>There are couple of issues mixed in here. The Israelis clearly feel they own the occupied territories in part because they know no one can contest their position. That's annoying but that's the position Israel has taken for years now, claiming they were forced into it by the 7 day war. And its the reason relations between Israel and Palestine are at a low point.
They weren't forced into it by the 7 day war? It made complete sense at the time that they took it, and they planned to give back basically all of it but Jerusalem. Unfortunately, they didn't have a negotiating partner to give it back to. Remember, they took the Sinai, which TRIPLED the size of their landholdings, but gave that back for peace.
Sharon is an expansionist, at least into the territories Israel currently holds, but he's not a right-wing fanatic who thinks that since all of the biblical holy places are in the West Bank, Israel has to have them. He's a secular dude. He's just a career soldier who thinks of security, and his views are shortsighted. If there were a real solution where Israel could give back the West Bank and Gaza, I think he'd do it. It'd probably require American troops in as a buffer, and we don't want to put them there.
>However, what I find over the top is that Sharon is building a wall around all of Palestine......I think in an effort to mimic the Great Wall of China. At first it was to be just a wall between Palestine and Israel.....presumably to keep the Palestinians out of Israel. Now however, there is talk that he wants to encircle the entire West Bank and of course, Gaza. Obviously, the situation has reach the insanity level.
If you weren't aware, Gaza already has a wall around it. Even though it's a hotbed for militancy, no suicide bomber has ever infiltrated Israel proper from Gaza. Not one. What if they could duplicate that with the West Bank? I wouldn't call that insanity.
-Z |
