Re: With brinkmanship, he has managed to grab the attention of the mass media. He loves to play the role of the underdog, the freedom fighter, and revolutionary...
If there's anyone who managed to hug the limelight, it's plug-ugly Ariel who had no reason to mess about on Jerusalem's Temple Plaza --other than stirring up an already deteriorated Israeli/PA relationship.... Then, accordingly, the Israeli authorities went on to a media master-stroke, that is, the sacrilegious wrecking of Joseph's Tomb by the Palestinian mob:
Israel was furious at the "brutal vandalism" inflicted on a site that many Jews believe is where the biblical patriarch Joseph is buried. As television pictures of the ransacking were broadcast Saturday evening, Israelis were outraged at what they saw as wholesale desecration. "Now we see that Israel cannot rely on any force but Israel's force and strength," said opposition parliamentarian Reuven Rivlin. "We are supposed to live with these people?" asked government Communications Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.
The Israeli military made a predawn escape from the fortified shrine after deciding that it was no longer tenable to maintain a small contingent of soldiers inside a compound smack in the middle of this hard-line Palestinian-controlled city.
In the last 10 days of street combat throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Joseph's Tomb was one of the deadliest spots. A well-armed Palestinian militia attacked the tomb area relentlessly. One Israeli and six Palestinians were killed here alone.
In a deal brokered with the help of the United States, senior Palestinian officials agreed to permit the Israelis to withdraw early Saturday without threat of attack, and they agreed to protect the site afterward. Neither pledge held: Palestinian gunmen fired on the retreating Israeli convoy, injuring one soldier, and then the mobs overran the tomb.
[...]
latimes.com
As was to be expected, the Palestinians fell headfirst into Israel's muletta trap: this so-called "Joseph shrine" was actually a fortified gun turret --a somewhat sacrilegious assignment for an allegedly holy memorial.... However, the event provided world media with useful video material showing "barbaric" Arabs violating a sacred mausoleum. Israel's stage whisper is loud and clear: the Vatican and Christians worldwide might wonder whether Arabs are their best bet to watch their holy places....
Re: I believe Israelis want peace as much as Palestinians do, but peace with security, and not peace with terror. I doubt if Arafat and his gang would qualify on that account.
The above statement is obviously a fraud! Israelis don't give a toss about "peace".... Actually, they revel in adversity. Peace would be the worst outcome for their war-based economy. Security and military gear rank first among Israel's flagship exports --Uzis, spy drones, intelligence services, etc. And retired Israeli officers would have a hard time capitalizing their field experience should Israel be surrounded by peaceful, hapless neighbors. Instead of working for mercenary outfits or arms exporters, they'd have to apply to flower growers or naturist resorts --LOL!
Indeed, Israel's cynical tactics is to keep the level of Arab hostility high enough to sustain its socio-political fabric while, simulteanously, profiling itself as an endangered democracy lost in a fanatic, anti-Western environment. So long as Israel enjoys superior military technology, the Palestinian troublemakers can be dealt with just like Spain deals with Basque secessionists: state counter-terrorism. Politically speaking, a permanent state of war helps psych up the whole society with a kind of Orwellian discipline: the school system, religious issues, ethnic endogamy, etc., every pattern of the Israeli fabric reinforces the others. Israel's raison d'être is still jammed in a one-against-all mind-set....
Gus. |
