The Palestinians say their reasons for this war is the Israeli Occupation of their lands. I think the term Occupied Lands is a misnomer. The Israelis won that land in a war started by the Arabs. So it's not occupied. It's the spoils of war. And for the last 30 years all we've heard is them whining about it.
Solution:
Target the Regime.
That's what I would do. And it looks like they have finally done that this week. They have stormed Arafat's HeadQuarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The problem though, is containment. Not letting this spread into an all out Arab-Israeli war. One of the reasons for this concern is Iraq. Iraq is a looming force in all of this and huge factor in the policy that nations decide their stance, particularly the United States. And one of the reasons we have continually asked Israel to show restraint is because of our fears that Iraq would seize any opportunity to attack Israel. And if that happened it would broaden to an all out war.
Now we see the Saudi Crown Prince Abdulla kissing and embracing the Iraqi representitive to this Arab conference. Then we see the Kuwati representitive shaking hands with the Iraqis.
You ask; "Now what the hell is going on?"
Where is the Kuwati and Saudi gratitude from pulling their collective asses out of a crack?
I'll tell you what's going on. It's our war on terrorism. Make no mistake about it. It's a war against Muslims. It's a war against Saudis. It's either 15 or all 19 of those Hyjackers were Saudi.
You talk about something that everyone is trying to sweep under the rug and pretend that it isn't a factor it's that fact.
When we declared war on terrorism these Arab nations do not tell themselves, "We don't mean them." They tell themselves, "We could mean them." So they align. The Arab nations on a normal day do not get along. They are not that close to one another. They have their own hatreds and disagreements with each other just as all nations do. But there are things that unite them.
There are 2 things that are uniting them now.
1) The existence of Israel and Israel's actions against suicide bombers.
2) Our war on terrorism.
Now they are more united then they have been in a long time. They give lip service to the notion they understand our war on terrorism. Believe me they don't want a conflict with us. They know they are sitting ducks and we'd blast them. But they don't like it. I'm convince of this. They don't like us in Afganistan, They don't like us pursuing Osama, They don't like our worldwide fight against terrorists. They probably don't think that's all we are containing it to.
I know in their private meetings they talk about their oil supply and you know for a fact that they sit their and say to themselves, "The United States wishes they didn't have to go through us to get this oil." You know they are thinking we'd just love to go in there and capture the oil fields and be done with it.
It'd be a great thing to do.. :) But I don't think we are seriously contemplating that. But I know they think we are.
So the effort to contain this is a serious one because of all the outside nations lead by Iraq and probably Iran that could join forces with the Palestinians. Who heretofore have sat it out and just provided lip service as a means of support.
So that's my basic equation to all this and the reason I think there is genuine fear of this spreading beyond the borders of Israel.
But just think about something. If this senario sends a little tingle up your spine then just think about how it is for the people living in Israel. Just think about suicide bombings going on here in the US. What do you think we'd be doing about it. Would you be asking our Government to show restraint after you wife and kids have been blown to bits while eating lunch in you local downtown Cafe'? I don't think so.
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