Election Of Ariel Sharon

EDM number 303 in 2000-01, proposed by George Galloway on 07/02/2001.

That this House notes with concern the election of Ariel Sharon as Prime Minister of Israel; recalls his record of involvement in war crimes going back as far as the 1950s and in particular the crimes committed during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, an invasion which reduced an Arab capital to ruins amidst the ashes of napalm, phosphorous and fragmentation weaponry, and which culminated in an Israeli inquiry finding Sharon 'personally indirectly responsible' for the massacres in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Beirut between 16th and 18th September 1982 in which almost 3,000 people were butchered; notes that these victims were defined by the International Commission of Inquiry as 'protected persons' within the meaning of the 4th Geneva Convention to whom Israel had a special obligation under protocol to prevent the commission of 'outrages' against them; notes further the implacable refusal by General Sharon to acknowledge the solemn and binding agreements signed by his country during the Oslo process which he has declared dead; further notes his offensive remarks against both Jordan and Egypt, the two Arab countries with whom Israel has signed a peace treaty; expresses the fear that the election of General Sharon may lead to a state of war in the Middle East; and asks Her Majesty's Government immediately to freeze all sales of military equipment to Israel and to recall Her Majesty's ambassador from Tel Aviv for consultations.

This motion has been signed by a total of 16 MPs.