Alone at the Dance

[barb162]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/articles/050815/15edit.htm

"...

What everyone knows but doesn't like to admit is that the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, have, once and for all, given in to the gunmen. Abbas pledged to establish "one authority, one law, and one gun." He has failed on all counts. When radicals threatened to break the cease-fire several weeks ago, he caved, freeing nine of their jailed gunmen. He caved again when the radicals threatened to kill Fatah supporters unless he released another terrorist who had been firing rockets in Gaza. When Israel gave the Palestinian Authority the names of militants involved in a February suicide bombing in a Tel Aviv nightclub, he caved yet again, arresting several, then releasing them. Instead of living up to his promise to keep tabs on a "Most Wanted" list of 495 terrorists, he tried to slip many of them in as employees of the Palestinian security forces, to legitimize and launder their possessions of arms so they could attack again. When Israel provided the names of weapon smugglers, Abbas's security chiefs tipped them off that the Israelis were on their trail.

Now you have armed gangs playing pretend democracy. Gunmen of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades run Jenin. In Ramallah, dozens of wanted men, joined by 80 members of the presidential guard, opened fire in the courtyard of Palestinian Authority headquarters. In Tulkarm, another gang opened fire on the Palestinian governor's building. In Gaza, Hamas still fires scores of rockets and mortar shells at Israeli homes while Islamic Jihad defies the agreement for a "calm," saying, "We joined the tahdiya to give the combatants rest. . . . As far as we are concerned, the intifada has not ended; it is still going on."

snip
What is Israel to do? It's amazing that Israelis have kept their patience for this long in the face of such betrayals. It would have been a dereliction of Israel's duty to its citizens not to respond as it has--retaining control of land, sea, and air access to Gaza; resuming arrests and the targeted killings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist leaders; and tightening security all around. The Palestinians have only themselves to blame for the fact that Israel is now slowing the withdrawal program and has delayed transferring more West Bank cities to Palestinian control.

snip
The sad fact is that everything is going wrong. Terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad are using the relative calm to rearm and regroup for the next intifada. They smuggle longer-range missiles through dirt tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, for use after disengagement against Israelis now across the fence.

snip

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[H5N1]

2. What is poor little israel to do?

As the great felonious land grab continues

[barb162]

3. Israelis were clearing Gaza. Wait...that news must be all wrong

:sarcasm:

[not systems]

4. Give with the left hand take with the right...

yea everyone is fooled by that shell game.

[barb162]

5. Israel has given plenty of land before the past few weeks.

Do you believe in a two state solution?

[not systems]

6. No they haven't. They have taken more...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x99573

...
The plan would place Maaleh Adumim, five miles east of Jerusalem, inside the security barrier Israel is building around the West Bank. The settlement, which has a population of about 30,000, has been cited repeatedly by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as among the Jewish population centers in the West Bank that Israel intends to keep if and when the Palestinians achieve statehood.
...


Israel continues to take the land that is need for a two state
solution to work. The idea of a two state solution is good if
and only if it is not the creation of a bantustan. If the land
of the green line border is not given for the Palestinian state
then I think a single state solution will eventually be necessary
to prevent an apartheid state from emerging.

[Brightmore]

7. Israel has left Gaza...

What has the PA done to further the peace process besides refuse to disarm Hamas and Islamic Jihad?

[not systems]

8. Israel is occupying Palestine not the other way around...

what Israel needs to do is withdraw to it's
borders and quit annexing land in the West Bank.

Israel can build whatever size wall they want on the border.

Disarming has to do with who is the occupier
and who is the occupied. People have the right to
resist occupation by an occupying power according to
international law. The authority of the PA has
been undermined for years and it's infrastructure
systematical leveled yet it's very weakness is used
to justify the continued occupation.

I believe that keeping the PA weak in order to
make claims that in it's weakened state it can't govern
is a cynical cover for the on going annexations
in the West Bank.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bluesoul]

10. no

He's not "justifying terrorism", he's telling you the truth you don't want to hear or recognize. The whole picture, not just the bits that you like so you can defend "your side"...

[not systems]

11. Why bother. I don''t...

think it is relevant to the problem at hand.

I was not trying to "justify terrorism", Israel has
had no problem using deadly force in occupied Palestine
for decades.

Supporting the continuation of occupation is to "justify terrorism"
and international lawlessness in my opinion.

Why bother arguing within your frame if it is
being used to justify state terrorism.

[barb162]

12. Anybody want to talk about the peace process and how to

achieve a two state solution AND how to defuse militant groups mentioned in the article?