[R-G] US to Israel: Stop your warcrimes so we can start ours

[ProletarianNews]

Ha'aretz. 1 October 2002. No hard feelings over siege, U.S. officials say.

TEL AVIV -- Israel's abortive siege of Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat's headquarters has left no hard feelings toward Israel in
the American administration and will not affect future relations,
administration officials assured Jerusalem on Monday.

The State Department has even instructed its representatives in the
region not to act happy over Israel's capitulation or to say anything
that smacks of "we told you so," but rather to emphasize the friendship
between the two countries and the fact that "the matter is behind us."

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, for his part, has ordered Israeli officials
to portray the withdrawal from the Muqata compound as acquiescence to
American demands, and under no circumstances to attribute any role in
the decision to a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to
the siege. 

A government source explained that Sharon wants to avoid setting a
precedent of Israeli capitulation to UN demands. [Take note, Saddam
Hussein.] 

Cabinet Minister Natan Sharansky said that government officials had
failed to take into account how Washington would react to the operation
as a possible hindrance to a future U.S. offensive against Saddam Hussein.

"We did not assess the situation correctly, when we made the decision
two weeks ago, the extent to which America had already begun the
countdown to an attack on Iraq [N.B.], that just during those days
America would enter into confrontations with the UN and Europe, and
would be unable to tolerate one more confrontation," Sharansky told
Israel Radio. 

Sharansky said that prior to taking the decision to besiege Arafat,
"There were no hints from Washington" as to its negative reaction to the
operation. "

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ProletarianNews
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