- Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON ENDS HIS FIRST YEAR IN POWER
- Date: 5th February 2002
- Summary: JERUSALEM (FILE - AUGUST 8, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (GRAPHIC SCENES) VARIOUS, WOUNDED ON ROAD AFTER BOMB AT PIZZA RESTAURANT IN CENTRAL JERUSALEM SLV BYSTANDERS TRYING TO RESCUCITATE WOUNDED VARIOUS. WOMEN BLEEDING/ PAN TO PEOPLE GIVING FIRST AID TO MAN LYING ON ROAD SLV POLICE RIDING PAST PIZZA RESTAURANT ON HORSES AFTER BLAST
- Embargoed: 20th February 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JERUSALEM/ TEL AVIV, ISRAEL/ GAZA/ VARIOUS LOCATIONS IN THE WEST BANK
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5K0GSG04WO44G45YHT410HQSH
- Story Text: Since taking office, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has left a trail of unfulfilled promises on peace and security in his wake. But a year on, his grip on power and his public support remain surprisingly firm.
Sharon's first political act after winning office in February 6, 2001 was to visit the Western, or Wailing, Wall in Jerusalem, thereby staking Israel's claim to Jerusalem for eternity. The Western wall is believed to be the last remaining wall from the ancient Jewish Temple.
It was also a symbolic visit to an area close to the Muslim shrine where he sparked off the current Palestinian uprising in September 2000.
Promising peace and reconciliation, Sharon almost immediately broke from the conciliatory approach of his predecessor, Ehud Barak, by presenting a hardline approach to peace talks.
Refusing to talk peace while violence continued, Sharon blamed the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, for continuing hostilities. Arafat and the Palestinians blamed Israel and Arafat defiantly continued to claim Jerusalem for the Palestinian capital.
Sharon had swept Ehud Barak, the previous prime minister, from power with a pledge to improve security.
But a wave of bombings by militant Palestinians who blamed Sharon for a Palestinian massacre in Lebanon in 1982, started almost immediately after his election win on February 6, 2001.
Sharon took increasingly severe retribution for the attacks. Reprisals included air strikes on Arafats security forces and the assassination of suspected militants. The violence began to spiral.
Palestinian suicide bombers took their revenge for Israeli killings by blasting themselves and scores of Israelis to bits after infiltrating even the heart of Jerusalem.
Sharon's hawkish attitudes and particularly the policy of assassination kept him at odds with his left-wing foreign minister, Shimon Peres, but the coalition he forged in order to take office held.
And most importantly, the U.S. continued to back him.
While a new U.S. Representative to the Middle East, Anthony Zinni, swore to remain in the region until he had secured at least a ceasefire, but left with his mission unfulfilled following a series of bomb attacks and reprisals, U.S. backing for Israel strengthened following the September 11 attack in New York.
Palestinians complained after September 11 that Sharon was able to use his security forces in the region with impunity.
Twelve months after taking office, however, there is barely a hint that Sharon might be able to end 16 months of violence.
Security fears are worse than ever in Israel after a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings and the Jewish states economic outlook is bleak.
Critics say Sharon's performance has been disastrous, plunging the region deeper into conflict and failing to provide coherent policies to end the bloodshed or the economic woes.
But supporters believe that Sharon has held together his coalition government against the odds, safeguarded national unity, strengthened ties with Washington and rallied U.S.
opinion against Yasser Arafat.
Recent opinion polls have shown a slight slide in popularity, but a year after taking power, Sharon still seems to have the backing of a large majority of Israelis. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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