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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (6646)	4/2/2004 1:16:07 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

The exact same people for whom the Israeli/Palestinian conflict blocks all other progress and reform, make damn sure that there is never any settlement of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Of course they do.. They have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Arafat could care less, so long as his legacy is seen as that of a great hero who tirelessly led the Jihad against the Jews... His family, and posterity, is set. He has money, prestige, and an international cult of personality who cater to his megalomania. Hamas leaders are no different. They have their own social prestige and position to support. They know that any settlement with the Israelis, voluntary or imposed internationally, will render them irrelevant. And certainly various leaders throughout the region have a vested interest in using the conflict as a convenient means of delaying, or deflecting, criticism of their rule. You sound like you are beginning to believe that if only something more is squeezed from Israel, that will do the trick. Squeezed? Come on Nadine... The Israelis captured and occupied east Jerusalem, as well as the West Bank, in order to obtain greater security for themselves (at least that's what they told the world). What security have the obtained? They thought nuclear weapons would guarantee their borders, but the Islamic militants found a weapon that can't guard against without becoming a police state, suicide bombings. Do you really think these militants would be adverse to some form of suicide attack that results in the deaths of hundreds of thousands? Even if that tally includes innocent muslims, they would merely justify the loss as the "will of Allah".. Any muslim who dared to contradict such a belief would be immediately shunned (at best), or called a Jewish collaborator. I do not put it past some militant group releasing chemical weapons within Israel someday. And what will Israeli be able to do to respond? Nuke Riyadh? Damascus? Cairo? They will be helpless to respond, except by using territorial expansion to increase their geographical "buffer" and expelling all muslims from those territories. Yes, there is something wrong with it - the Palestinians refuse to consider the idea, demanding that Palestine be utterly Jew-free. Which is why the current peace process has little chance of success. Only an internationlly imposed peace settlement can create the condition (coerced when necessary) towards forcing mutual respect. It would not be easy, nor a short-term operation.. It might require 10-20 years, maybe even longer. But the current conflict has been simmering (or raging) for the past 50 years. When is it going to stop, and who's going to make that happen? Of course there are hundreds of potential solutions available if the Israelis and Palestinians were left alone to thrash out a deal. BS... as you stated, too many parties on either side have vested reasons to prevent any such solution. Hawk