>From: "jeffrey miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (Brin-L) >Subject: RE: Disagreements on Israel >Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2002 09:17:53 -0800 > > > > Since Arafat either can't or won't control the > > terrorists, Israel has the right to defend itself > >Can someone point me to an explanation, or otherwise provide one for my >digestion, about how exactly Israel expects Arafat to control violence >when they've destroyed the police forces, placed him under house arrest, >and otherwise made him an ineffectual and even irrelevant figure? > >-j- >
You may have noticed that the Fatah movement and al-Aqsa Martyrs movement have claimed responsibility for the last slew of suicide bombings. Arafat heads both movements. I believe Israel no longer believes Arafat has any interest in peace, or in controlling the violence, and feel that he is encouraging the bombing to continue. In June 2001, I believe, Israel told Arafat that if he could maintain a cease-fire for 72 hours, in which no Israeli citizens were bombed, shot at or wounded by his peoople, they would take that as a sign he was willing to discuss peace and sit down with him. Instead, an incident per day has been the average. The immediate assumption is that he is uninterested in peace. And if he just can't control his people to call for a temporary cease-fire (which he didn't do until last weekend, by the way), how can Israel expect that peace would be enforced? About his police force: His police force would capture Palestinian terrorists and then let them go within days, under Arafat's orders. I recently read an article explaining that Hamas has done more to supply social services to the Palestinian people than Arafat's organization. And his police force is linked to Fatah, which claims responsibility to terrorist bombings and shootings. Additionally, ambulances have been stopped at various Israeli military checkpoints outside population centers filled with weapons and bomb-making materials. These ambulances are controlled by Arafat's government. You don't have to take my word for it though. If you're interested in doing your own research, go to the Jerusalem Post's website, and read the editorials and opinion pieces. You may not agree with them, but they will give you an idea of the reasoning behind Israel's actions. Jon [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
