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

To: JohnM who wrote (71365)	2/4/2003 3:33:56 PM
From: Win Smith	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Israel and the Palestinians / It should have been so simple economist.com [ Just because I happen to be at the site, I got to note this background article from a couple weeks ago. Since "the Economist has never been friendly to Zionism" (Tm Nadine) , I'm sure the parts that cut the wrong way can be easily dismissed. But here's what they say anyway. Excerpt : ] After seven years of spiralling down snakes and clambering back up ladders, a final agreement seemed within touch. This would have split the land of the old mandate, giving the Palestinians most of the West Bank and Gaza (which together account for only 22% of the old mandate). The remaining differences between the two sides were tricky but not insuperable, given goodwill and time. But elections were looming, and the Americans and Israelis were in a hurry. Mr Barak was prepared to concede more than any Israeli leader before him, but held back from making his offer firm. Mr Arafat, instead of showing bold leadership, listened to public opinion at home and dithered. Both teams, in the end, were ham-handed, dropping a uniquely precious ball, and the region was plunged into a bleakness that still prevails. A second, but this time wholly misbegotten, Palestinian uprising then broke out. The first outbreaks rose from spontaneous frustration, but the revolt gathered speed without ever acquiring an aim. Senseless killing inflamed senseless killing; the current intifada has turned out to be quite extraordinarily self-destructive. Politically, it shattered Israeli trust, destroying, in the blink of an eye, the gains painfully gathered.The popular Israeli refrain—“We gave the Palestinians land and they replied with bullets”—is a crude simplification, but it is how the Israelis feel. Militarily, the intifada gave Mr Sharon, by then Mr Barak's successor, a pretext for crushing the life out of all the central Palestinian institutions and locking the Palestinian people into what amount to detention camps in their towns and villages. And as Palestinian suicide bombers ply their dreadful trade, the Palestinian cause falters in the western world.

To: JohnM who wrote (71365)	2/4/2003 3:42:59 PM
From: Sig	Respond to of 281500

<<As I just typed to Slacker, I see only two ways forward: one the spiral continues to the point of mutual exhaustion before the parties are likely to move back to the deal which has been on the table all along; or the Bush folk get very deeply involved. Since I don't see the latter happening, the only prospects I see are the former. >> Dont lose hope, the prospect may come. Pres. Bush is taking these things one at a time per priority. And fast. First shut down airlines, implement security measures, get airplanes flying again, clean up the mess in NY, provide money to keep airlines from going under, jail or fine some CEO's, appoint cabinet members, re-write securities laws, propose a tax cut, find money for the MIlitary, form a Homeland security system, catch some Terrorists, clean up Afghanistan and put El Bin out of action, He was doing just great until they decided to call in the UN which slowed things down considerable. I generally agree with Mr Bush but if I knew everything he had to do, maybe I could find something I wouldn't agree with - as others have But it seems the priorities are to shut-down Saddam in one way or the other, get our Military forces re-organised and better assigned, then do something about N. Korea. If nothing else major happens, perhaps resolution of the PLO / Irsael problems could get top priority Sig

To: JohnM who wrote (71365)	2/4/2003 9:08:18 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 281500

one the spiral continues to the point of mutual exhaustion before the parties are likely to move back to the deal which has been on the table all along; That may happen. The individual Palestinians cannot last as long as the Israeli's can, IMO. They are down to almost no jobs and living on the Euro welfare. I am reading reports that they are leaving in droves. I mentioned an article I read last week where they are pouring into Jordan. I suspect they are also pouring into Lebanon. And getting on buses, planes, and ships to anywhere. Most Palestinians are like most people anywhere. They are not Suicide bombers, and won't fight. They will run or give up the battle.