Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: neolib who wrote (187499)	5/26/2006 5:57:08 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

My fear for Israel with the Pals is that even with a pretty could peace agreement, lets say end of all state sponsored terrorism, and defined borders, Israel is still going to shine economically while Pals will shine at reproduction, corruption, incompetence, and live right next door where they can see how much better life could be. Unfortunately, in such circumstances, and especially when the differences are accentuated by ethnic or religious demarcation, human nature tends to place the "blame" externally, rather than causing introspection, which would be a whole lot more useful. That is something else I've learned from southern Africa, and I see no easy solution. There is a long term solution in southern Africa, which is the gradual disappearance of the white population, something which is nearly complete in Zimbabwe, but only in its early stages in South Africa. Once the whites are effectively gone, and gone from memory as well, the comparison metric disappears as well, which is something of an improvement, but does not make life any better for the majority. Now, you're talking reality. Boy, aren't we the optimists? But the Israelis have no intention to disappear, so they are going to just keep rubbing their neighbors' noses into their own success, and being nasty hardasses when they get threatened and attacked. The only hope for the situation is for the Arabs to modernize. I really hope the situation develops where Jordan can retake the West Bank, though I don't know how this could work. That's the only arrangement that makes sense for the region. If contigous, there is hope. Islands I don't like. BTW, the Pals were offered contiguous terrritory at Camp David - every American and Israeli, including Clinton and Dennis Ross, says so. They themselves did not begin to tell a different story until at least six months after the talks had failed, when they saw how much political damage they had done to themselves. Then they pulled out some old Israeli map from an early stage of the negotiations and said, see? those islands are all they offered! But it wasn't true. Not that Arafat & co ever worried about what was true.

To: neolib who wrote (187499)	5/26/2006 7:16:54 PM
From: skinowski	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

when the differences are accentuated by ethnic or religious demarcation The religious aspects seems to have become the center of the problem - on the Arab side. For as long as the main objections to the presence of Israel remained in the political realm - like the claim that Israel represented a new form of Western colonialism - there was a chance of settling the issue. Unfortunately, it became more of a religious thing. Muslims cannot allow land which was part of "Dar-al-Islam" - Home of Islam - to revert to nonbelievers. Accepting any compromise would be acting against the will of God. That's a big problem. I think that's why (in part) Arafat had to walk away from Barak's offer. He could not possibly accept it in the atmosphere of growing religiosity.