National Democratic Assembly MK Azmi Bishara
Photo: Hagai Aharon
Defense Minister Amir Peretz
Photo: Eli Elgarat
Arab MK: Peretz murderer
In interview to party journal MK Azmi Bishara say Defense Minister Amir Peretz is a murderer like Ariel Sharon
National Democratic Assembly MK Azmi Bishara accused Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz of committing war crimes. Bishara said the two leaders are responsible for "acts of genocide" in Lebanon.
Speaking to his party's journal Fasil al-Makal, Bishara said: "We believe Peretz is responsible for genocide acts because he approved them. He is a murderer according to international law. We say clearly that Peretz is a murderer as Sharon was a murderer responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacre, and that's not because he committed massacres directly but because he headed the pyramid that is responsible for murder. Peretz and Olmert gave instruction to bombard areas in a savage manner. These are war crimes."
"There are ministers in Israel who insisted that whole Lebanese villages be flattened before sending the army," he said.
Bishara said the war has not ended. "A large stage of the war ended. The first stage of the war ended with a big Israeli defeat … but the war has not ended because it hasn't achieved its aims which are still standing. The Israeli targets were and still are to reinstate the deterrence capability and to distance Hizbullah from the border and curtail its rocket firing capability."
Bishara said the war against Hizbullah was also part of the United States's agenda for Lebanon, where it is trying to seek political change.
The war against Hizbullah, he said, is the first stage in the war against what Washington calls the Iran-Syria-Hizbullah-Hamas axis.
Bishara said the war hasn't ended because Washington's plans for the region match "Israel's agenda."
Israel will try to understand the root causes of its failure against Hizbullah in preparation for the next confrontation.
"'Cinematic operations' like assassinations and kidnappings are likely because Israel is looking for 'pictures of victory' to present in press conferences to declare a successful assassination attempt," he said.
