By Christopher Bollyn, et. al.
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=37268
THE DEATH OF ANNA LINDH: ANOTHER SWEDISH CRITIC OF ZIONIST EXTREMISM MURDERED IN STOCKHOLM
Swedens popular foreign minister Anna Lindh is the third high-ranking Swedish political opponent of Zionism to have been murdered since 1948, which raises the question: Was Lindh assassinated because of her outspoken opposition to Israels occupation of Palestine?
When Swedens foreign minister Anna Lindh was brutally stabbed by an unknown assailant while shopping in an upscale Stockholm department store, it marked the third murder in 55 years of a high-level Swedish opponent of Zionist aggression in Palestine.
While the controlled press was quick to point out an unidentified suspect, later released, with alleged ties to "neo-Nazis," it has virtually ignored the historical precedents that suggest that the killing of Lindh may have been an assassination aimed at silencing an influential political opponent of the Zionist extremists who control the Israeli government and wield great influence in Washington.
Anna Lindhs Sweden "has had more of an impact on Palestinian history than closer or greater powers throughout the world," Hanan Ashrawi, the Palestinian professor and negotiator, wrote after the murder.
The death of Lindh and the late UN representative in Baghdad, Sergio Vieira de Mello, represents the loss of "two voices who called with determination for salvaging the UNs role in Iraq and for implementing its resolutions in Palestine," Bouthaina Shaaban, a minister in the new Syrian government, wrote in The Daily Star (Lebanon).
Shaaban noted that Lindh had:-
Called upon the European Union, on April 3, 2002, to sever ties with Israel in protest against Israeli practices;
Called on US President George W. Bush to deny Sharon unconditional support, as this would inflame the Middle East;
Stressed that the only solution in the Middle East rested in ending the Israeli occupation (otherwise everybody would become a hostage to the conflict);
Played an important role in shaping the EUs decision to adopt a policy toward Palestinian President Yasser Arafat different from that of the U.S.;
Confirmed the importance of Arafat as a partner in the peace process, rejecting Washingtons claims that he supported terrorism;
Stood firmly against the war on Iraq;
And warned of the dangers of changing another countrys regime without the support of international law.
Regarding weapons of mass destruction, Lindh called for the creation of a Middle East free of such weapons, including Israel. Lindh strongly opposed the Anglo-American aggression and occupation of Iraq.
A GLOBAL LOSS
Swedens effect on the Middle East "has been consistently constructive, positive, and human with a deep-seated tradition of fairness, justice, and peaceful intervention," Ashrawi wrote, "Unfortunately, three such Swedish champions had met with violent and untimely deaths, each a tragedy unto itself, but a national and global loss in the larger scheme of things."
On the ill-fated day Lindh had gone with a friend to Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) a few blocks from the parliament building on Sept. 10 to buy an outfit for an upcoming televised debate on the European common currency, the Euro. Lindhs image had appeared on posters in Sweden for the "yes" campaign she supported.
Although there was no recognizable leader for the "no" side, opinion polls before the Sept. 14 referendum showed 53 percent of Swedish women remained opposed to the Euro, with only 29 percent in favor.
When Lindh died on Thursday, Sept. 11, after more than 6 hours of surgery, Swedens prime minister called off campaigning for the Sunday referendum on the Euro. With the "no" vote strongly ahead of the "yes" vote there was some speculation and wishful thinking that Lindhs murder would boost the "yes" side.
SWEDEN REJECTS EURO
The Euro referendum went ahead and with more than 80 percent of the Swedish electorate having cast ballots, the "no" side won by a large margin of 14 percent: 56 percent opposed and 42 percent in favor.
The un-elected president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, clearly at a loss for words in an interview with CNN after the vote, pooh-poohed the very idea of using a referendum to decide whether a nation should adopt the Euro. The Swedish results, Prodi said, were "worse than I expected."
Charles Hodgson of CNN reminded Prodi that in every nation where the people had decided on the Euro in a referendum, it had been rejected.
Swedens rejection of the Euro, however, clearly does not bode well for the Euro in other European nations that have retained their fiscal sovereignty, primarily Great
Britain and Denmark, where similar referenda will be held in the future.
MURDER IN BROAD DAYLIGHT
Lindh was shopping without bodyguards at the upscale NK department store, when she was savagely stabbed in the stomach, chest and arm, just before 4 p.m.
Hanna Sundberg, an eyewitness, told The Associated Press that she saw a man chase Lindh up an escalator from the ground floor to the first upper level into a store called Filippa K.
"She fell on the floor and the man was stabbing her in the stomach," she said. "She laid on the floor and it looked as if a tall man, wearing a peaked cap, was hitting her," she told AP. "But when he ran away, he threw away a knife."
Sundberg ran to Lindh, who said: "God, he has stabbed me in the stomach!"
Another witness, Anna Lekander, who had been in the boutique, where there were "only a handful of shoppers at the time," said she had not noticed that Lindh was there as well.
Lekander said nothing about a man chasing Lindh up the escalator.
Lekander told the BBC that she had learned from others who were present that Lindh had entered the shop together with a friend, seemingly with "no bodyguards or anything."
Soon after leaving the shop, Lekander heard people shouting from inside, "Catch him, catch him".
"It happened very quickly, I could see people running and I went back into the shop," Lekander said. "I could see a person lying on the floor, but I didn't know it was her," Lekander said. "There was blood everywhere."
The attacker fled down the escalator and was able to flee without any resistance from security guards. Police were reported to be searching for a man wearing a camouflage jacket.
Lindh was initially reported to be serious condition but her injuries were said not to be "life-threatening" as she underwent six hours of surgery at the Karolinska Hospital. Doctors said she suffered extensive damage to her liver and had internal bleeding.
A company named Hufvudstaden owns NK, a 100-year-old department store founded by Josef E. Sachs. AFP asked Michael Lorenz, owner of Duty Security, which provides security for NK, about the number and location of guards at the time Lindh was murdered. Lorenz would not say how many guards were on duty or what kind of security detail his firm provided at the exits of NK.
Lorenz also refused to answer questions about how an assailant could attack a prominent Swedish politician in broad daylight in a department store with numerous closed-circuit video cameras and security guards and flee without encountering any resistance or security personnel in pursuit.
PALESTINIAN SUPPORTER
Ylva Anna Maria Lindh was a rising star in Swedens ruling Social Democrat Party (SDP). At age 46, Lindh was an intelligent and articulate politician with more than 20 years experience in government. An outspoken and attractive foreign minister, Lindh was expected to be Swedens next prime minister. She has two young sons, 8 and 13.
As Swedens foreign minister since 1998, Lindhs "main objectives were to encourage dialogue between the rich and the poor worlds, and to support the independence of the Palestinian and Kurdish peoples," according to Olle Svenning, London correspondent of the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet and personal friend of Lindh.
Lindh was an outspoken critic of Israels prime minister Ariel Sharon and his brutal policies affecting the millions of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation: "Our stand is firm and clear," the foreign minister said in an October 2001 interview :-
"Israeli settlements on the West Bank must go; there must be a Palestinian state;
Israel must vacate occupied areas on the West Bank and Gaza Strip; and end all extra-territorial executions and attacks on Palestinians.
This should be done immediately."
Asked if she expected anything from a dialogue with the Israeli government led by Sharon, whose "record of war crimes" was described as "being without parallel in post-War history," Lindh replied, "I agree. It makes no sense to have a dialogue with Sharons government. There will be no talks with him from our side."
In June 2002, the youth wing of Lindhs Social Democrat Party pressed charges against Sharon of war crimes and violation of international law. At the time Lindh said she understood there was "both bitterness and anger because the Israeli government is guilty of violating international law."
"Sometimes the Israeli-Palestinian conflict makes me so angry that I kick the wastepaper bin in my office or throw things around," Lindh said. She had described Sharon as a "maniac" and said on Swedish television that she would not buy Israeli goods and fruits sold in Swedish markets.
At a meeting of European Union member states in April 2002, Lindh had called for the EU to cut relations with Israel to protest the repressive practices of Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinians.
A frequent critic of Sharon, Lindh said in May 2002 that her goal was that "Israeli citizens will turn against the military policies of Sharon."
"Israel's government," she said, "has chosen a course of action that risks placing the country outside of the rest of the world community."
Lindh criticized U.S. President George W. Bush for ignoring the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, saying U.S. policies rewarded "Sharon's violence."
"I am very worried about this American debate," Lindh said on Swedish radio. "I think this discussion equating Arafat with terrorists is both inappropriate and stupid. It is a very dangerous policy."
"It contradicts the entire peace process... and can only lead to outright war in the Middle East," she said.
At a gathering of European foreign ministers in Riva del Garda, Italy, days before she was killed, Lindh had blamed the U.S. and Israel for the collapse of the "Roadmap" peace plan and resignation of Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Lindh said Abbas had been given "the kiss of death" when the Bush Administration and Israel had decided to deal only with him and sideline Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.
"Of course Arafat's unwillingness to give Abu Mazen (Abbas) increased power was decisive, but Abu Mazen's position would have been much stronger if Israel had also contributed to the peace process," Lindh told Swedish radio at the meeting in Italy. Lindh said Israel had continued building illegal Jewish settlements, erecting a wall separating Israel and the Palestinian territories, and assassinating leaders of Hamas.
Lindhs principled and unequivocal position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was like that of the late Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, who was assassinated in Stockholm in 1986, and Count Folke Bernadotte, the United Nations Mediator on Palestine, who was brutally murdered by a Zionist terror gang near Jerusalem in 1948.
The assassination of Bernadotte, "at the hands of the Israeli terrorist organization began a lethal Swedish connection with Palestine," Ashrawi wrote. "Palestine lost its first Swedish champion," Ashrawi wrote, when Bernadotte "was brutally murdered, shot at point blank, by three Jewish Stern Gang members in Jerusalem."
In 1986, then Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot as he walked home from the cinema with his wife. As Ashrawi noted, Palme had sought recognition for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and a validation for the peaceful resolution of the conflict through ending the 1967 Israeli occupation of Palestinian and other Arab lands. Palmes politics were based on international legality and UN resolutions, and "a deeply-felt commitment to fairness and human decency," Ashrawi wrote.
Ulf Dahlsten, Palme's personal secretary in 1986, said that Lindh was the most important Swedish political figure since the late prime minister. In her speeches against the war in Iraq and in support of the Palestinians, Lindh was seen as Palme's natural heir. There have long been rumors in intelligence circles that Lindh was the daughter of Palme.
American Free Press asked Ninni Jonzon, news editor of Gteborgs-Posten, if there was any discussion in the Swedish media comparing Lindhs murder with the political assassination of Bernadotte, or the unsolved murder of Palme. "Absolutely not," Jonzon said. Asked why, she replied, "I dont know."
ASSASSINATION OF BERNADOTTE
As UN mediator, Bernadotte had the mandate to "promote a peaceful adjustment of the future situation in Palestine" and to mediate beyond the terms of the Nov. 29, 1947 Partition Plan, in which the U.N. General Assembly had voted to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.
The Partition Plan, which gave the Zionists more than half of Palestine, led to war between Arab and Zionist forces after Israel proclaimed its establishment on May 14, 1948. Bernadotte's first action had been to arrange a truce, which lasted from June 11 to July 9.
Bernadotte put forward a proposal for solving the conflict, which suggested that Jerusalem be placed under Jordanian rule, since all the area around the city was designated for the Palestinian Arab state.
The U.N. partition plan had declared Jerusalem an international city that was to be ruled by neither Arab nor Jew. But Jewish terrorist groups, headed by the Polish immigrants Yitzhak Shamir and Menachem Begin, who both later served as Israeli prime ministers, rejected partition and claimed all of Palestine and Jordan for the Jewish state. These Jewish extremists saw Bernadotte as an enemy - an obstacle to their agenda - that had to be removed.
While no one was ever charged for the murders of Palme or Bernadotte, three Zionist terrorists have been named in Israeli and western documents as being behind the planning and murder of Bernadotte. Chief among them is Yitzhak Shamir (born Yezernitsky), who headed a Zionist terrorist organization during the British occupation of Palestine known as LEHI, or the Stern Gang.
New York Times columnist C.L. Sulzberger reported meeting two of Shamirs Stern Gang members on July 24, 1948. The Stern Gang terrorists said: "We intend to kill Bernadotte and any other uniformed United Nations observers who come to Jerusalem." Asked why, "They replied that their organization was determined to seize all of Jerusalem for the state of Israel and would brook no interference by any national or international body."
Shamir, also reportedly sent two agents to Egypt to assassinate the British minister Lord Moyne, "because he was an enemy of the Jews and the Zionists."
Shamir, however, never faced justice for the murder of Bernadotte and went on to serve as Paris bureau chief the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad (195565), member of the Israeli parliament (197396), and as prime minister of Israel (198384 and 198692).
Finis
Olof Palme and Anna Lindh (1984)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Michael A. Hoffman II, Editor
http://www.hoffman-info.com/news.html
Sept. 11, 2003
Was Sweden's Foreign Minister Murdered because she was "Guilty" of "Unrestrained Incitement of the Jewish State"?
Assassination Chic Prevails in Jerusalem
by Michael A. Hoffman II
Copyright (c) 2003 by hoffman-info.com
Earlier today the Israeli armed forces bombed a crowded family home in Gaza. The target was Hamas spokesman Dr. Mahmoud Zahar, who was wounded slightly. His 29-year-old son, Khaled, was killed. Dr. Zahar's wife, Sumiya, was critically injured. A total of 26 Palestinian civilians were injured by the Israeli bombing.
This Israeli terror attack on a civilian residence was not even accorded a main headline in today's NY Times. The Times' account of the "airstrike" (only Arabs bomb) appeared under the misleading headline, "Queri Accepts Palestinian Premier Post." A smaller sub-heading read, "Parliament Speaker Takes Job After Israel Attacks Hamas Leader."
If Hamas had attacked the home of an Israeli leader with the leader's family inside, the NY Times would have banner-headlined the report something like, "Home of Israeli Leader Terror Bombed."
On the same page 6, to the left of the brief account of the attack by Israeli "warplanes," was a lengthy article continued from the front page, celebrating the life of one of the Jewish victims of the latest Hamas bombing, the American physician Dr. David Applebaum.
Like a Steven Spielberg war melodrama, where the audience is only introduced to the humanity of the Allied soldiers, while the opposing troops remain a cipher, the NY Times has decided to profile, with each Palestinian resistance attack, only a Jewish victim, who is memorialized as a great human being or humanitarian. Dr. Applebaum, whose photo appears on the front page of the Sept. 11 edition of the Times, followed by two more photos on p. 6 of mourners at his funeral, rates the "humanitarian" designation, while a New York woman killed by Hamas (if indeed the bomber was from Hamas), was celebrated as a great human being in a Times news story last month.
They're aren't many great human beings or humanitarians among Amalek (the Palestinians), apparently, and that is why news of their death and injury today at the hands of an Israeli bomber, doesn't rate a fifth of the space accorded to Dr. Applebaum in the Times.
Stalinist Ilya Ehrenburg's motto, "Kill, kill, kill!" is now the watchword in Jerusalem: "We must kill as many of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders as possible, as quickly as possible...And we must kill Yasir Arafat, because the world leaves us no alternative." --Jerusalem Post, Sept. 11, 2003
Dr. Zahar, the intended victim of today's Israeli bombing was said to be involved in terror attacks against Israelis. This was a pretext. Zahar is part of the political wing of Hamas. I draw your attention to the allegedly secondary motive given for the attempt on his life:
"Israel accused Dr. Zahar of...'unrestrained incitement' against the Jewish state." (NY Times, Sept. 11, 2003).
"Incitement" is an Israeli euphemism for telling the truth.
In this vein, two reporters for Al-Jazeera satellite television were roughed up and arrested by US Forces today, just a few days after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stated publicly that Al-Jazeera Satellite News was making it tough for the US in Iraq (by reporting truths which constitute "incitement").
Facts and independent information are branded as "incitement" in Israeli thought cop jargon. Howard Dean, the presidential candidate who counsels neutrality in the Middle East, has, rather ominously, been accused of this very crime of "incitement" by an Israeli-American Congressman.
One wonders if there is any connection between the Israeli attempt on the life of Zahar and the successful murder in Sweden of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, who died today after being stabbed by a "disheveled looking man" prior to a national referendum in Sweden on acceptance of the Euro currency. The media are suggesting that Lindh was killed by an anti-Euro zealot, or a deranged man addled by the heated debate over the proposed new currency. Perhaps.
But since the Israelis admit to having attempted the assassination of a political leader in Palestine because of his information campaign spotlighting Israeli atrocities (a campaign which constitutes the capital crime of "unrestrained incitement against the Jewish state"), let us recall that Lindh, whose political fortunes were on the rise and who was viewed as likely to be the next Prime Minister of Sweden, could also be considered guilty of "unrestrained incitement":
"She was an outspoken critic of Ariel Sharon's policy towards the Palestinians. 'Our stand is firm and clear,' she said in a recent interview. 'Israeli settlement in the West Bank must go; there must be a Palestinian state; Israel must vacate all occupied areas on the West Bank and Gaza Strip and end all extra-territorial executions and attacks on Palestinians." (Lindh's obituary, Daily Telegraph [UK], Sept. 11, 2003).
If the Murder, Inc. gang known as the state of Israel would trouble to attempt the assassination of a low-level Hamas political officer, is it far-fetched to investigate the possibility of Israeli involvement in the murder of Sweden's potential next Prime Minister, a woman who publicly decried Israeli "executions"?
If Lindh was indeed assassinated by the Israelis or their agents on grounds of "incitement," who's next, Howard Dean, Mel Gibson?
"He that questioneth much shall learn much..." --Francis Bacon
Anna Lindh on the fact-finding mission to Jenin
"Sweden deeply regrets that the Israeli government has acted so that the Secretary-General's fact-finding mission will be unable to investigate events in Jenin", says Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh. "The Israeli government flouts the decision taken by a unanimous Security Council in Resolution 1405. In doing so, the country shows lack of respect for the United Nations, which represents the basis of the international legal system. Suspicions grow that the Israeli armed forces have committed serious crimes against humanitarian law in Jenin", continues Anna Lindh.
"Israel's government has chosen a course of action that risks placing the country outside the rest of the world community. This is both unfortunate and ominous", summarises the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Home Page: www.reliefweb.int
Email: comments@reliefweb.int
Swede Stabbed now Dead???
The amazing changing story:
First, the Swede was reported as being stabbed in the arm. Now that she's dead, she's being reported as having been stabbed in the chest AND abdomen as well.
Yeah, chest and abdomen stab wounds are often overlooked for the far more serious arm wounds.
Yeah, and I'm a Chinese Jet Pilot. (homage to Army of Darkness.)
Apparently, Sweden has had a major problem with pro-Palestinian politicians being killed.
As you may appreciate the death of the Swedish Foreign minister was no accident.!!! She had taken stands as you know against Israel and the U.S. as did Palme. What is funny is that the same concept was used to assassinate both with the exception of the instrument, once a pistol and once a knife.
If we look at the structure of who is doing what in Sweden the system is 2000% infiltrated by Mossad, the Chief of police in Sweden, Sten Heckscher, a Jew but this does not count, however, if he is an active one as a Zionist, then this definitely counts!!!
The Minister responsible for trade and the highest chief for what is called" Krigsmaterielll inspektr" is Leif Pagrotsky, also a Jew but this does not count, however, if he is an active one and a Zionist then this counts too. He supported the export to Israel of the trailers produced by Volvo that transported the Israeli tanks in the West Bank as Civilian products!!!!! and all went through the Swedish system!!!! Further, the rule in Sweden is that no export of weapons should take place to warring parties ,however, the Swedish army leased special radar to the British army conquering Iraq with the approval of Mr. Pagrotsky!!!
My point is that all over the Swedish television none of the above two commented the tragedy of the death of Anna Lindh though most if not all active personalities did that!!!!!! The murder of Palme is not solved. An average drunken criminal had to take the responsibility for his death!!!!! Who was acquitted.
If we are going to find the same type of solution this time too then this is the proof that the actors are the same as before and the murder is a political one!!!!!
Burying Anna Lindh: mother, woman, human being by Bouthaina Shaaban ( minister of emigrant affairs in the new Syrian government)
The Daily Star, Beirut, September 20, 2003
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/20_09_03_d.asp
At the UN General Assembly, thanks to the alphabet, Syria and Sweden are neighbors. Three years ago, I turned to the Swedish seats and saw a small boy comfortably moving around his mother. Now and then, he would whisper in her ear, his face revealing how he felt about the speeches delivered by the officials on the podium. That beautiful boy was the son of Swedens late Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, who was buried yesterday.
It wasnt only the mother in me missing her own young son that made me lose myself in the scene, but another feeling. I bowed to the woman who had brought her boy to the General Assembly perhaps the only child to have ever had such an experience, thanks to a mother who had the courage and resolve to bring to her political career her values and feelings as a mother, a woman and a human being.
It didnt occur to me that in a few years I would be mourning the loss of that mother or that the sweet memory of her sons face would become painful. That little boy now has to part with his mother forever, for no reason except that she was exceptional exceptional in her courage opposing injustice, defending rightfulness and supporting the oppressed, human values and justice and peace no matter how high the price. Alas, the price turned out to be her life.
Ever since I saw them together, I followed up on every view Lindh expressed. In her I didnt only see "the face of Sweden" as Swedens Premier Goran Persson said when mourning her and a brave and daring European voice; I found a voice for truth and justice; a voice against injustice, occupation, illegal settlements and the logic of power and hegemony.
In a short time the world has lost Lindh and the late UN representative in Baghdad, Sergio Vieira de Mello, two voices representing the conscience of humanity, and who called with determination for salvaging the UNs role in Iraq and for implementing its resolutions in Palestine.
With the assassination of Anna Lindh, the Palestinian cause and the Arabs in general have lost one of the most important voices supporting their legitimate and just demands. A few years ago she was even imprisoned for two days during a visit to the Occupied Territories upon orders from then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. She saw in Israels use of force against the Palestinians, and in Americas tacit approval of this, a consecration of the law of the jungle and a subversion of the role of the UN and of international humanitarian law.
Lindh might have been the only European foreign minister who called upon the European Union, on April 3, 2002, to sever ties with Israel in protest against Israeli practices. She called on US President George W. Bush to deny Sharon unconditional support, as this would inflame the Middle East. Last Jan. 29 she emphasized that Sharons policies displayed no desire for peace. Lindh many times stressed that the only solution in the Middle East rested in ending the Israeli occupation; otherwise everybody would become a hostage to the conflict.
Lindh also played an important role in shaping the EUs decision to adopt a policy toward Palestinian President Yasser Arafat different from that of the US. In January 2002, EU foreign ministers confirmed the importance of Arafat as a partner in the peace process, rejected Washingtons claims that he supported terrorism and called the Bush administrations depiction of Arafat as a terrorist "foolish."
Ann Lindh stood firmly against the war on Iraq, and called for giving arms inspectors time to do their job. She repeatedly spoke of the dangers in Americas arrogating the right to change another countrys regime without the support of international law, believing this might lead to anarchy. On April 4 Lindh said: "War was not the right means to reach the goal of disarming Saddam Hussein (The) Iraqi people should be allowed to take responsibility of their future as fast as possible, and this could be achieved through convening a national conference that aims at forming a representative Iraqi government." She insisted the Security Council define a post-war role for the UN and argued the EU had a role to play "to secure liberty, prosperity and democracy for the Iraqi people."
Last May, Lindh again spoke about the Middle East. She said the Iraqi people were unhappy with the US victory over Saddam Hussein. They wanted peace, she added, which was why it was important they be able to choose their own government and that Iraq not become an American protectorate. She underlined this was also why the US should not be allowed to move against Syria or any other country. In regards to weapons of mass destruction, Lindh called for the creation of a Middle East free of such weapons, including Israel.
On Iran, Lindh again emphasized her faith in dialogue, away from the logic of threats and coercion. She said: "It would have been better had the US and the EU tried actively to talk to Iran," adding: "Isolating Iran by grouping it with Iraq and North Korea as part of the axis of evil was a strategic mistake made by Bush."
At an EU foreign ministers meeting in Italy two days before Lindh was murdered, she blamed the US and Israel for the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. Lindh said: "Abbas was given the kiss of death when the US and Israel decided to deal only with him and not with Arafat." She noted Israels expansion of settlements, building a wall around Palestinian areas and assassination of Hamas leaders were undermining the peace process.
With Lindhs tragic departure the world has lost a wonderful and brave voice that dared say what great leaders and powers wouldnt. With her absence, those calling for a re-empowerment of international law and legitimacy have lost a herald who could have played a major role in the ongoing conflict between tyranny on the one hand and justice and law on the other. Anna Lindh carried with her the pain of the oppressed, the weak and defeated. To be faithful to her, we should ask whether the only superpower in the world, by allowing Sharon to assassinate those who call for what is right and who work for the liberation of a usurped and occupied land, considers permissible the silencing of honest, daring voices with a bomb or dagger?
The US continues to avoid opposing Israels assassination policy, which contravenes all human values, conventions and international agreements. The calamity does not only lie in the assassinations of Hamas official Ismail Abu Shanab or his colleague Mahmoud al-Zahars son, Khaled, an engineer who earned a masters degree from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, or scores of other qualified people who believe in peace, prosperity and justice. The calamity lies in creating the impression that assassinating those who oppose injustice, occupation and arrogance is acceptable. When such a concept spreads, as it has now, no one is safe from assassins and those hating what is right.
Is not assassination the antithesis of democracy, civilization and human rights? How can those who want to spread democracy and peace in the world bless it? Tolerating Israels illegal practices will only breed terrorism and terrorists, letting them loose on the international community and allowing the world to be entangled in both moral and legal chaos.
Anna Lindh died fighting to spare humanity such a dark possibility.
Bouthaina Shaaban is minister of emigrant affairs in the new Syrian government. She wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR
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