J'lem seeks Bush okay for IDF free hand in W. Bank

[bemildred]

Bush is a lame duck, and his "support" isn't worth a plugged nickel.

Edit: there are some interesting details about "security arrangements" here, and the fact that they are being discussed is interesting too.

Israel is seeking to reach an understanding with the U.S. administration that would safeguard Israel's security interests in a future final-status agreement with the Palestinians and during current negotiations, government sources have said.

The sources also said Israel is seeking President George W. Bush's support for its security demands so that such understandings can serve as a basis for the work of the American special security envoy General James Jones, who has been tasked with formulating the security arrangements for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement.

---

At the heart of Israel's demands is that it remain free to act against terror in the West Bank for as long as negotiations last, and that demilitarization arrangements place limitations on the future Palestinian state.

Discussions with administration officials on this issue began even before the Annapolis summit, during the visit of the Israeli delegation to Washington.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/941154.html

[Scurrilous]

1. PA rejects Israeli demands for a demilitarized Palestine

<snip>

"The prospects for a breakthrough in the peace process in the near future have dwindled following reports that Israel will demand that the future Palestinian state be demilitarized, Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah said Thursday.

The officials also strongly condemned Israel's security measures in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, saying the latest escalation posed an imminent threat to the PA's efforts to consolidate its power in these areas.

The PA leadership said it was very concerned by the fact that Israel was planning to demand that the IDF be able to operate inside a future Palestinian state to foil terrorist attacks or a military offensive from the east.

"The Palestinian Authority rejects talk about a demilitarized Palestinian state," a senior PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "A Palestinian state that does not have a strong security force won't be able to survive for one day. Every day Israel sends yet another message that it does not want peace with its neighbors."

Another official in Ramallah said Israel's talk about a demilitarized Palestinian state and retaining control of Ma'aleh Adumim and other settlement blocs in the West Bank "proves that Israel is not working toward achieving a two-state solution."

Israel, he added, wanted a Palestinian state only on parts of the West Bank where the IDF would continue to operate freely. "Our position remains unchanged," the official said. "There will never be peace without a Palestinian state in the entire West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. We insist on a full withdrawal to the 1967 borders."

more

[bemildred]

2. Between a rock and a hard place, they are.

You can just smell the fear. There is an obvious way for the IDF to have such freedom, the "one-state solution". But they don't want that either. And yet it is ludicrous to suggest that you can have an "independent Palestinian state" where the IDF is free to come and go (or shoot and run) as they please.

[hack89]

3. The PA will simply have to demonstrate a willingness

to track down and arrest anyone planning to attack Israel - if they are willing to assume this basic responsibility then there should be no problem.

[bemildred]

4. Enjoy your fantasy, I expect there to be lots of problems.

Experience fully supports my expectations.

[hack89]

6. Trust me, my tongue was firmly planted in my cheek nt

[azurnoir]

5. About those security arrangments

I had read a couple of weeks ago that members of the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade were to be among Bushes security people

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59390