What Planet Is This Man Living On?
"Even after the setbacks and frustrations of recent months, good will and hard effort can achieve the promise of the roadmap to peace. Those who would lead a new Palestinian state should adopt peaceful means to achieve the rights of their people, and create the reformed institutions of a stable democracy. Arab states should end incitement in their own media, cut off public and private funding for terrorism, and establish normal relations with Israel. Israel should impose a settlement freeze, dismantle unauthorized outposts, end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people, and avoid any actions that prejudice final negotiations. And world leaders should withdraw all favor and support from any Palestinian ruler who fails his people and betrays their cause." --George W. Bush, Speech to the UN, September 2004
Yes, yes, yes--and we should all brush our teeth three times a day, floss after brushing, change our motor oil every 3000 miles, ect., ect.
Now let's get back to reality:
Israel's Sharon: Arafat Will 'Get What He Deserves'
Wed Sep 22, 2004 08:20 AM ET
"JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday renewed his threat to remove Yasser Arafat, saying the Palestinian president would "get what he deserves."
"Sharon told Israel Radio his government would take action against Arafat at a time of its choosing as it did in assassinating two Hamas leaders this year in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials have made threats against Arafat before, but political sources say such a move is unlikely as long as the United States, Israel's close ally, strongly opposes it.
"Sharon, a former general, suggested in an Israeli newspaper interview last week that Israel might either assassinate Arafat or expel him from the Palestinian territories. Sharon's new threat comes as he struggles to soften resistance from right-wingers in his coalition to his plan to evacuate Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, a territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
"We acted against the heads of Hamas ... in a way we found right at the right time when it was convenient for us," Sharon said on Wednesday. "When the issue of dealing with Arafat comes up, we will act again in this fashion."
Israel Kills 10 People, Says Not Following Roadmap
Wed Sep 15, 2004 03:22 PM ET
By Wael al-Ahmad
"JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Raiding Israeli forces killed six Palestinian militants and four civilians on Wednesday, the highest single-day Palestinian death toll in the West Bank for more than two years, witnesses and medics said.
"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon added to pessimism about peace prospects, declaring that Israel was not following the U.S.-backed "road map" plan and could stay in the occupied West Bank for a long time after a planned pullout from Gaza in 2005. Sharon spelled out what various Israeli officials have been suggesting for months. The "road map" was derailed some time ago amid persistent violence and recrimination on both sides....
"His remarks in a Jewish new year interview with Yedioth Ahronoth were his clearest yet on the status of the road map, which his cabinet had accepted only under U.S. pressure....
"However, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said he did not think that accounts of Sharon's comments accurately reflected the prime minister's views. "Prime Minister Sharon has reaffirmed his commitment to moving forward on his bold proposal to move out of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank," McClellan said. "That is a proposal that can help get us jump-started again on the road map which is the path toward the president's two-state solution," he said. "I think that's what the prime minister was talking about -- moving forward on his disengagement plan."
By far the most destructive mistake made by the Bush Administration in its foreign policy was the unilateral endorsement of the "two state" solution in Palestine, a move which the President made on his own that took the entire world, and even his own foreign policy advisors, by surprise. Endorsement of a Palestinian state was the single and sole bargaining chip the United States had with BOTH sides when Bush took office in 2001.
Without that bargaining chip, the Palestinians had no incentive to negotiate seriously, since Bush had already conceded what they were seeking from the U.S. Without that bargaining chip, all it took was sufficient bombings to force Ariel Sharon into building the wall which will permanently give the Palestinians all the "sovereignty" of a self-ruled prison camp, while they sink ever deeper into degradation and poverty.
No, this is no victory for Israel either, though keeping the Palestinians in a pen where the Israeli army can easily blow away whom they like certainly makes them more "secure" (the drop in bombings is quite real). Palestine as a permanent open sore will prevent the full integration of Israel into the rest of the world for the duration.
I, at least, am of the opinion that all this was preventable. All it would have taken was a little less "unilateral" and ill-advised action by the President of the United States.
But what else is new?
Yes, yes, yes--and we should all brush our teeth three times a day, floss after brushing, change our motor oil every 3000 miles, ect., ect.
Now let's get back to reality:
Israel's Sharon: Arafat Will 'Get What He Deserves'
Wed Sep 22, 2004 08:20 AM ET
"JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday renewed his threat to remove Yasser Arafat, saying the Palestinian president would "get what he deserves."
"Sharon told Israel Radio his government would take action against Arafat at a time of its choosing as it did in assassinating two Hamas leaders this year in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials have made threats against Arafat before, but political sources say such a move is unlikely as long as the United States, Israel's close ally, strongly opposes it.
"Sharon, a former general, suggested in an Israeli newspaper interview last week that Israel might either assassinate Arafat or expel him from the Palestinian territories. Sharon's new threat comes as he struggles to soften resistance from right-wingers in his coalition to his plan to evacuate Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, a territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
"We acted against the heads of Hamas ... in a way we found right at the right time when it was convenient for us," Sharon said on Wednesday. "When the issue of dealing with Arafat comes up, we will act again in this fashion."
Israel Kills 10 People, Says Not Following Roadmap
Wed Sep 15, 2004 03:22 PM ET
By Wael al-Ahmad
"JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Raiding Israeli forces killed six Palestinian militants and four civilians on Wednesday, the highest single-day Palestinian death toll in the West Bank for more than two years, witnesses and medics said.
"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon added to pessimism about peace prospects, declaring that Israel was not following the U.S.-backed "road map" plan and could stay in the occupied West Bank for a long time after a planned pullout from Gaza in 2005. Sharon spelled out what various Israeli officials have been suggesting for months. The "road map" was derailed some time ago amid persistent violence and recrimination on both sides....
"His remarks in a Jewish new year interview with Yedioth Ahronoth were his clearest yet on the status of the road map, which his cabinet had accepted only under U.S. pressure....
"However, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said he did not think that accounts of Sharon's comments accurately reflected the prime minister's views. "Prime Minister Sharon has reaffirmed his commitment to moving forward on his bold proposal to move out of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank," McClellan said. "That is a proposal that can help get us jump-started again on the road map which is the path toward the president's two-state solution," he said. "I think that's what the prime minister was talking about -- moving forward on his disengagement plan."
By far the most destructive mistake made by the Bush Administration in its foreign policy was the unilateral endorsement of the "two state" solution in Palestine, a move which the President made on his own that took the entire world, and even his own foreign policy advisors, by surprise. Endorsement of a Palestinian state was the single and sole bargaining chip the United States had with BOTH sides when Bush took office in 2001.
Without that bargaining chip, the Palestinians had no incentive to negotiate seriously, since Bush had already conceded what they were seeking from the U.S. Without that bargaining chip, all it took was sufficient bombings to force Ariel Sharon into building the wall which will permanently give the Palestinians all the "sovereignty" of a self-ruled prison camp, while they sink ever deeper into degradation and poverty.
No, this is no victory for Israel either, though keeping the Palestinians in a pen where the Israeli army can easily blow away whom they like certainly makes them more "secure" (the drop in bombings is quite real). Palestine as a permanent open sore will prevent the full integration of Israel into the rest of the world for the duration.
I, at least, am of the opinion that all this was preventable. All it would have taken was a little less "unilateral" and ill-advised action by the President of the United States.
But what else is new?
posted by Joseph Marshall | 10:20 AM
4 Comments:
Do you also post critical analyses every time Palestinian groups conduct attacks? If not, why do Israeli attacks receive your disproportionate attention?
TO: Joseph Marshall
RE: What Do You Think...
..Jihadis do with Buddhists when they catch them?
Three guesses, first two don't count. [Clue: Only "people of the book" are offered Dhimmitude.]
TO: Anonymous
RE: Good Question
"...why do Israeli attacks receive your disproportionate attention?" -- Anonymous
...which might not be answered. A lot of questions I ask here aren't either.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
You miss the point. By unilaterally endorsing the "two state" solution GWB took a bad situation and made it worse. He had no business giving away the only chip we had to induce Arafat to restrain Palestinian attacks and really negotiate, and, by forcing "two state" on the Israelis, he gave them no reason to negotiate either, once the Palestinians started to bomb without restraint.
Everybody lost: Israel, Palestine, the EU, the UN, and the USA.
Thanks George.
You miss the point. By unilaterally endorsing the "two state" solution GWB took a bad situation and made it worse. He had no business giving away the only chip we had to induce Arafat to restrain Palestinian attacks and really negotiate, and, by forcing "two state" on the Israelis, he gave them no reason to negotiate either, once the Palestinians started to bomb without restraint.
Everybody lost: Israel, Palestine, the EU, the UN, and the USA.
Thanks George.
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