The best laid plans of mice and men....

The best laid plans of mice and men....

Aluf Benn commenting on the Bush/Sharon meeting in Crawford, penned No one to talk to (again)

I always find that he is very well informed and worth reading.

The media spoke a great deal about the settlements, but the main question discussed during the visit was what to do with the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Sharon brought harsh messages from home, describing the Palestinian leader as worthless, a disappointment, a man with good intentions whose actions are strengthening the terrorist organizations. His security services are rotten, Arafatian and dysfunctional. Israel took note of Washington's anger at the heads of the Palestinian security services, half of whom boycotted a meeting with the American security liaison, General William Ward, and of the increasing American pressure on the PA to coordinate the implementation of the disengagement, instead of being evasive and making excuses. The impression received from the briefings of Sharon and his men was that once again there is nobody to talk to. That Arafat's successor is having difficulty functioning. That the thing we feared most has happened: Sharon warned Abbas at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit that the attempt to embrace the terrorist organizations would turn out to be a mistake, and he ignored the warning.
The best thing that could happen for Israel is to have Abbas collapse which would end the Roadmap as a solution.

Posted by Ted Belman at April 16, 2005 10:42 AM

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Comments

1. muse said:

It's going to take more than that.
It all depends on Israel. We need real leadership, patriotic leadership.

Posted by: muse on April 16, 2005 03:38 PM

2. J. Lichty said:

The best thing that copuld happen for Israel is to have Abbas collapse which would end the Roadmap as a solution.

Sadly Ted, I don't think that would help. The sharks smell Jewish blood and that can only mean concessions. The International Community do not really care who the "peace partner" is and there will pressure on the White House to jump start the "peace process" with whatever new moderate terrorist comes to fore after Mazen.

I see nothing but lose-lose for Israel so long as Sharon is willing to play along.

Posted by: J. Lichty on April 16, 2005 05:02 PM

3. lignaeus said:

I've said before and sadly I say it again, I don't see how there will be real change without another war. Hamas needs to be cleaned out the way Fallujah was and then start over.
The only alternative except it might not work for the long term is to complete the fence, routed wherever is the best for security purposes, shut the Palestinians out totally and leave them to fight it out among themselves. Eventually when Syria and Iran are democracies, [I believe it will happen] the Palestinians will be isolated, maybe then their Arab 'brothers' will deign to help them out.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I see no prospect of the Palestinians changing short of war or quarantine for a long period. They've been too long propagandised and brutalised by Arafat and his thuggish organisation for any normal process to work.

Posted by: lignaeus on April 17, 2005 09:24 PM

4. lignaeus said:

Further to the above, see this: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1113619389795

Good luck conducting a peace process with such people.

Posted by: lignaeus on April 17, 2005 09:51 PM

5. felix quigley said:

The issue is very definitely not between the 'Palestinians' and the Jews of Israel, it is beteen the Arabs and the Jews, and even wider it is between the Islamist world and the Jews, and even wider still it is between the anti-Semitism in the West and the Jews. We must not lose sight of the fact that 'Palestinianism' is a recent and artificial entity created by all of the above. In all of those countries mentioned, leaderships and governments can of course change, but Islam will remain, and the cement that holds them together will remain, the cement of Jew Hatred.

Posted by: felix quigley on April 18, 2005 07:06 AM

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