from using F-16s against the Palestinians came as a shock to Mr. Sharon, with military experts wandering whether Washington would not impose restrictions on Israel for the use of such weapons.
"Both sides should stop and think about where they are headed here and recognize that down this road lies disaster", Cheney said, without stressing however whether the United States, which makes F-16s available to other countries with the proviso that they be used for legitimate defense purposes, would make any moves to halt the Israeli's use of the planes.
"Not all the military agreed with the Prime Minister on using the jets", one informed Israeli journalist said, observing that Tel-Aviv was using its very last reserve of sympathy credit in used to enjoy in the West, including in the US.
At an extraordinary meeting of the Arab League in Cairo and chaired by its new President, Mr. Amr Mousa, Egypt’s former Foreign Minister and with the presence of Mr. Yaser Arafat, participants urged it’s 22 members to suspend all contacts with Israel, stopping short of calling for cutting diplomatic relations.
"All other Arab nations and leaders are behind us in the great struggle against Israeli aggression" assured Mr. Arafat after the League’s decision.
The foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan -- the two Arab countries that have peace treaties with Israel and have been trying to broker a cease-fire -- were among those who voted for the move.
Mr. Musa said the use by Israel of F-16s for the first time since the 1967 war to murder Palestinian citizens was a ''dangerous escalation that demands immediate international intervention" and called for an immediate international protection for the Palestinian people from Israelis "atrocities".
In Tehran, newspapers on Saturday regretted that the League had not demanded a formal end to all ties with the Jewish States, criticized Arab states "lethargy" and proposed that Muslim nations should prepare themselves for declaring war on Israel.
Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi vehemently condemned the
escalation of the "Zionist" clampdown on Palestinians and the Israeli
troops' continued "genocide" in the occupied lands.
The Iraqi-born Asefi described the Israeli raid by F-16 jets on Palestinians
as "a new tactic (taken up) by the "racist Israeli regime" since
1967 aimed at "extermination of Palestinian women, children and
youth".
The Iranian official also criticised the stances of certain countries which link the defensive struggles of the Palestinian people to the aggression of the Israeli troops and said, "The silence of the international bodies and the biased stances of Israel's supporters have left this regime free-handed in clamping down on the Palestinian nation".
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak lashed out at Mr. Sharon and in telephone calls to President George W. Bush and other Western leaders, he urged them to intervene, stopping Israel "massacring" the Palestinian people.
"Sharon is making the peace process very difficult, as the use of excessive force will never lead to peace", Mr. Mubarak said, adding that nevertheless, he would not give up peace efforts.
Russia, France and Britain were among other countries to express similar concern, criticizing Mr. Sharon for "using excessive force", in the words of the UN General Secretary Kofi Annan.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Perez that the retaliatory air strikes were "improper and impossible to justify or explain". ENDS ISRAEL PALESTINE BOMBING 21501