Sharon risks assassination by extremists, says Peres

[emad]

Conal Urquhart in Tel Aviv
Wednesday October 20, 2004
The Guardian

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, is in danger of assasination at the hands of Jewish extremists, claims Shimon Peres, leader of the opposition Labour party.

The atmosphere in Israel was similar to the political turmoil of 1995 when the then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was murdered by a religious nationalist, he said.

Mr Sharon and many of his colleagues in the Likud party were at the forefront of the campaign against Mr Rabin and the Oslo peace process he was trying to push through. Now Mr Sharon has earned the hatred of the same constituency which produced Yigal Amir, who shot Rabin at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

Israeli settlers are opposed to Mr Sharon's plan to with draw from Gaza settlements. They believe any bid to move a Jew from his or her home is illegal, and that abandoning sovereignty over the Palestinian-dominated Gaza Strip goes against God's will.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1331286,00.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Matilda]

2. If successive government hadn't promoted the settlements,

they wouldn't now have this problem.