The family of the assassinated Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi, which completed its seven-day mourning period this morning, visited his gravesite in Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery. The Knesset held a memorial ceremony for Ze\'evi, known as Gandhi, who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Jerusalem last Wednesday. In retaliation for the murder and in the wake of the Palestinian Authority\'s failure to turn over the killers, Israel carried out its strongest offensive ever in PA-controlled areas early this morning, possibly killing or capturing the murderers themselves. The IDF also remains in control of territory in and around six other PA-controlled towns, despite pressure from the United States and European Union to withdraw.
The Arab MKs did not attend the memorial session, just as they did not show up for his funeral. Although Gandhi was on close personal terms with many Druze and Arabs, he called for the \"voluntary transfer\" of the Arab population out of Israel in order to create a situation of \"They\'re there, we\'re here, and peace unto Israel.\" The session, held in the presence of his family, began with a minute of silence. Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg (Labor), a political opponent of Gandhi, called him, \"the High Priest of Eretz Yisrael,\" and said, \"We admired him, but during his lifetime we didn\'t dare say it.\"
Prime Minister Sharon then spoke and asked the family\'s forgiveness for speaking not only of his personal admiration for Gandhi, but also of political matters. \"There are those who are trying to cause panic,\" said the Prime Minister, \"by saying that our government does not have a political or military plan. Causing panic is not a military plan... We cannot now present a diplomatic plan; we have already tried that, and we know that the moment you present such a plan, it becomes merely the starting line for further negotiations... Our deep friendship with the U.S. is strong, despite - and I say this with pain - the unseemly attempt [here at home] to spread panic regarding this. This is a true friendship and partnership, even if we don\'t exactly agree on everything. That is exactly the test of true friendship.\"
Sharon justified the IDF\'s continued presence in PA-controlled territory: \"Arafat does not arrest - we will do it. Arafat doesn\'t prevent [terrorism] - we will do it. This past night, we made a number of very important arrests that will certainly affect the terrorist organizations\' ability to attack us.\" He again demanded that Arafat \"disarm all the Palestinian terrorist organizations of their weapons, without which there can be no genuine progress towards peace. We will not compromise with terrorism. I am not talking about promises and declarations, of which we have had our fill. No more words, but actions!\" He praised Peres for \"his strong stand\" during his current visit to the U.S. regarding the need to have the Arabs stop their terrorism.
The Arab MKs did not attend the memorial session, just as they did not show up for his funeral. Although Gandhi was on close personal terms with many Druze and Arabs, he called for the \"voluntary transfer\" of the Arab population out of Israel in order to create a situation of \"They\'re there, we\'re here, and peace unto Israel.\" The session, held in the presence of his family, began with a minute of silence. Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg (Labor), a political opponent of Gandhi, called him, \"the High Priest of Eretz Yisrael,\" and said, \"We admired him, but during his lifetime we didn\'t dare say it.\"
Prime Minister Sharon then spoke and asked the family\'s forgiveness for speaking not only of his personal admiration for Gandhi, but also of political matters. \"There are those who are trying to cause panic,\" said the Prime Minister, \"by saying that our government does not have a political or military plan. Causing panic is not a military plan... We cannot now present a diplomatic plan; we have already tried that, and we know that the moment you present such a plan, it becomes merely the starting line for further negotiations... Our deep friendship with the U.S. is strong, despite - and I say this with pain - the unseemly attempt [here at home] to spread panic regarding this. This is a true friendship and partnership, even if we don\'t exactly agree on everything. That is exactly the test of true friendship.\"
Sharon justified the IDF\'s continued presence in PA-controlled territory: \"Arafat does not arrest - we will do it. Arafat doesn\'t prevent [terrorism] - we will do it. This past night, we made a number of very important arrests that will certainly affect the terrorist organizations\' ability to attack us.\" He again demanded that Arafat \"disarm all the Palestinian terrorist organizations of their weapons, without which there can be no genuine progress towards peace. We will not compromise with terrorism. I am not talking about promises and declarations, of which we have had our fill. No more words, but actions!\" He praised Peres for \"his strong stand\" during his current visit to the U.S. regarding the need to have the Arabs stop their terrorism.