Gautam (a) at 8:09 PM said: >...settlements... are popular in Israel.... a itty-bitty little >country that is 8 miles across at the waist... settlements... give >them more space to live. The far right in Israel does want to annex >the West Bank.... Sharon is the head of the Likud... He's not even >the most right wing... of... Likud - Bibi Netanyahu is on _his_ >right... the best person for the job of PM... during Netanyahu's >term in office, _not one_ Israeli citizen was killed by terrorist >action. It's not a coincidence.... logrolling - I support your >policy so you support mine. One of the logs that got rolled was the >settlement policy.... Sharon ... believes - correctly, imo - that if >he retreats from the >settlements the Palestinian terrorists will perceive it as a >victory.... these terrorists are not appeasable.... any sign of >Israeli weakness only strengthens their hand.... intervention in the >West Bank... stunning success... ended terrorist attacks within >Israel proper. A win on all counts...
Gautam (b) at midnight said: >I think that [Ariel Sharon] is probably doing the best he can, even >if I happen to disagree with him on settlement policy. Which I do, >in point of fact. Would it be too much to ask for a little consistency across a timelike separation of less than 4.5 trillion meters? If Gautam (b) disapproves of Sharon's settlement policy, shouldn't Gautam (a) give a hint of this disapproval? If Gautam (a) thinks that Sharon has found a policy mix that "works", shouldn't Gautam (b) explain what there is in Sharon's "working" policies to disapprove of? Brad DeLong
