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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: art slott who wrote (4409)	5/16/2002 7:07:21 PM
From: art slott	Respond to of 32591

What the world tried hardest to prevent, Operation Defensive Shield, is really the best thing that could have happened to the Palestinians. Historian and author Jay Winick just gave the same argument as Krauthammer did(interview with Brit Hume). The last time the Israelis had recieved so much scorn from World Governments and the World's press was when they took out Saddam's soon to be nuclear bomb factory. >>Just days ago, it was conventional wisdom that the Israeli operation had backfired because it had dramatically boosted Arafat's popularity. This was nonsense from the beginning, the usual mistaking of victimhood for power. In fact, Arafat was practically scorned by his people when he ventured out for what he thought would be his triumphal post-Ramallah tour. The crowds were sparse, the people indifferent and he did not even venture into the Jenin camp, knowing that he would be heckled, jeered and possibly worse. Why? Because he lost. His security services have been shattered. He can no longer protect the terrorist shock troops. He is shorn and he knows it. Why do you think the United States is now talking about "reforming" Arafat out of the leadership of the Palestinian Authority? Why are Arab leaders privately endorsing such reform? A sudden conversion to constitutionalism? Operation Defensive Shield left Arafat gravely weakened. Arab leaders are not sentimental.<<

To: art slott who wrote (4409)	5/16/2002 8:19:31 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

===> "Moreover, Yasser Arafat would not have been conducting this 20-month guerrilla war if he thought it could not decisively alter the balance of forces on the ground and allow him to dictate terms to the Israelis." <=== Why did Arafat take this path, instead of accepting 97% of the West Bank and Gaza, plus billions in aid, plus trade, plus statehood? Was he crazy, or........ At the time, he must have known about the upcoming terrorist attack against America, and thought that America would be too weakened to help Israel, or that America would turn it's back on Israel. Well...... in this case America's war against terrorism helped Israel, in it's significant victory over the Palestinian terrorists, by giving Israel the green light to go into the West Bank. << It took Arafat eight years to build this arsenal. He will not be able to replace it in a day. >> If the Palestinians are given statehood, the time table to rebuild their terrorist infrastructure will be less. They will receive funding from the Saudis, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Cuba, United Nations, etc. Israel MUST fight against Palestinian statehood.