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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Yaacov who wrote (1182)	5/19/2001 12:58:17 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23908

It is already out of hand! I completely agree. The orthodox Jews in Israel are certainly applying considerable political pressure upon the Isaeli government, with the consequence that moderate, and even liberal Jews, are supporting a hawk like Sharon. And they do so because he represents strength and a measure of security since he is a "no BS" kind of leader (while not particularly imaginative or creative). The history of the Palestinian people will one day be summarized as one of missed or abdicated opportunities. They have sought a course of action, through violence and terrorism, that they haven't the strength to win. The Israelis hold all the military cards. And because they threaten the power of Jordan's King Abdullah, they find themselves without a true base of support (or safe refuge). Where the Palestinians have failed is that they have not been willing to enter into a final peace treaty that would lock in the current Jewish settlements, thus preventing their expansion, as well as locking in the boundaries of the Palestinian Authority. The Israelis, on the other hand, are unwilling to freeze such settlements until they see Arafat taking steps to halt the violence and work to preserve Israel's security from terrorists. In fact, until they have such guarantees, they see these settlements as mini-bases of Jewish control that will only expand as the Jewish population on the West Bank expands, netting them a permanent presence in the very area that the Palestinians seek to control for themselves. After all, the Israelis believe the West Bank was originally promised to them by the British, in exchange for their support against the Turks (their former rulers). And had it not been for the establishment of a Hashemite Kingdom, thus preventing it being declared the Palestinians State, Judea and Samaria would be their anyway. This is all a battle betweeen which historial boundaries folks are willing to accept and recognize. And unfortunately, these types of disputes are seldom resolved peacefully. Especially when one party has no interest in a peaceful settlement. And btw, I believe it is as difficult to "negotiate" with orthodox Jews, as it is to negotiate with Arabs and Palestinians. Both are controlled by extremists who are quite unwilling to negotiate anything that is detrimental to themselves. And it is these extremists who wind up dragging everyone else into direct conflict with both sides. Also, I don't think your scenario is so far fetched. We know that Sharon has the mindset of "pre-emptive" strikes in response to escalating violence or a perceived security threat to Israel itself. And these suicide bombings are definitely a threat that must be dealt with either by the Palestinian authority, or the Israelis. Hawk