Chris, here is an interesting commentary on the Barghouti trial from Ha'aretz today, along with their Editorial endorsing restraint against Hussein if Israel is attacked first. Below, Chris Patten, the EU commissioner also writes Cousins and Strangers: the US and EU, for those interested. - KWC
HAARETZ/GIDEON SAMET/JEWISH BRAINS IN CHAINS @ http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=220933&contrassID =2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Opening paragraphs: "A government eager for a show trial; a Palestinian leader accused of murder; a judge with a feisty personality; a lawyer who didn't inherit his grandfather's best genes; an atmosphere charged with pain and desire for revenge. With ingredients like that, it couldn't be a tasty stew. But that's what's cooking at the pointless trial of Marwan Barghouti in Tel Aviv. Again, it has become clear that nothing in Israeli life, even the white-as-snow courts, can escape the stain of 35 years of corrupting occupation. Not even common sense has survived. Barghouti, 43 years old, was kidnapped half a year ago and is now being tried for killing 12 Israelis and wounding about 100. Even the army and the government, who prefer quicker ways of neutralizing terror activists, realized it was best not to gun down the leader of the Tanzim and the Al-Aqsa Brigade. He is a member of the Palestinian parliament, a strongman around the Palestinian Authority and an Oslo supporter. Assassinating him would set off a God-awful mess. The government decided on a trial (although the Shin Bet disagreed). Someone less rash might have told it that show trials also give the accused an opportunity to open a big mouth. Barghouti, of course, denied that the state has any right to prosecute him, and sounded off in front of the cameras. Actually - and no demagogic protests will help - he said what the members of the Jewish underground said when they were tried by the British in Mandatory times." HAARETZ EDITORIAL: WESTERN IRAQ FIRST @ http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=220958&contrassID =2&subContrassID=3&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Opening paragraphs: "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon left his meeting with President George Bush at the White House on Wednesday with a sense of satisfaction. Bush may have equipped him with a "road map" for progress toward the establishment of a Palestinian state, but navigating according to that map will only begin after the military campaign Bush plans against the Iraqi ruler, Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi issue therefore was the focus of Sharon's discussions with Bush and his administration's officials. On the rhetorical level, Bush's comments at the end of his meeting with Sharon can be interpreted as encouragement for Israel to use its right to respond militarily to an Iraqi attack. Bush formulated his words as an "assessment" and not a position, and even defined the type of Iraqi attack that would justify an Israeli reaction - an "unprovoked" attack - and that could be interpreted as possible reservations from an Israeli preemptive attack. But the legalism is not significant. In the eyes of the Americans watching their president, and perhaps in Saddam's eyes too, this was Bush standing up, alongside Israel. If this is an element that deters Saddam (and that's not self-evident, since Saddam, for his own reasons, may want to provoke Israel into a reaction), then Bush's remarks were welcome. PATTEN: COUSINS AND STRANGERS THE US AND EU @ http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=220934&contrassID =2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Chris posted: Palestinian territories are "the largest detention camp in the world" -- Britain's ambassador British envoy's criticism angers Israel By Alan Philps in Jerusalem UK Telegraph 15/10/2002 Britain's ambassador to Israel has angered its government by describing the Palestinian territories as "the largest detention camp in the world". Sherard Cowper-Coles accused soldiers of humiliating and harassing civilians. He put his complaints to Maj-Gen Amos Gilad, the officer in charge of the welfare of Palestinians under occupation, after a tour of the West Bank which he is said to have found shocking. After his comments were leaked to the press yesterday, a senior Israeli official said: "The ambassador has forgotten that the British mandate is over. He went too far." British officials said the criticisms were co-ordinated with Whitehall after Gen Gilad visited London, where he was asked to explain why 3.5 million Palestinians were effectively locked up. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2002%2F10%2F15%2Fwm id15.xml Outgoing Mail Scanned by NAV 2002
