The whole thing is a nightmare for many.
Indeed...
I find it hard to believe that all parties are honestly pursuing peace in a manner conducive to expedience and of mutual benefit.
Well, I give a FAR larger benefit of a doubt to Israelis, if only because they are a democratic society, with many diverse opposition groups, including an voting Arab sector making up 20% of the total population.
I don't see what excuse the authoritarian and totalitarian Arab (and Iran) regimes in the region have for not pursuing peace. If Egypt can manage it, so can they (if they have the desire).
KC.. those who perceive the authoritarian regimes in the region as truly having a desire for peace are deluding themselves. It is in their interest to continue elevating the level of tension with Israel, using Arafat as their pawn (which he does in exchange for more money from them so sustain his own powerbase).
Then Israel's talk of a peace process when the violence stops and a Palestinian State is all Bull$hit?
Hardly... Remember... Israel conquered JORDANIAN property because King Hussein foolishly sought to use it to attack them in 1967 (despite Israel's pleas for Jordan to stay out of the fight).
Now let me ask you.... Suppose you "friend" and I get in a fight because he's deliberately and belligerently blocking my driveway and constantly attacking and threatening to kill my family??
And when it becomes evident that evident that he's building up his courage to "do the deed" I decide to strike first, at the same time asking YOU to stay out of it. But you can't resist your friends urging that you and he together can "kick my @ss" so you try and sucker punch me from behind..
So the question is "how should I treat you"? I asked you to stay out of the fight, but you didn't, attacking me from a piece of property that juts into my own property...
Should I take that property from you and put up a "fence" so you can't easily attack me again??
Well, that's what we're talking about here.. Except that the property Jordan lost included hundreds of thousands of your people... And Jordan DID NOT relinquish its claim on the West Bank until 1989.
That means that Jordan could have signed a peace treaty with Israel and set up a demilitarization agreement in the West Bank at anytime between 1967 and 1989... but they didn't do so...
And then suddenly they abandon the West Bank to Israel, declaring that they support an independent state for the Palestinians, something they had not supported between '67-'89...
And even then, Jordan didn't sign a peace treaty with Israel until 1994.
So we have to remember that there has been a change of power on the West Bank and Gaza... And the Israelis have had to deal with new power brokers, namely Arafat and the PA. And that hasn't worked.
So if it requires reshaping the Palestinian power structure in order to identify some more moderate elements.. people who can make a promise and keep it, then maybe the violence will end.
After all,.. let's face some facts here... the primary goal of the Palestinian father and mother is to feed their children and have employment. And Arafat really hasn't done a great job at providing either.
And they will never get away from the fact that they rely upon Israel for their jobs. You don't see many Palestinians commuting into Jordan, now do you??
Once again, in sum... Israel is a democracy.. None of it's neighboring nations can realistically make such a claim (though Jordan is moving well in this direction).
So let's recognize that when authoritarian governments don't opt for peace, it's because they are trying to distract their people from their own repression and economic corruption.
Hawk |
