They do seem to go hand in hand.. For so long as they remains a deadlock between the Palestinians and Israelis, Islamic militants will have the ideological ammunition they require to claim that the US is acting on behalf of some Jewish conspiracy to control the region.
Of course they go hand in hand, Hawk. The exact same people for whom the Israeli/Palestinian conflict blocks all other progress and reform, make damn sure that there is never any settlement of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
You sound like you are beginning to believe that if only something more is squeezed from Israel, that will do the trick. This is a delusion. The Iranian money backing Hizbullah and Al Qaeda, the Saudi money backing Hamas, the Euro money backing Al Aqsa, will not cease or make peace, if the offered borders change, not even back to the indefensible truce lines of the Green Line. Offering more concessions to Arafat is about as useful as offering concessions to Saddam. So Israel will shorten its lines of defence, finish the wall, and wait for the coming Palestinian civil war to yield a result.
When you ask,
Is there something wrong with 400,000 Jews being given some form of status in the PA
Yes, there is something wrong with it - the Palestinians refuse to consider the idea, demanding that Palestine be utterly Jew-free. Considering their thuggish track record, a Jew's life wouldn't be worth much in their hands. The Arab Christians are fleeing, do you think they would protect Jews? What's wrong with the idea is that the Palestinians are being led by terrorists who are funded from outside to be terrorists, not to be statesmen.
Of course there are hundreds of potential solutions available if the Israelis and Palestinians were left alone to thrash out a deal. But they never have, and never will, be left alone. Let some sort of political reform process begin in earnest in Iran, Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and suddenly everybody there will care a whole lot less about Palestine. Then progress can happen. |
