THE POLITICAL SUICIDE OF ARIEL SHARON

The UN resolution recently approved condemning Israel\'s decision to remove Yasser Arafat is a clear demonstration of the world\'s moral and political incomprehension of Israel and of US policy towards the Middle East, writes Mario Soares, prime minister of Portugal between 1976-1978 and 1983-1985 and president between 1986-1996. In this analysis, Soares writes that the key to real stabilisation of the region is the resolution of the conflict between Palestine and Israel. For this reason the strategy of Sharon seems suicidal and a sure recipe for irreversible disaster. How is it legally possible to publicly advocate the assassination of an adversary, a man elected president of the Palestinian Authority and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate? Has there been no thought given to the repercussions this would have not only in the Middle East but the entire world? Israel\'s policy inflicts long-term and in cases irreversible damage to the moral and political prestige of Israel, whose people, persecuted throughout their history, are turning into persecutors, oppressors, and colonialists.

THE DIVIDING LINE

Every major issue of our day derives from four fundamental crises: the threat to peace from the religious war that looms over us; the globalisation of the economy and the need for both ethical and juridical regulation; the growing --and intolerable-- imbalance between the d eveloped world and the world of hunger and poverty; and the process of continuous and often irreversible environmental degradation, writes Mario Soares, president of Portugal from 1986-1996. The solution of the four underlying crises, and all of their progeny, would be within the reach of science and humanity if there were the political will. But at present there isn\'t, Soares writes. There are many signs of a building reaction against the global system that contributed to the current regression of the world, particularly in the area of social justice, human rights, international law, and even the operation of our democracies. It is becoming clear that today\'s reigning economicism, together with the media-inundation of societies, dominates politics and threatens justice. Things cannot go on like this.