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

To: D. Long who wrote (110335)	8/7/2003 2:31:27 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Respond to of 281500

Short and to the point: The American Solution by Elliot Chodoff The Palestinians have a problem, and the US Administration has provided them with the solution. The road map calls for the Palestinian Authority to "undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere." But Abu Mazen and Muhammad Dahlan, we are told, don't have the strength or support to begin rounding up terrorists. Instead, they will negotiate with them and ultimately incorporate them into the PA armed security services, despite the fact that this is in direct violation of the road map's decree that the PA commence "consolidation of security authority, free of association with terror and corruption." The US Administration has stepped in to help the PA relieve the tension caused by this stark contradiction between its commitments under the road map and its nonexistent performance (let's not forget that he official title of the road map is "A Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict"). Not to worry, the PA has been told, no pressure, if you can't arrest terrorists now, take your time. Meanwhile, we'll put some pressure on Israel to make some more concessions so that you will have even less incentive to live up to your commitments under the agreement. We understand the administration's dilemma. The Iraq war aftermath is deteriorating into a nasty guerrilla war. An election year is looming. The hope of progress in the New Middle East Peace Process is receding as the Palestinians show their incapable and/or unwillingness to confront terrorist organizations in a meaningful manner, but the veneer of success somewhere must be maintained. The solution: the same as was implemented with such devastating failure in the Oslo Process during the Clinton Administration. Ignore PA violations and pressure Israel, denying facts on the ground or creating semantic double speak to mask them (remember "sacrifices for peace," as a label for "victims of terrorism?"). So the new war on terror now looks like this: let terrorists run free, having declared a unilateral cease fire in order to regroup; force the release of terrorists by the hundreds, if not thousands, from captivity; restrict defensive measures which will reduce the effectiveness of terrorist operations; and hope that the whole powder keg can be kept from exploding until after election day 2004. And take consolation from the fact that the price will be paid by Israelis, not Americans. We have always believed that Divine protection was needed from our friends; we know how to deal with our enemies. chodoff.blogspot.com