Sharon continues to thwart Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts while extremists vow to storm the second most sacred site of Islam, writes Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank President Bush's rare public disagreement with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon over the latter's settlement expansion policy in the West Bank, was voiced during their joint press conference in Texas on 11 April, is unlikely to translate into genuine steps towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Indeed, Sharon himself, while sycophantically reiterating in Bush's presence his commitment to the internationally-backed roadmap (but without mentioning his notorious 14 reservations), left no doubt as to his true intentions. Sharon, while vowing to annex Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank to Israel in the context of any final status settlement with the Palestinians, continued to evoke the stale issue of "Palestinian terror". The Israeli and American media quoted Sharon as saying that Israel wouldn't move to carry out its commitments under the "roadmap" unless the Palestinian Authority (PA), which he had described as "weak" and "collapsing", moved decisively to dismantle the "terror infrastructure". Sharon's remarks should be viewed as no more than cheap distractions. To begin with, it is Israel, not the Palestinians, that indulges in daily acts of terror that brazenly violate the Sharm El-Sheikh understandings of 9 February. On 9 April, trigger-happy Israeli occupation soldiers manning an army watchtower in Rafah at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip murdered in cold blood three Palestinian children who were playing soccer in the vicinity of their homes. Initially, the Israeli army spokesman sought to justify the murder, claiming that the "the three terrorists were armed smugglers." A few hours later, when eyewitness and third-party testimonies left no doubt as to the cold-blooded nature of the killings, the Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz telephoned PA Minister of Interior Nasr Youssef offering a tacit apology and asking him to ensure that the incident remain localised and not be allowed to wreck the present calm. PA President Mahmoud Abbas described the killing as an open violation of the Sharm El-Sheikh accords. Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas, responded to the Israeli provocation by firing dozens of mortar rounds onto nearby Gaza settlements. No Israeli settlers or soldiers were hurt as a result of the mortars, but the message was abundantly clear; namely that Palestinian groups are willing and ready to respond to Israeli violations, even if that entails re-igniting the Intifada. The Rafah killings aptly reflect a certain trend towards escalation on Israel's part. The Israeli occupation army has markedly stepped up acts of repression and harassment in the West Bank, prompting the PA to warn Israel that Israeli actions -- including nearly daily incursions into Palestinian population centers and mass arrests of Palestinian activists -- corrode the ceasefire, rendering the efforts of the PA to co-opt groups like Hamas ever more difficult. In the last few days, the Israeli army re-erected many of the roadblocks and checkpoints that were removed following the Sharm El-Sheikh summit in February. This means, in short, that more Palestinians are now mistreated, beaten and humiliated by the Israeli army, a fact that is sure to generate further anger and bitterness among ordinary Palestinians. This week, the outgoing Israeli chief of Israel's main domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, warned that a "third Intifada" might be in the offing sooner than many people think. In an interview with the Israeli media this week, Avi Dichter predicted that in the absence of a genuine political process between Israel and the Palestinians -- one promising an end to the Israeli occupation -- a new uprising would erupt as soon as Israel had completed the separation wall in the West Bank. Israeli officials have said the construction of the gigantic barrier, which has already reduced many Palestinian towns and villages into virtual detention camps, will be complete by mid-2006 at the latest. Dichter's views apparently stem from a conviction that the fate of the American-sponsored "roadmap for peace" will be no different to that of numerous other international initiatives, all of which evaporated because of Israeli intransigence. Also this week, a well-publicised threat by a messianic Jewish group to storm Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam's holiest shrines, ended relatively peacefully when but a handful of Jewish fanatics turned out for the occasion. The Israeli government deployed some 3,000 policemen in the vicinity of Haram Al- Sharif to prevent both Muslim worshipers and Jewish provocateurs from accessing the site. The threat was also taken seriously by Muslims in Jerusalem and Israel proper (West Bank and Gazan Palestinians are denied access to Jerusalem) with some 15,000 staying overnight Friday to defend the site against Jewish aggression. Israeli police, meanwhile, attacked and brutally beat Arab youths trying to get through to the mosque, while the threat from the little-known Rivava group fizzled out. The Jewish threats triggered concern in many Muslim countries, with the Sheikh of Al-Azhar and other Muslim religious leaders warning Israel that any attack on Al-Aqsa or other Islamic holy places would trigger unpredictable consequences. Political leaders in Jordan and Egypt also reportedly warned Israel that any "playing with fire" in this regard would spark off unprecedented turbulence throughout the Muslim world. Jewish fanatics meanwhile vowed to follow through on their provocative threat to storm what they call the "Temple Mount". Since 1967, Jewish extremists have tried several times to attack and destroy Al- Aqsa Mosque. In 1969, an Australian-born Christian Zionist set the pulpit of Salaheddin on fire, causing an inferno that gutted parts of the mosque. In the late- 1970s and early-1980s, Jewish terrorists tried unsuccessfully to destroy the mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock, using weapons stolen from the Israeli army. The extremists told interrogators that they had hoped the destruction of the mosque would spark off violence on such a scale that would induce the appearance of the Jewish messiah, who would bring about the redemption of Jews and rule the world from Jerusalem. A serious attack by Jewish extremists against the Haram Al-Sharif compound in Jerusalem, even by members of the Israeli army, remains a distinct possibility. This week, Israeli media quoted a renowned Israeli military figure as saying that within a few years, religious -- i.e. messianic -- officers would form a majority in the army. If true, the chances of Jewish groups targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque would become all the more real.
