Not at all, Arthur. I am simply saying that
we have allowed this to take longer than it needed because we have only
focused on one roadblock, one guilty party, for the most
part.
It will take a concerted effort by both
parties to go forward. Expecting
all the heavy lifting by the Palestinians is short sighted and counter
productive. It is time for Israel
to make her choice, or to quote GW Bush, to show her cards. Giving the benefit of the doubt to
Sharon’s true motives and intentions to follow through (a big leap of faith
for me, as it is for others regarding Arafat) I wouldn’t be surprised if the
hard right in Israel does not try to derail this again. Maybe Sharon knows that the scandals
involving his sons, land and Greece and his own criminal war crimes status
made him decide to do something radical and then step aside.
Sometimes it is facing personal defeat or
mortality that gives strength to leadership. Desperation does many things, and
Israel has not been far from desperation the past two years. Maybe there is an assumption within the
absolutist settler community that the alliance with Bush prevents them from
having to consider compromise.
Dubya has a few lessons his father learned to consider if he wants to
enact the neocon agenda. This is
where the American Jewish community has a great deal of power right now. What will they do?
It’s going to get interesting. I am hopeful but bracing myself to be
disappointed again.
KWC
You two seem
to be writing off the process before it starts.
-----Original
Message-----
From: Karen
Watters Cole [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 12:47
PM
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [Futurework] Because We
Can
Yes, I agree with the red herring part,
which is why Sharon is motivated to make peaceful gestures and propose radical
departures.
As head of the only real democracy in the
Middle East, he has no other choice, really.
The framework is coming together from the
Palestinian side so the pressure in on the Israelis to demonstrate their
authenticity.
KWC
Lawry wrote:
If Israel
reaches a just peace with the Palestinians, groups like Islamic Jihad will
essentially evaporate. There will be a few die hards left, as there will
be a few die hard Israelis, who will continue their murderous ways, but the
scale will be such that the Israeli and Palestinian governments, working
together will be able to proceed with the establishment of normal relations,
and with security cooperation.
So the real
issue is not the militants on either side, but what the shape of a settlement
might be that would be viewed as just by both sides. I am not
optimistic.
Palestinian
violent resistance is, in terms of obstacles to peace, a red
herring.
