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Sharon Rejects International Observers to Oversee Truce
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told U.S. media on Sunday that his government would not allow international observers to monitor a shaky cease-fire with the Palestinians and peace talks would not re-start until all violence die down.
"I would like to make it clear: Israel will not accept any international intervention here. Israel will not accept any international observers. That we are not going to do," said Sharon in an interview with "Fox News Sunday."
Sharon's remark is a flat denial of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's proposal calling for the United States and other nations to send observers to oversee the fragile cease-fire between the two sides.
Sharon urged Arafat to adopt steps to punish some 100 Palestinians that Israel regards as "terrorists." "What he has to do is just to stop them...We don't see any change whatsoever," he said.
Earlier on Sunday, a Palestinian gunman sprayed bullets from a car at soldiers near the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, wounding more than 10 people. The incident occurred just after the Israeli army on Saturday fired missiles at a convoy carrying Marwan Barghouti, the West Bank leader of the Palestinian uprising, in what he called an assassination attempt.
Sharon insisted that Israel's policy of tracking and fighting against what he called "terrorists" is "defensive" and just for the sake of the security of the Jewish state and its people.
"There is not going to be any war in the Middle East" and "we are taking defensive, counter-terrorist measures," he said.
"I'm not going to make any compromise whatsoever, not now and not in the future, when it comes to the security of the state of Israel and the security of its citizens," Sharon said.
Tensions went high in the Middle East after the Israeli army killed several Palestine resistance leaders recently, a move that has lead to vociferous protests from the international community. Since last September, street violence has erupted in many parts of the region, killing more than 500 Palestinians, 130 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs and wounding many others.
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