The world expects Israel to help the palestinians create their own state. Well, Israel has done her job: She’s given them back the Gaza Strip. Now, Ariel Sharon says, Gaza is on its own. And he intends to tell that to the world.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon departed Tuesday for a gathering at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he is set to tell world leaders that Israeli responsibility for the Gaza Strip has come to an end.
[…] On Thursday, Sharon will address the UN General Assembly, this year including heads of state, and will highlight the step Israel made with the disengagement.
He will call on the Palestinians to take advantage of the opportunity and advance toward implementing the road map. Sharon will demand that the PA combat terrorism as a condition for progress in the peace process, and he will say that he will not discuss Jerusalem. He will speak in Hebrew, in time for the main news programs of Israeli television channels.
There’s something interesting going on, though.
While at the UN, Sharon will meet with U.S. President George W. Bush and the leaders of Russia, Turkey, Britain, Canada, Australia and the European Union, as well as the secretary-general of the UN, Kofi Annan.
Most Arab leaders will be absent from this year’s General Assembly. Sharon has a meeting scheduled with Jordan’s King Abdullah, and efforts are underway for a first encounter with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. There may be meetings with Arab and Muslim dignitaries, including a “hallway conversation” between Sharon and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Why is that, we wonder? Could it be because they’d be pressured to say something nice about Israel?
The Bush administration has been working behind the scenes to ensure that its European and Arab friends refrain from pressuring Sharon and focus on solidifying the disengagement accomplishments.
Oh. But still, Sharon is apparently a very hot date at the UN this year:
JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, fresh off his historic Gaza Strip withdrawal, has been flooded with so many requests to meet with other leaders during the U.N. 60th anniversary celebrations in New York this week that he couldn’t accommodate them all, aides say.
That’s a big change for Israel, which is used to a much chillier reception at the United Nations, where more than 20 anti-Israel resolutions are passed annually.
Don’t you love the AP? They’re so gracious about their hated enemy being well-received.
JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, fresh off his historic Gaza Strip withdrawal, has been flooded with so many requests to meet with other leaders during the U.N. 60th anniversary celebrations in New York this week that he couldn’t accommodate them all, aides say.
That’s a big change for Israel, which is used to a much chillier reception at the United Nations, where more than 20 anti-Israel resolutions are passed annually.
See? Business as usual. Bash Israel, report some news, bash Israel some more. That’s in the AP stylebook, I think.
I hope that Sharon is taking all this new found “love” with a proverbial grain of salt. Keep that door to Gaza locked and let the Pals kill each other. Funny how some media outlets cannot say his name or title without the terms “controversial” or “right wing” or “hard liner” preceding his name.
I don’t think you meant to say, “given them *back* the Gaza Strip” – the Pals never owned it in the first place.