Blaming the victim? Not very liberal of you John! You completely ignore two important facts: why Israel occupied and continues to occupy the territories, and Arafat is a terrorist. You obviously believe that, given the "proper conditions", Arafat would be a regular Thomas Jefferson. He's had 10 years to be a Thomas Jefferson and he gave the world this nightmare called the Intifidah. No more excuses, John. Move on.
Staying up late left you a bit angry? Calm down. You are using the old debate tactic of sharp extremes. I gather the Bush dichotomy disease has slid on down to Houston.
It's apparent you and I are not going to get anywhere debating the turning points in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, given that you picture my position that way and think that the way to carry on a conversation is with one line put downs.
My position is that there were two turning points, after the 67 war and the Oslo agreement in which the terrain of Palestinian-Israeli conflicts could have been altered by ending the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Had it done so, that, most likely, would have reduce the support for confrontation and would either have constrained Arafat into playing the game of power differently or brought different leadership to the front.
The horrific consequences of failing to take that turn are certainly in front of us right now, once again.
As for the last paragraph, you've seen my solution and misportray it. Someone posted, sometime back, a multipronged strategy suggestion, which made good sense to me, one prong of which was work on the human rights issue.
As for the parallel with China, one could do a great deal worse than a strategy which simultaneously criticizes their human rights record and tries to envelop them in international trade and encourage economic development.
I hope you got a good night's sleep. |
