Sharon's mistake
The latest violence in the Middle East involving Palestinians and Israelis has raised concerns and alarm in the world community since the disputing groups were in the final stages of peace talks that could end 52 years of hostilities.
The violence, the worst in four years, has claimed at least 56 lives -- 44 Palestinians and 12 Israelis.
The trouble began last Thursday when Israel's hawkish leader Ariel Sharon visited a shrine in Jerusalem sacred Jews and Muslims alike.
Sharon's visit has been widely blamed for triggering the clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians. While U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called the visit "definitely counter-productive", French President Jacques Chirac came out with a harsh comment, saying it was an "irresponsible provocation" on the part of the Israelis.
Sharon seems to be unaware that he is reviled by millions of Arabs and Palestinians for his part in the infamous 1983 massacre of hundreds of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon by pro-Israel Lebanese troops.
The Temple Mount is the site of the Al Aqsha Mosque, the third holiest shrine for Muslims. It is known to the Islamic world as Al-Haram al-Sharif and Sharon's visit is viewed by Palestinians as an intolerable arrogance, an outrage against their religion.
Sharon denied that his visit to the holy site had triggered the violence and claimed the clashes were orchestrated by Palestinian hardliners who wished to see Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapse.
What he could not deny was that his presence at the holy site was like rubbing salt into the Palestinians' wounds because of his alleged role in the 1983 massacre, which ultimately forced him to resign from his post as defense minister.
The Palestinian's outrage was evidenced by the intensity of the violence that also involved thousands of Israelis of Arab descent battling Israeli police in the streets while carrying Palestinian flags.
The intensity of the violence and the Israeli Arabs' support for the Palestinian demonstrators may be best reflected in the words of Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli Arab lawmaker. "It is inhuman to demand us to sit aside when we are seeing Palestinian children shot and killed in cold blood by Israeli soldiers," commented Tibi.
The Israeli government should learn from this incident that unless Palestinians' aspirations for freedom and independence are fulfilled and their demands for equal rights granted, the Jewish state will always face threats of violence and war not only from outside the nation but also from within.
To avoid similar incidents from happening in the future, it will be best for the Israelis and Palestinians to agree to a U.S. led tripartite inquiry into the most recent violence.
Clearly the violence must end and it is expected that both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority will do their utmost to calm the tension in the region through dialog. It is a time for restraint and cool heads not tanks and soldiers and manipulating diehards trying to subvert the peace process.