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Internationally acclaimed author and
former Peruvian presidential candidate, Mario Vargas Llosa, over the
weekend slammed Israel's "out of proportion" operation in the Gaza
Strip, saying he was ashamed of being Israel's friend.
The Jerusalem Prize recipient rebuked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's
administration at a Madrid convention organized by the International
Freedom Fund, a South American research fund headed by Vargas Llosa and
based out of Argentina.
"Israel had become a powerful and arrogant country, and it is the role
of its friends to be highly critical of its policies," Vargas Llosa
said.
On the Israel Defense Forces operation in the Gaza Strip, Vargas Llosa
told Haaretz that "my impression is that among military and security
circles there is a lack of confidence in your new Defense Minister. He
was soft and moderate during the election campaign, and it looks like
the current activity of the IDF is being used by the army in order to
test him and the new government, and push them to take more extreme
measures in order to prevent any change of Israel's policy toward the
Palestinians."
"Israel's response to the abduction of the soldier and the firing of
Qassam rockets was excessively severe," he said.
"Undoubtedly the abduction of the soldier is an unacceptable move, and
the firing of Qassam rockets proves that there are radicals on both
sides, but the Israeli response is out of proportion. Paradoxically, the
extremists on both sides have a shared agenda and its purpose is to
prevent any chance for negotiations and mutual concessions."
At the symposium in Spain, Israeli, Palestinian, American, Latin
American and Spanish intellectuals were in attendance. Among them were
Professor Shlomo Ben-Ami and Yasser Abed Rabbo, former Culture Minister
in the Palestinian Authority.
The gathering was held following the publication of the new book by
Vargas Llosa, "Israel-Palestine, Peace or Holy War," a collection of
essays he published in some of the most important daily newspapers in
the world after his last visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority
last September.
The book raised a storm of protest in South American, mostly among the
Jewish community there, because of what they considered an anti-Israel
bend.
In addition to the Palestinian point of view and focus on the suffering
of civilians, Vargas Llosa also writes about his conversations with
settlers and victims of Palestinian terrorism
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