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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (16019)	1/10/2002 3:11:26 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

How about a Middle East British style political system? A Jordanian Monarchy, with two houses of Parliament. Upper house of "Lords" with wealthy successful business people, older politicians etc, then a lower house with Isreali and Palestinian parties deciding on the mutual progress of the region? King Abdullah tried to sell David Ben Gurion on the concept in 1948, but he wasn't having any. For some reason, he didn't feel like trusting his continued existence on the good graces of an Arab monarchy. Seriously, all the Foggy Bottom types who keep saying "the parameters of the deal have been laid out -- why can't the Israelis and Palestinians just take it?" are ignoring reality. The Israelis have expressed, and continue to express, an interest, in such a solution. Sure, they have their extremists but they would be voted down again if a real peace deal seemed possible. The Palestinians, at least their current government, are NOT interested in such a solution. It is staringly obvious that Arafat used Oslo as a ruse to gain ground, not as any part of a final settlement. Many, many times, he compared Oslo to the Treaty of Hubbayiah -- a truce that Mohammend made, then broke, with the pagan Qureish. He has called it a hudna, a cease-fire. His ministers have justified it because it gained them precious ground for the eventual armed struggle. Faisal Husseini called it a Trojan Horse. Two weeks ago, Arafat called a cease-fire, which he used to try to smuggle in 80 tons of munitions. How much evidence does anyone need? All the Palestinians seem to have concluded is that if Israel was weak enough to give them land in the first place, then they've got them on the run and it's time to rev up the armed struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Never mind the destruction of the Palestinian economy or the generations raised in hate and dedicated to the struggle, it's worth it for the cause. You don't make diplomatic agreements with that attitude. You can't.