John Horn wrote: <<Then whom do you suggest Israel should be negotiating with, if they should not be negotiating with Arafat? <<In my mind, that is sort of the point. There really isn't anyone to negotiate with, so how can negotiation solve this conflict?>>
Jeroen asked <<How else is this conflict going to be resolved? Wait till one side has run out of people capable of fighting? Sit around and wait till Israel has driven all Palestinians into the sea? Hold our breath till the Arab nations join forces and wipe Israel off the map forever?>> Ilana <SIGH> You don't negotiate with terrorists. You destroy them. (see Ayn Rand) John wrote <<Arafat has increasingly shown that negotiating with him does no good. He cannot or will not control those who are carrying out these attacks.>> Jeroen <<Cannot. If he could control the terrorists, he would. If he could manage that, he could eventually go down in history as the Palestinian leader who managed to make peace with Israel. Agreed, part of the Palestinian population would hate him for that, but they hate him already anyway. So, since he has a lot to gain from an outbreak of peace, my bet is that he *cannot* control the terrorists, rather than *will not* control them.>> Ilana Try a new idea - Arafat is not interested in peace. I am reading Space Hospital series now. In one books there is empire that intentionally keeps one planet population ill while collecting aid (freely donated) from other planets. Most of aid does not reach the people for whom it was collected. The situation here is the same. Aid is going to PA's pockets and there is plenty of it. If there would be peace PA would have to create economy based on work and not on money out of country. Do you *really* think that Arafat is interested to work for his living? Ilana from Israel P.S. James White. You can start at the beginning with "Hospital Station". I think the book that I mentioned is "Star Surgeon". The biggest flaw (sp) of the series is that each book, probably, started either as bunch of independent stories or was published part by part in some magazine - this will explain why each chapter has so much redundant information. At the other hand - may be they *were* re-written later. The books that I am reading 1960-1970.
