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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

6th February 2001

Israeli War Criminal Prepares for Armageddon
Sharon pitted to win Israeli elections

Polling has begun in the Israeli election in which former Israeli General Ariel Sharon is expected to sweep to power in an unprecedented landslide victory. The prospects, however, are grim, and indicate the direction in which the Israeli public is looking with regard to strategies for resolving the Middle East crisis.

Sharon, who opposes making concessions to the Palestinians, is one of the most despised Israeli figures in the Arab Middle East, and especially in Lebanon. He led the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the summer of 1982 which killed an estimated 30,000 civilians. During the occupation of Beirut, Israeli-backed Christian militias entered the Sabra and Shatila camps and slaughtered in some estimates up to 3,000 unarmed Palestinian refugees. An Israeli inquiry found Sharon among other Israelis responsible for the massacres.

This was merely one atrocity out of a long record. Three decades earlier, as a young military officer, Ariel Sharon led an Israeli elite commando force, Unit 101, which carried out brutal raids against Palestinians. The massacre in the West Bank village of Qibya, on October 14, 1953, was perhaps the most notorious. Sharon’s unit blew up 45 houses in the village, killing 69 civilians, two-thirds of them women and children, according to Israeli historian Avi Shlaim in his recent book The Iron Wall.

While the international community has imposed immense pressure on the recent reappearance of European fascism with the rise of Austrian politician Jorg Haider, they have failed to halt the rise of Israeli fascism represented by the likes of war criminal Sharon. Massoud Shadjareh said:

If anti-fascism is a genuine imperative of the international community, it is their grave responsibility to impose significant pressure on Israel in the same way that has been done in Austria, to prevent Sharon from coming to power and triggering Middle East Armageddon. The internal politics of Israel is clearly not enough. External international pressure must be imposed if it is to prevent Israel from colliding violently with the indigenous Palestinians under the leadership of a fascist war criminal.

For more information please contact the Press Office on 020 8902 0888, mobile 0958 522 196, e-mail: ihrc@dial.pipex.com.