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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (208853)	6/19/2007 3:05:35 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793903

Israel really needs to help foment a coup in Fatah, to get the old corrupt Arafat cronies out of there. The younger crowd might not be better, but the people would have some hope of movement at least. Isn't that the key issue? The Palestinian people are essentially imprisoned. Most cannot travel. Their fishermen cannot easily get to the sea. They are all locked into what is essentially a filthy prison with streets full of sewer waste and out of control "inmates" wreaking havoc on the entire population. They all knew Arafat and Fatah were corrupt to the core. 18 months ago they had a a choice and elected Hamas to replace Fatah. Hamas won the election only because Fatah could no longer be tolerated and Hamas was the only other choice. The people knew they could not advance with Fatah, so they thought they would try with Hamas. We refused to recognize the duly elected government and chaos continues. We had our reasons and I consider them legitimate but the current violence levels and other problems could certainly have been forecast. I always hoped the young palestinians would generate hope and opportunities but it is not to be. Those with "connected" families took their $ millions or $ billions worth of aid graft and fled to live in villas along the Mediterranean and elsewhere. There is no reason for them to return to devastation. All that is left is fear, hate and hopelessness. Those are key ingredients for continued civil unrest and provide classic opportunities for criminal and extremist violence. We can blame it on Arafat. As a deadman he makes an easy scapegoat. I say we failed these people too. We continued to pump $ billions in to the area and all the while Arafat's family and friends were moving $ billions out of the country into personal accounts. I read recently that Arafat's wife still gets $22 million monthly. She and the others have left. It is hard to envision Palestine rising from the ashes. But it might. The killing is increasing again. There is no effective leadership and no security. Left alone, the situation might deteriorate and cause sufficiently severe and intense suffering by all who are left that from there a new leader might be found. Alas, I think we may have screwed things up again, with our new promises of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. Money talks in America and it talks in Arab countries too. They will manage to do just enough to secure our $$$. Then those most desperate and capable will figure out how to get their share of loot and leave too. Once again we are doing the same thing and once again we expect different results. That is insanity. This is one regional struggle that should be left to the region to settle. If Palestinians want to attack each other, let them fight it out. If an Arab country like Egypt or Jordan wants to referee, let them. If Palestinians want to attack Israel, let them fight it out. We have stuck our nose way too far into this problem for way too long. All we offer, all we have ever offered is cash. That same cash has helped fuel the corruption and extremism. WE need a new plan. WE need a new NO plan. We should be telling Fatah and Hamas NO to every request. Both are corrupt inside and out. Giving them money is nuts and it exacerbates the problems.