24 month Lease

$2,979 due at inception includes $275 r:,
plus applicable tax, It

Palestinian police officer died and 11
were wounded when rival police factions
fought each other within the confines of
Gaza's police headquarters. Things cli-
maxed on July 16, as Al Fatah terrorists
ambushed and seized Gaza's police chief
for several hours; and then some recent-
ly sacked Palestinian policemen abduct-
ed the director of military co-ordination
in the southern part of Gaza.
Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N.'s Middle
East envoy, has offered choice com-
ments on the spreading anarchy, telling
the Security Council that "Clashes and
showdowns between branches of
Palestinian security forces are now corn-
mon in the Gan Strip, where
Palestinian Authority legal authority is
receding fast in the face of the mounting
power of arms, money and intimida-
tion."
He also reached the startling conclu-
sion that "Jericho is actually becoming
the only Palestinian city with a func-
tioning police."

The Path Ahead

This descent into chaos prompts four
observations:
• The P.A. has joined other parts of
the Greater Middle East (Somalia,
Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan) in
the general trend toward lawlessness.
• Arafat predicted in 1994 that
"Either we build a Singapore in our
country or fall into the trap of the tragic
Somali model." He thus acknowledges
that the P.A.'s slide to Somali-like anar-
chy symbolizes his own failure.

Europe.
If I have to advise our brothers in
France, I'll tell them one thing ---
move to Israel, as early as possible. I say
that to Jews all around the world, but
there, I think it's a must and they have
to move immediately," Sharon said.
The fact that Muslims make up 10
percent of France's population, he
added, "gets a different kind of anti-
Semitism, based on anti-Israeli feelings
and propaganda. "
The comments drew immediate crit-
icism from French government offi-
cials.
The reaction was equally acerbic
from senior political figures in France.
Sharon's remarks were "a travesty of
reality and express hostility toward our
country," said the speaker of the
National Assembly, Jean-Louis Debre,
generally supportive of Israel..
Debre told the French radio station
Europe One: "What Ariel Sharon said
shows clearly that he can't keep his

• The Islamic proverb, "Better a thou-
sand days of tyranny than one day of
anarchy," has an element of truth, for
life in the P.A. territories has truly
become hellish.
• Although Arafat launched the Oslo
war nearly four years ago with the intent
to destroy Israel he is, ironically, destroy-
ing not Israel but his own proto-govern-
ment.
The quetion now facing Palestinians
is whether they have learned the right
lessons from their bitter experience, that
for once they are not blaming Israel for
their problems gives some reason for
optimism.
Cox News Service notes, "As the dis-
order spreads, Palestinian intellectuals
and politicians are increasingly looking
past Israel as the usual scapegoat and
admitting they share a part of the
blame.
National Public Radio quotes a
Palestinian saying that the P.A. is in
trouble "because many people are being
killed or kidnapped or robbed. We are
all accusing the government of not
doing anything."
A poll by the Gaza-based General
Institute for Information finds that just
29 percent of Palestinians hold Israelis
responsible for the P.A.'s failure to
enforce law and order.
This is a good start. But to emerge
from their political predicament requires
Palestinians coming to terms with the
existence of the Jewish state of Israel. So
long as they resist this change of heart,
the Somali model remains their fate. ❑

33

mouth shut."
Patrick Gaubert, president of the
International League Against Racism
and Anti-Semitism, said that Sharon's
remarks "would not bring the calm,
peace or serenity which we all need. It
would have been better for Mr. Sharon
to keep quiet."
Yves Kamami, an executive member
of the CRIF umbrella organization of
French Jews, told JTA that he feared
Sharon's remarks could have the effect
of "cutting ourselves, off even more
from the general community."
"We are becoming more and more
isolated," said Kamami, a former presi-
dent of B'nai B'rith France.
Trying to douse the verbal flames,
Israeli government spokesman Avi
Pazner told French radio that Sharon
also had praised the French govern :-
ment for its actions against anti-
Semitism, while his remarks "should be
seen in the context of his opinion that
the place for Jews is in Israel."

•

Nn

DWYER

SONS
VOLVO

"D

On Maple Rd., West of Haggerty

OPEN
SATURDAYS

Volvosales@dwyerandsons.com
www.dwyerandsons.corn

*24 month closed-end lease. 20 cents per mile over 20,000 miles. New 2004 S40 2.41 with climate
package, automatic transmission. M.S.R.P. S25,750 based on Ford X-plan pricing. Offer ends 8-31-04.
OG1570

,
ANNUAL SUMMER SAMPLE.:.SALE

• , ,,,•.;•-•;7:

.

At Least 60' off

list price on all in-stock merchandise including all new merchandise

TRUCIitS
As well
our to
Michi

I 0)1 0

I '1

•

e

FREEattagsio
FREE parking in front and back
FlitEIRefreshments

Saturday, July 24th thru Saturday July 31

Hours:
Monday-Friday 10-6 p.m. • Thursday until 8 p.m. • Saturday 10-4 p.m,

3184 W. 12 Mile • Downtown Berkley • Between Coolidge & Greenfield
248.284.0500

CALLTOOPtiFORASUBSCRIPTION

248.351.5174

u\

h

7/23
2004

29