Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: Think for yourself and don't think for other people

Ariel Sharon and Yassar Arafat

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon:
Think for yourself and don't think for other people

Nipawin - Monday, April 1, 2002 - by: Mario deSantis

leadership
First of all I subscribe to our societal understanding to have ordinary people accomplish extraordinary feats. If we are all able to be leaders as ordinary people and therefore accomplish extraordinary feats then the closer our societal organization would be to the vision of a better democracy. I don't subscribe to the notion that leaders are the chosen people of a deteriorating ever unequal society as we are experiencing it today. Nor do I subscribe to the notion that people should do the thinking for other people as I found natural the notion to teach my students to think for themselves when I was a teacher, and I found natural the notion to teach my own children to think for themselves at home.

civil
war
We have a civil war in the Middle East, people are killing each other and blaming each other for these killings. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accuses Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of being a terrorist and charges that Arafat is an ineffectual and irrelevant leader who is not capable to negotiate a peace solution in the Middle East. As a consequence, for many months the Israeli army has curtailed Arafat's ability to govern the Palestine territories with the hope to negotiate with a friendlier Palestinian leader.

Arafat
Palestinian
leader
My understanding is that Prime Minister Sharon has no right for choosing a friendlier Palestinian leader other than Yasser Arafat. As Yasser Arafat is concerned he has shown to be the leader of the Palestinian people as expressed today by the international community with the exception of the Israeli government and the Bush administration.

isolated
Today, Yasser Arafat is isolated and under the guns of Israeli tanks, but equally so the Israeli government and the Bush administration are isolated within the voices of the international community.

References:

The Arrogance of Occupation, by Lev Grinberg, Director of the Humphrey Institute for Social Research at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. December 14, 2001 http://www.fpif.org/outside/commentary/0112arrogance.html

Europe insists on Arafat's status as a legitimate authority, Brian Whitaker, March 30, 2002 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,676296,00.html

Security Council calls on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian cities, urges sides to move to ceasefire, UN, March 30, 2002 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=3248&Cr=palestin&Cr1=annan

World leaders warn Israel against harming Arafat by Jocelyn Gecker, Associated Press Writer

March 31, 2002 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=
/ap/20020331/ap_wo_en_ge/mideast_world_reax_7


	Ariel Sharon and Yassar Arafat

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: Think for yourself and don't think for other people

Nipawin - Monday, April 1, 2002 - by: Mario deSantis

leadership	First of all I subscribe to our societal understanding to have ordinary people accomplish extraordinary feats. If we are all able to be leaders as ordinary people and therefore accomplish extraordinary feats then the closer our societal organization would be to the vision of a better democracy. I don't subscribe to the notion that leaders are the chosen people of a deteriorating ever unequal society as we are experiencing it today. Nor do I subscribe to the notion that people should do the thinking for other people as I found natural the notion to teach my students to think for themselves when I was a teacher, and I found natural the notion to teach my own children to think for themselves at home.

civil war	We have a civil war in the Middle East, people are killing each other and blaming each other for these killings. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accuses Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of being a terrorist and charges that Arafat is an ineffectual and irrelevant leader who is not capable to negotiate a peace solution in the Middle East. As a consequence, for many months the Israeli army has curtailed Arafat's ability to govern the Palestine territories with the hope to negotiate with a friendlier Palestinian leader.

Arafat Palestinian leader	My understanding is that Prime Minister Sharon has no right for choosing a friendlier Palestinian leader other than Yasser Arafat. As Yasser Arafat is concerned he has shown to be the leader of the Palestinian people as expressed today by the international community with the exception of the Israeli government and the Bush administration.

isolated	Today, Yasser Arafat is isolated and under the guns of Israeli tanks, but equally so the Israeli government and the Bush administration are isolated within the voices of the international community.

References:
	The Arrogance of Occupation, by Lev Grinberg, Director of the Humphrey Institute for Social Research at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. December 14, 2001 http://www.fpif.org/outside/commentary/0112arrogance.html

	Europe insists on Arafat's status as a legitimate authority, Brian Whitaker, March 30, 2002 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,676296,00.html

	Security Council calls on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian cities, urges sides to move to ceasefire, UN, March 30, 2002 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=3248&Cr=palestin&Cr1=annan

	World leaders warn Israel against harming Arafat by Jocelyn Gecker, Associated Press Writer

	March 31, 2002 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u= /ap/20020331/ap_wo_en_ge/mideast_world_reax_7