One of
the banes of a Fame and News Society like the one we've developed here on
Earth is the fact that it can be hard for individuals to control the world's
perception of you. Governments and multinational corporations spend buku
dollars doing just that-- exerting their reality, manipulating
the trut, and plain-old making up lies.
With all this work they're doing, those of us without marketing budgets
can get tossed in the shuffle. What they say about us can override everthing
else, even if it's just a small part of our contribution to the world. Here's
Shlomo Argov-- graduate
of Georgetown, ambassador for a young nation, statesman, and pretext. |
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Shlomo Argov, 73, Ex-Israeli Envoy, Dies
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM,
Feb. 24 — Shlomo
Argov, a former Israeli ambassador
to Britain who was shot and paralyzed
in an assassination
attempt by Palestinian
militants that set off Israel's invasion of Lebanon more than 20 years ago,
died here on Sunday. He was 73.
He had required constant
medical care since suffering a head
wound in the shooting attack in June 1982. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced
Mr. Argov's death at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.
Gunmen from the Abu
Nidal guerrilla faction, which has ties to Libya,
Syria
and Iraq,
shot Mr. Argov after a diplomatic meeting outside the Dorchester
Hotel in London. Three Abu Nidal members were later convicted in the shooting.
The attack was Israel's stated
pretext for invading
Lebanon four days later and laying siege
to Beirut for three months until the Palestinian leader, Yasir
Arafat, and his fighters were forced out of the country.
The invasion began an 18-year Israeli
military presence in southern Lebanon, which ended with Israel's
withdrawal in May 2000.
Reuven Merhav,
a former colleague, said Mr. Sharon, who was defense minister at the time, had
actually planned the Lebanon invasion well before Mr. Argov was shot.
Mr. Merhav, referring to Mr. Sharon's invasion strategy on Israel
Radio on Sunday, said: "The war plan was ready. He made no secret of
it. He had presented the plan to the Americans some months earlier."
Mr. Argov, born in Jerusalem in December 1929, studied in Washington and London
and joined Israel's Ministry
of Foreign Affairs in 1959. He served as ambassador to Mexico
and the Netherlands before
assuming his position
as ambassador to Britain in 1979.
Mr. Argov is survived by two daughters, Yehudit and Edna, and a son, Gideon.
Copyright
2003 New York Times (Registration required)
7:08:25 AM 
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