Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in a US magazine interview, said he is fully committed to his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip despite death threats from some Jews, adding he is the only person who can lead Israel through his controversial plan.
| Maybe they really should leave. They've obviously been living around Paleostinians too long... |
Sharon and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's possible successor, Mahmud Abbas, also told Newsweek in separate interviews that they are willing to meet each other after the Palestinian presidential elections in January. "(The so-called disengagement) is complicated and one should not do anything but help the disengagement plan go forward," Sharon said in the weekly edition coming out Monday. "I don't think that anybody will be able to do it except me," the Israeli leader said after declaring he would run for re-election. Reacting to a question about death threats from opponents, Sharon said, "I don't worry about my life. Arabs always wanted to act (against me) but now the Jews are doing this. So for me, it is a strange situation. As one who defended Jews all his life, I now have to be secured against Jews," he said. "But I am fully committed to the (disengagement) plan." In a separate interview with Newsweek, Abbas, who heads the Palestine Liberation Organization and is the leading candidate in the January Palestinian election, said Israel should stop building the controversial barrier separating Israel from the West Bank. "I believe it is uncivilized to build this separation," Abbas said.
| It's uncivilized to send splodydopes across the border, too. |
Abbas said Israel should stop building settlements in Palestinian territories, remove outposts and provide him with a pony release prisoners. "After the elections, I'm ready to meet at any time with Sharon," Abbas said, while Sharon told the US magazine, "When they would like to meet, we will meet. |