Uri Avnery

It was a putsch. Like any classic putsch, it was carried out by a group of officers: Sharon, Mofaz, Ya'alon and the army top brass.

There's nobody like the British. The things they get excited about! A terrible thing has happened. Their Prime Minister lied to them! The whole country is in an uproar. And--how awful!--the intelligence services have trimmed their findings to suit their political boss. Astounding!

George Caesar, the Imperator of the new Rome, likes Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). He has invited him to the White House and showers him with compliments.

"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb" prophesied Isaiah (11:6). This is possible in our times, too - provided you bring a new lamb every day.

After "Intifada" (shaking off) and "Shahid" (martyr), another Arabic term has entered the world's vocabulary: "Hudna" (truce).

The story of its voyage so far: An Israeli helicopter gunship tried to kill Abd-al-Aziz al-Rantisi, one of the leaders of the political wing of Hamas.

One of the most progressive Jewish principles of old is now being put to the test: "In those days they shall say no more, 'The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge'.

The objectives are very positive.

"Don't eat Belgian chocolate," the Israeli consul in Florida ordered the large Jewish community there.

The coming elections will be decided - and perhaps have already been decided - by an anonymous person, whose nom-de-guerre is "Nadav".

I loath Binyamin Netanyahu, and therefore I hoped that he would be elected leader of the Likud. I am sorry that Sharon won the primary election instead.

Since last Sunday, a question has been running around in my head and troubling my sleep: What induced the young Palestinian, who broke into Kibbutz Metzer, to aim his weapon at a mother and her two little children and kill them?

Had they been there last Saturday at sunset, most Israelis would not have believed their eyes.

Who doesn't remember the picture: a Jew is put on trial in Moscow as a Zionist spy. Family members and friends come to observe the trial but are turned away. No place left, they are told, all the seats have already been taken.

The plan is unconnected to the famous "war on terrorism", to the personality of Saddam Hussein or to the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq is producing, like all the other states in the region, from Pakistan to Israel and Egypt.

I have read the interview given by your commander, Major General Dan Halutz, and, like many others in Israel and abroad, I was shocked.

A well-known Israeli theater critic once left the opening performance of a new play after the first five minutes and then wrote a withering review about it.

One of the rich men in the Jewish shtetl died. Jewish tradition demanded that somebody eulogize the deceased, dwelling only on his virtues.

There is full agreement between all those who were in the Jenin refugee camp on only one thing.

105 years ago, the day after the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Theodor Herzl, wrote in his diary: " In Basel I founded the State of the Jews." This week, Ariel Sharon should note in his diary: "In Jenin I founded the State of the Palestinians."

Eğer Ariel Şaron, istediği gibi, Yaser Arafat'ı katletmeye muvaffak olursa, Filistinli lider, Musa'nın Yahudilerin hatıralarında yer alması gibi, kendisine inananların ve bütün Arap dünyasının toplumsal hafızasında yer edinecek.

Uri Avnery, Ma'ariv gazetesinde yayımlanan makalesinde, Ariel Şaron'un zorlamasına rağmen Arafat'ın Filistinli muhalif liderlerini "ortadan kaldırmayacağını" vurguluyor. Avnery, Filistin'de iç savaş çıkartma amacınının güdüldüğü bu dönemin benzerinden İsrail'in de geçtiğini hatırlatıyor.

Teröre Karşı Savaş İttifakı'nın resepsiyonunda yeni katılımcılar için bir başvuru formu bulunmaktadır.

After the smoke has cleared, the dust has settled down and the initial fury blown over, humankind will wake up and realize a new fact: there is no safe place on earth.