The Yesha Council has announced a mass protest at 7 PM this evening opposite the Prime Minister\'s home in Jerusalem. \"The wave of attacks hitting us,\" says the Council, \"is the unintentional but direct result of Sharon\'s promise not to hurt Arafat and not to bring down the Palestinian Authority. We call on Sharon to declare war as early as tonight against the Palestinian Authority, renew security control over all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and clean out the area of terrorists and terror infrastructure.\"
MK Michael Kleiner (Herut)\'s reaction to last night\'s attack: \"Sharon\'s Lebanon syndrome undermines Israel\'s deterrence. The future of the State is more important that the future of the government, and if the government is not able to make the decision to conquer the areas of the Palestinian Authority, it must disband and go to elections.\"
Jerusalem Post columnist and former Netanyahu-aide Michael Freund wrote today:
\"... it is hard to believe that just over a year ago, the people of Israel greeted the election of Ariel Sharon with a heavy sigh of relief... Several hundred dead later, it is now painfully clear that Sharon was little more than a false messiah, one who created great expectations, all of which have gone unfulfilled.
\"Sharon is a man without a plan, a leader who has presided over the worst surge in anti-Israel violence in the country\'s history. Sharon has failed to enhance our security, he has undermined our deterrent capability, and he has refrained from taking the necessary countermeasures to root out Palestinian terror once and for all. Thus far, the only thing Sharon has succeeded in doing is demoralizing the people of Israel and turning them into sitting-ducks for Palestinian gunmen and bombers. ... he has lost any justification for his continued rule.
\"...The last thing Israel needs right now is to go to elections. But we may have little choice. Because if Sharon\'s government is not brought down soon, it might very well bring down the country instead. And that is why Sharon has got to go.\"
Women In Green announced that it had \"invested a great deal of effort in traveling throughout Israel to foster the election of Arik Sharon as Prime Minister. Today, [we] regret having done so. Mr. Sharon has not provided the leadership that Israel sorely needs. Although he mouths empty phrases and threats to the Arabs, he has not effectively dealt with the Arab terror that is rife in our Land today.\"
Israel Radio diplomatic correspondent Yoni Ben-Menachem reported last night, in the name of sources in Prime Minister Sharon\'s Office, that the United States \"never asked Israel to show restraint in its actions against the Palestinians.\" Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA (www.imra.org.il) notes that in the past two days, there have been Kassam rockets shot from the Gaza Strip that hit two Israeli communities within the Green Line, shooting in Hevron, and shooting from Beit Jala into Gilo - all three of them former \"red line - whole new ballgame\" actions.
MK Michael Kleiner (Herut)\'s reaction to last night\'s attack: \"Sharon\'s Lebanon syndrome undermines Israel\'s deterrence. The future of the State is more important that the future of the government, and if the government is not able to make the decision to conquer the areas of the Palestinian Authority, it must disband and go to elections.\"
Jerusalem Post columnist and former Netanyahu-aide Michael Freund wrote today:
\"... it is hard to believe that just over a year ago, the people of Israel greeted the election of Ariel Sharon with a heavy sigh of relief... Several hundred dead later, it is now painfully clear that Sharon was little more than a false messiah, one who created great expectations, all of which have gone unfulfilled.
\"Sharon is a man without a plan, a leader who has presided over the worst surge in anti-Israel violence in the country\'s history. Sharon has failed to enhance our security, he has undermined our deterrent capability, and he has refrained from taking the necessary countermeasures to root out Palestinian terror once and for all. Thus far, the only thing Sharon has succeeded in doing is demoralizing the people of Israel and turning them into sitting-ducks for Palestinian gunmen and bombers. ... he has lost any justification for his continued rule.
\"...The last thing Israel needs right now is to go to elections. But we may have little choice. Because if Sharon\'s government is not brought down soon, it might very well bring down the country instead. And that is why Sharon has got to go.\"
Women In Green announced that it had \"invested a great deal of effort in traveling throughout Israel to foster the election of Arik Sharon as Prime Minister. Today, [we] regret having done so. Mr. Sharon has not provided the leadership that Israel sorely needs. Although he mouths empty phrases and threats to the Arabs, he has not effectively dealt with the Arab terror that is rife in our Land today.\"
Israel Radio diplomatic correspondent Yoni Ben-Menachem reported last night, in the name of sources in Prime Minister Sharon\'s Office, that the United States \"never asked Israel to show restraint in its actions against the Palestinians.\" Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA (www.imra.org.il) notes that in the past two days, there have been Kassam rockets shot from the Gaza Strip that hit two Israeli communities within the Green Line, shooting in Hevron, and shooting from Beit Jala into Gilo - all three of them former \"red line - whole new ballgame\" actions.