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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (274293)	2/14/2006 5:44:27 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576012

Tue., February 14, 2006 Shvat 16, 5766 Obsolete security asset By Haaretz Editorial In a graduated process determined primarily by security considerations, the Israeli government has, over the last few years, almost totally severed the West Bank from the Jordan Valley, and transformed the Jordan Valley area into a Jewish region. This separation, which stemmed from terror activity in Jordan Valley communities and from gunfire targeting Israeli passengers on the Beit She'an road - incidents that depleted the Jordan Valley communities of their residents - caused thousands of Palestinians from West Bank villages to be cut off from their land and their livelihood. Those who are permitted to enter have a hard time selling their wares because most of the crossing points where the fruit and vegetable trade used to take place have been blocked. Jericho, the major Palestinian city in the area, has become a city blocked by a trench, part of an effort to keep Palestinian vehicles off the Jordan Valley road - exiting the city to the north is dependent on permission from the Israel Defense Forces. Four permanent checkpoints stationed between the mountain ridge and the Jordan Valley prevent Palestinians who are not Jordan Valley residents from passing through. Those who manage to change the address on their identity cards are allowed to enter, but are thereby compelled to cut themselves off from their families in the West Bank. Every few days there are nighttime raids aimed at discovering and deporting those considered to be in the area illegally, who are actually located on their own lands. The Jordan Valley road has become a road for Jews only. Although the explanations for this hard-line policy are security related, it's difficult to avoid connecting the developing reality to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's declaration that Israel "cannot relinquish control over Israel's eastern border." The Jordan Valley residents feel that in making that statement, Olmert expressed a commitment to Israel's remaining in the Jordan Valley, while others interpret his comments as an evasion of just such a commitment. Control is not sovereignty, and it can be determined by a minimal military presence after withdrawal and evacuation. According to the Geneva Initiative, the Jordan Valley road would remain under Israeli security control although it would be transferred to Palestinian sovereignty. There is no reason to adopt the 1967 Alon plan, which was never accepted by the Israeli government, Jordan, the Palestinians or the Americans. Even the attempt to construct an eastern security fence was taken off the agenda due to American pressure. The Alon plan was hatched during the pursuit period in the Jordan Valley, when the Jordanian and Iraqi threat was in force, and it would be foolish to hold on to this anachronistic plan today. It's difficult to understand why the Jordan Valley is considered a security asset. It's difficult to expect Iranian missiles to be halted by the Jordan River.[] The Jordan Valley settlers are part of an obsolete political worldview that saw obstruction of passage from the east into Israel as an existential security need, and the settlers as those who would defend the border. This is a similar approach to the one that led to the establishment of the Gush Katif communities. Between the eastward expansion of Ma'aleh Adumim, the westward expansion of the Jordan Valley communities and the expansion of the settlement blocs toward the Green Line, the Palestinians are left with no territory on which to establish a state. The imprisonment of the Palestinians in a small area and the increasing depletion of their sources of employment do not serve Israel's security needs, even if for a moment someone thought he succeeded in capturing another dunam and more might. haaretz.com [] TOLD YOU SO: Message 21607821