Israeli missile strike in Gaza (reactions)

[bemildred]

Some interesting points of view. There is a piece up in LBN
about Colin Powell asking for Arafat's aid on terror that is very
Alice-in-Wonderlandy too, and should probably be down here in the
dungeon.

It will be hard to find another Palestinian interlocutor.
Who would wish to pick up such a poisoned chalice?

---

''In a paradoxical sense, this gets Abbas off the hook. He has
been under pressure to do what he was unable to do. Now he has a
politically good pretext not to do it (crack down on militants). He had
been caught between a rock and a hard place until now. The hard
place had come from domestic pressure not to crack down and the
rock had come from international pressure to do so. Now, at least,
they will have to say that under the current circumstances he can't do
it. But also this exposes how weak he was to begin with.''

---

''The truce was never alive, nor was the road map. The truce is a
'hudna' (ceasefire) -- it was never agreed between two sides. The
terms were set by the Palestinians.

MSNBC

[chesley]

1. There will never

be peace in the middle east until the terrorist infrastructure is dismantled, and the Palestinian people give up their illegimiate goal of destroying Israel.

It is a shame that a people & culture could be led into generations of hatred, rage, and shame. all other refugees in the world manage to find some place to live, and strive to get on with their lives. Why do the Palestinians prefer to wallow in misery and self-pity?? Can any one explain this to me?? Does it have anything to do wiwth a distorted version of Islam?

[bemildred]

2. Did you have any opinions about what the article said?

[chesley]

3. Indeed I do

there never was a ceasefire, Abbas is a total cipher. The roadmap was always a crock, and anyone who could tie their own shoelaces knew it. And until the Palestinians actually want peace rather than the destruction of Israel, they will continue down the path to Hell that they are currently on. Israel's many concessions have gained them nothing for 55 years; it is time for the Arabs to make some serious concesssions.

[mecca]

4. This is far from reality

If you look at the facts on the ground, and tune out your right-wing radio, what you will find out is that Israel wants the destruction of Palestine. Also, so far they have been getting away with it.

[chesley]

9. Totally false

Israel won the disputed territories in a war provoked by Arab agression. They seized the land from the Jordanians, not the Palestinians. I was alive at the time and remember it pretty well.

The Israelis got tired of it, and decided to obtain more defensible borders. By the way, what makes you so sure I listen to right-wing radio?? I don't. It is a sign of a weak argument to have to make personal attacks, so try to beef your's up some. Which you cannot do in this case. When the Palestinians realize that Allah deserted them, and does not want them to have that land, as evidenced by the fact that no Arab nation can take on Israel in a real war, and that Israel will not forever be a gentle with Arabs instrasience as they have been up to now; when they realize that the wrongs they feel were committed 55 years ago are irrelevant to the facts on the ground in 2003; then there is a chance for peace. Not before, because the Israelis will not commit national suicide and the United States will not force them to.

This is not right-wingism, this is a fairly dispassionate analysis of the Palestinian' chances of getting what they want. Which are zilch, zero, nada, and fat.

[mecca]

14. Allah does not want Palestinians to have the land?

You explain Israel's theft of Palestinian land as an issue of "Allah deserting the Palestinians"?

What black-and-white religious world are you living in man? Wake up, please.

[chesley]

17. It was sarcasrm

grow a sense of irony

[StandWatie]

15. at least you don't use morality

I hope you keep the same jaundiced eye towards the inevitable violent backlash against blatant, expansionist, holy wars.

[bemildred]

16. It all sounds very familiar somehow.

Like I've heard it before somewhere.
I suppose its just a trick of my memory.

[chesley]

18. Do you mean

when the American marines land to help the Israelis. My point is this, the Arabs cannot beat the Israelis, the Israelis will not permit the Arabs to continue to slaughter their innocents. the Palestinians will be in a world of hurt if they continue their suicidal tendencies. This is realism, not pie in the sky.

[StandWatie]

19. help the Israeli's do what?

All the Israeli's can do is either A)set up extermination camps B)ethnicly cleanse the West Bank by systematic massacre C) Wall them out D) wall them up.

I'd bet on D, it's immoral and comparable to the Warsaw Ghetto but they don't need the USMC to help them accomplish any of that. If it's inevitable than I'm half ass glad that they are getting their licks in while they still can because it puts me in that bad a mood.

[Resistance]

20. But the US is permitting

Israel to slaughter Arab innocents and grab more and more land that does not belong to them.

[bemildred]

10. I agree there was no ceasefire.

All that was done was done unilaterally by both sides,
mostly under pressure.

Abbas is what his creators made of him, no more, no less.
If they want something else, they will have to provide the
wherewithal. You cannot get blood from a turnip.

The roadmap was a crock, but it was nice to have some lessening
of the violence for a bit, and it's not like there was anything
else that it interfered with.

That's as far as I can go with you.

[The Magistrate]

5. It Does Not Really Relieve Mr. Abbas, My Friend

He must still manage somehow to control the various armed irregular bodies of Arab Palestine. If it were possible for the Israeli forces to destroy them, that would have been already achieved. Control over these must be exercised by an Arab Palestinian authority, and such would have a better prospect of doing so, through superior intelligence and infiltration abilities. The key is, of course, the attitude of the mass of the people of Arab Palestine. The best contribution Israel could make would be cessation of settlement expansion, and beginning to dismantle the settlements occupied by the most radical of the settler movement. This would effect such a change in the attitude of the mass of people of Arab Palestine as to render very difficult the continued operations of Hamas and its ilk.

[newyorican]

6. my, my

a rational thought process. Something foreign to the I/P conflict today and the forseeable future, unfortunately.

[bemildred]

7. Of course.

Any political settlement requires that the violent be
effectively restrained, that people be given some better
options to pursue in life.

It has always seemed to me that Mr. Abbas was primarily
a symbolic presence, a seed around which peaceful intentions
might crystallize if the will were present. The will still seems
lacking, and I doubt any progress will be made now, at least for
the time being. Your prescription might alter that.

I did find it interesting that Mr. Powell deems it suitable to
address Arafat again, and I wonder what that means? Various
speculations come to mind.

I find the present situation interesting also in that noises are
being made about the PA going after Hamas. I have little feel for
it, its a local political matter, but I have to wonder who will
win that fight, if it happens?

[StandWatie]

8. I think it means Rumsfeld is in the doghouse

Maybe Bush Jr. is sort of shitting his pants right now and deciding that the guy he dismissed saying "He's a diplomat...you need a diplomat" maybe made much more sense than his crew of bomb-throwers.

[bemildred]

12. Could be.

I noticed he was down in Colombia nattering about the
dangers of terrorism in Latin America, and he certainly has
shit on the floor in Iraq, although it remains to be seen
how deeply that fact has penetrated the minds in the White
House yet.

[The Magistrate]

11. That Last Is A Hard One, Mr. Mildred

If the Palestine Authority had any great confidence in a victorious outcome, they would probably have pressed the issue already.

[bemildred]

13. One would think so.

Freelancers are always an annoyance to 'established' government.
Perhaps we will find out soon.