Sharon an acting defense minister in Israel
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 6/16/2001

The Israeli TV said that the Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon has become since Thursday evening a minister of defense for the first time since he was obliged to resign from this post in 1983 following the Sabra and Shatilla massacres in Lebanon.

The Israeli TV explained that Sharon is in charge of the tasks of the acting minister of defense because the original minister Benjamin Bin Aleazer headed to France to take part in a plane exhibition in Bourje, near Paris.

Worthy mentioning that Sharon was a defense minister in the government of Menahem Begin who ordered the invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and during that operation he committed massacres in the Palestinian refugees camps in Sabra and Shatilla, near Beirut.

On the other hand, the BBC announced on Thursday that the program the BBC TV will broadcast under the title " the accused " and deals with the responsibility of Ariel Sharon in these massacres committed in Sabra and Shatilla camps of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in 1982 is but " a legitimate analysis" on a question pertaining to human rights.

A statement by the BBC added that the program will be aired from a legal view point on who will bear the ultimate responsibility in a period during which Ariel Sharon was a defense minister.

The statement explained that the program puts question on the evidences that were collected during that period about these massacres which resulted in 1500 killed persons to know whether the evidences are enough. The statement also added that Panorama program asked for an interview from the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and that the request is still on, adding that, on the other hand, that the spokesman for Raanan Gesein will be a guest in the program.

The BBC stressed that it will keep this program despite the Israeli expressed regret, noting that correspondent Vergal Keyani got several awards for his documentary programs pertinent to human rights including investigations in several countries.

The Israeli minister of justice Maer Shtreit told the Israeli radio this program showed once again that the BBC stands against Israel in support of the Palestinians.

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