Israeli anger after seven deadly days
BBC, 2 April, 2002
Tuesday, 2 April, 2002, 16:19 GMT 17:19 UK
Israeli anger after seven deadly days
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120 Israelis were killed in March alone
By the BBC's Tamar Shiloh
Seven deadly suicide attacks in seven days have left Israelis angry
and scared.
Nowhere feels safe. At first it was buses and crowded
markets, then cafes.
Now it is dangerous simply to go into the centre
of town, to any shopping centre or supermarket. The grim fact is that 120
Israelis have been killed in March alone.
Israelis' anger and fear is made worse by the feeling
that there is no end in sight.
Every Israeli knows someone who has now been called
up for emergency reserves duty, yet many feel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
has yet to present them with a clear strategy.
One side'
Many Israelis believe the world sees only one side of the story, acknowledging
only the suffering of the Palestinians and ignoring theirs.
"The coverage is not unbiased. But I understand
the tendency of the media to follow the side that appears weak in this
confrontation," says Assaf Weisbrot, a computer engineer in Tel Aviv.
"Obviously, it is more sexy to tell the story of
the freedom fighter. And newspapers are a business after all. I guess terrorist
attacks sell fewer papers."
Most Israelis recognise the Palestinians' suffering,
but they believe the Palestinian leadership shares a large part of the
responsibility for its people's predicament.
"I think (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat's leadership
is finished. He brought us and the Palestinians to a situation that cannot
go on - neither for the Palestinians, who have to live their normal lives,
nor for us," says Shai Laslo, a landscape architect who lives in the Jewish
settlement of Beit Horon.
"Israel has to find an alternative to Arafat," Mr
Laslo says, adding that he does not think killing the Palestinian leader
would not be a solution.
Journalist and peace activist Margery Morgan says
that ultimately each side will have to give way and agree on a diplomatic
solution.
She hopes that one day there will be two states
living peacefully side by side. "It's a peaceful little democratic state
that we're going to have - a Jewish state that has equal opportunities
for all its citizens," she says.
"In order to do that there can be no real right
of return for four million people - but the Palestinians will have the
right of return to their own state," she says.
Mr Weisbrot says he would be happy if a diplomatic
path could be found.
"Personally though, I feel cheated, as an enthusiastic
peace supporter who saw it approaching around the corner."
Mr Weisbrot rejects the claim that the Palestinian
attacks are perpetrated out of despair.
"Even when the Palestinians were a strong majority
on this land, before Israel was established, terrorism was a legitimate
tool in their eyes to fight against the Jews," he says.