JUST WHO IS REALLY UNDER SIEGE?

As Israeli tanks blast away at the walls of Yassir Arafat's bunker in Ramallah and their troops enter the various rooms in his headquarters, one might be forgiven for thinking that the Palestinian cause is in deep trouble The situation has indeed reached a head, but I contend that there are two men under siege, Arafat and a corpulent ex-General in his offices in Jerusalem.

Ariel Sharon is no dummy, he is a brilliant general. His "Battle of the Chinese Farm" in the 1973 Yom Kippur War bordered on that intangible we sometimes call "military genius." Sharon, however, is the leader of a people deeply divided. The hard core of his Likud bloc supporters want him to expel all Palestinians from Israel and kill and destroy all traces of opposition, others, in the opposition Labor Party and other places want him to cut a deal that would bring peace.

Sharon's invasion of Arafat's compound is a risky maneuver, designed for domestic Jewish political consumption. If he harms a single hair on the ugly old goat's head, he is finished.

People forget that Arafat is the moderate in this story. He is the man counseling restraint on the Palestinian side. If Arafat is killed, seriously wounded or captured, the Jews will have hell to pay. They have dozens of suicide bombers to contend with now, but if Arafat is harmed count on hundreds. No less a bunch of ZOG puppets than the Bush Administration voted for a security council resolution demanding Israeli withdraw form the compound. Bush's advisors know what's at stake and think Sharon's tactics are too risky.

An end to Arafat would hardly put a dent in the Palestinian cause. Fifty years of oppression has kindled an anger in the Palestinian people that could be quenched only with a major peace for land deal.

The Palestinians have stumbled upon a weapon that is largely "Jew proof," the human bomb, propelled not by rocket fuel or aviation gasoline, but by desperation and anger. You can't threaten, bribe or cajole a human bomb. and that is why Ariel Sharon is under siege just as much as Arafat.

-Kenneth J. Schmidt