Israel and Palestinian Territories after September 11, 2001

The terrorist attacks on the USA should inevitably have cast their reflections upon such an exposed region of the world as the Middle East, more specifically, upon the events in Israel and in the Palestinian Territories. In view of the fact that from the viewpoint of the political science and the related disciplines this region is more than interesting, the present writers wish to comprehend and to comment these events on the professional level in connection with the attacks of September 11. To make the presentation more integrated, a commentary on actual state of affairs in the region is added, including description of some basic phenomena, which are necessary for understanding the present situation (e.g., a brief consideration of the peace process). The article is subdivided as follows: • the situation in the region in the course of the terrorist attacks on the U.S.A. and the imme¬diate reaction • the characteristic features of Ariel Sharon's government • the Palestinian extremism • the Israeli extremism and the phenomenon of settlements • the role of the U.S.A. in the recent Middle East events Further aim of this paper is to draw attention to the measures of knowledge of the event in the mentioned region; considerable amount of news and commentaries about the Middle East appear in the Czech media, but very often in disregard of the relevant facts and circumstances, or, unfortunately, being written without author's first-hand experience of the local conditions. But for a few exceptions, there appear mostly compilations of different agency and newspaper reports in the Czech media, and propaganda articles as well. Some unnamed Czech writers are almost unfailingly tendentious, so that it is quite possible to forecast their position even before reading their articles. Last but not least the authors have been stimulated to write this paper by conspicuous absence of authentic and reliable books and articles about the Middle East problems in this country. In the end the present writers try to prognosticate in some way the possible variants of the future development in the region in question. At the same time they are aware that any forecast or delimitation of any time horizons is very difficult here, if possible at all.