re: Forget the Road Map
The basic problem I see with this plan, is that it has the same defects as the Road Map. There doesn't seem to be a realistic provision for making the various players do things they very much don't want to do. Who is going to disarm Hamas? Who is going to lean on the Israelis, to make them give up their settlements?
1. The idea of U.S. troops replacing Israelis, in the Occupied Territories, is a non-starter. Hamas would see no difference between the two armies. Could the U.S. Army do what the Israelis can't: attack and destroy Hamas? Is there any chance they would be willing to take on that thankless task? I doubt it.
2. <almost all Israeli settlements, with the exception of those in the immediate proximity of Jerusalem, would be dismantled> That's more than the Israelis offered at Taba, and I doubt they are willing to offer more, now. Not unless a lot of pressure is applied, pressure that only a U.S. President could apply. Again, this seems unlikely.
3. the third proposal, with WB and IMF funding, would not be enough to "assure" the viability of the Palestinian State. Those institutions have repeatedly failed, at the same goals, and after wasting vast amounts of money, in other nations. Truth is, under almost any concievable future, any Palestinian State is going to live in the economic shadow of Israel, and their main export will be workers.
4. The idea that Palestinian refugees will give up their "right of return", and Israeli colonists will give up their settlements, with economic inducements, is utopian. The only way the Jewish settlements will come down, is if the Israeli government goes in, with soldiers and bulldozers, and uses force. Like they did in Sinai. |
