Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(May 2002)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Relevant information.
The three main signatories to the 1993 Oslo peace agreement
were Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres.
The background of Yasser Arafat has been discussed previously.
 Yitzhak
Rabin, (1922-1995), was the first native born Israeli to
become Prime Minister of Israel.
Mr. Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli student, who claimed
that it was his religious duty to prevent the return of
Biblical Lands to the Arabs, at a peace rally in Tel Aviv
in1995.
Shimon Peres was the Prime Minister of Israel from 1984
to 1986. He lost the leadership of the labor party in 1992
to Yitzhak
Rabin who subsequently became Prime Minister and Peres was
appointed Foreign Minister.
How things have changed. (Or have they?)
In September of 1993, at the Oslo peace conference, the
PLO reaffirmed Israels right to exist in peace and security,
and in return Israel pledged to recognize the PLO as the
representative of the Palestinian people.
In a 1995 agreement, the PLO renounced the use of terrorism
and other acts of violence and committed itself to resolving
the conflict with Israel through peaceful negotiations.
Also in the same agreement, Israel agreed to withdraw from
rural areas of the remaining West Bank territories.
In the last few years, radical branches of the PLO have
increased their acts of terrorism against the Israelis,
and Israel has continued to build an ever increasing number
of Jewish settlements upon Arab land, whilst at the same
time making many incursions into Arab West bank territories
in the name of Israeli security.
Who can one believe these days???
Can any politician of either faction be considered trustworthy???
Nobel Peace Prize.
 Bet
you don't remember that on the 5th of September 1993 the
PLO and Israel reached a peace agreement granting the Palestinians
the West Bank and Gaza Strip territories, and in 1993 Yasser
Arafat, Shimon Perez and Yitzhak Rabin shared the Nobel
Peace Prize.
Suicide Bombing is not a new phenomena.
I'm not fully conversant with all the suicide bombings
that have taken place in Israel, but have seen records of
suicide bombings in 1996 which were carried out by militant
Palestinian Arabs terrorist attacks against the Jewish population
of Israel.
This was followed in mid-1997 by suicide bombings carried
out by Hamas.
As I said, suicide bombings are not a new phenomena.
Many WW2 American sailors will vividly remember, and confirm,
the actions of
Kamikaze pilots when United States Warships came under attack
in the Pacific theatre of war.
Squadrons of Kamikaze pilots were formed by the Japanese
air force during the latter stages of World War Two.
The pilots sacrificed their lives by flying their aircraft,
which were heavily loaded with explosives, directly into
United States Naval vessels and sank around 40 United States
ships, with a great loss of American lives.
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