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What a con game
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Comments
1
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Ted Belman
said:
What, if anything, did Israel get in return for such a promise. Israel is not bound unless it wishes to be bound.
Posted by: Ted Belman on October 17, 2005 12:20 PM
2
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t
said:
I d like to see how Arik would react if his son was a victim of such an attack!
Posted by: t on October 17, 2005 12:25 PM
3
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Chen
said:
Ted it is not "What, if anything, did Israel get in return for such a promise...." but what they WOULD GET IF THEY if they did as they choose.
No one wants to see this and it is a darn shame. In the mean the US is bombing the living hell out of the insurgency.
I reckon it is time to admit to the gross double standards and then come to the conclusions that Israel is unjustly victimized by her ally.
What is worse, continuing to absolve the president and his bankrupt polices toward Israel or Israel being extorted by those polices?
Posted by: Chen on October 17, 2005 12:45 PM
4
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Leonard
said:
Israel has received no additional aid what soever as a consequence of disengagement and the outgoing American ambassador advised Israel against requesting such aid following the devastation caused by Hurrican Katrina as a consequence of the financial burden of reconstruction. Israel as a sovereign state will always retain the right of self defence and the right to respond to changing security situations as and when they arise, accordingly I would not place any undue reliance on such promises which will always be contingent upon a cessation of terror.
Posted by: Leonard on October 17, 2005 01:22 PM
5
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Ted Belman
said:
It is a question of US pressure on Israel to tolerate a certain amount of violence to give the "peace process" a chance. From the point of view of the US, a strong reaction by Israel jeopardizes their peace process which includes the democratization of Palestine.
Posted by: Ted Belman on October 17, 2005 02:51 PM
6
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Chen
said:
Ted, you are so right. As far as the "democratization" of Palestine goes it is a cheap scam. We know democracy can not be given. You either have it or you don't. HIstory tells us that people yearned deeply for it and made it happen. We are dealing with people who are unwilling to make the deep down sacrifices to themselves (not others) to obtain democracy. The road to democracy is a long one and a unselfish one. Going to a voting booth despite what George Bush says does not make for democracy. Not even a shaky phony one. Armed security forces in black ski masks marching the nazi goosestep is in no way reminiscent of a people who desire democracy deep in their souls.
Having said that what they are now embarking upon is a phony, undeserved almost hollywood type, grade b cheap novel type democracy. It is a democracy to be on paper but not in the heart or the soul.
This is how the world and Israel are being dupped. And at this very moment Abbas is in Lebanon holding talks on disarming the Lebanese Palestinians. It is almost surreal that Abbas has the unmitigated audacity of holding talks concerning disarming when he himself has done nothing to do it with his own people. It is like you need to pinch yourself as though to say, "is this a dream?" But there he is playing the role of a diplomat, the one which Washington gave to him along with billions of dollars and a promise of a state.
And in the end we must ask why to all the cheap theatrics and for whom and to what consequences.
Posted by: Chen on October 17, 2005 03:31 PM
7
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BobW
said:
LTC Indor is surely correct that Israel is under demanding US presures. I guessed it and accept what LTC Indor writes. This will continue because the US - and all governments - deal with personalities and not Israeli institutions of government. Other than the time element computed in only months, Israel is already split in 2 (Bernadotte Plan Revised) with a loss of Jerusalem.
I believe LTC Indor is incorrect on a major point. The side letter was not presented to the Knesset or Cabinet because, in actuality, both do not participate in governing; only the PM's office does. PM Sharon's coalition cabinet is, in effect, a mini-cabinet. It would not be wrong to call the members apparatchiks.
There will be an Arab state. Israel will be split and smaller. The concern now should focus on how to protect the Jews in the area. This requires the rapid fielding of a Jewish government in the areas anticipated as remaining part of Israel.
Don't think that the entire area won't be flooded by Arabs as soon as Mazen declares the new state. There's probably more than 1 side letter.
Kol tuv,
BobW
Posted by: BobW on October 17, 2005 03:53 PM
8
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Ed D
said:
Nothing will be changed on the political front until Israel changes it's form of democracy. An elected MK must have approval and consent to all cabinet members. The Prime Minister must be elected and will nominate the cabinate members. Further, the Knesset must be able to approve or disapprove the Judicial Court. Politics in the IDF must be forbidden and the Chief of Staff must be approved by the Knesset. Until this happens, Israel will be under the thumb of the US and the EU. This cchange will not be easy; however, the people of Israel must rise up and force the issue.
Posted by: Ed D on October 17, 2005 04:07 PM
What a con game
Israel's New Toughness Will be Short-Lived
By Hillel Fendel, INN
Lt.-Col. (res.) Meir Indor says that Israel's hands are tied by the U.S., and that the military measures it took after Sunday's fatal terrorist attack will end when public opinion is pacified.
Indor, head of the Almagor Terror Victim Association, said that the United States had granted "permission" to implement the measures for "only a short time."
The army and security apparatus are hiding important information from the public, Indor charges. "In the framework of the disengagement plan," he says, "Israel promised the Americans and the PA that it would neutralize three critical elements of its security protection. Israel promised to remove or reduce most of the checkpoints on Judea/Samaria roads, grant permission for private Arab vehicles to travel on the main roads, and retreat from the Arab-populated cities in Judea/Samaria."
"Most of the restrictions that were emplaced on the Palestinians following the wave of terrorism in Judea/Samaria," he says, "and which succeeded in reducing the shooting attacks, have been removed - resulting in an increase in attacks."
Gush Etzion Regional Council head Sha'ul Goldstein echoed Indor's evaluation that the removal of the above security elements led to an increase in terrorism and attacks such as the murder of the three young Israelis on Sunday.
"Israel's promises were made to the Americans in a document that was termed a 'side letter' to the Disengagement Plan," Indor said. "For this reason, unlike the entire plan itself, the letter was not brought up for discussion in the Cabinet or in the Knesset. Most of the ministers and Knesset Members did not know about it, and neither did the media. We in Almagor tried but failed to bring it to public attention."
Indor said that he requested that the Cabinet hold a meeting before the implementation of the disengagement to discuss Israel's promises. "The answer we received," Indor said, "was that it was true that the promises were not approved, but that they would be 'presented to the ministers' - trying to minimize the severity of the promises and the need to discuss them."
"Even now," he said, "the Israeli promises that leave us little room for maneuvering are hidden in various Defense Ministry statements and in the IDF, as if they were just gestures initiated by Israel. Not a word is mentioned about the fact that we obligated ourselves. The new measures that were decided upon will only last for a short period, until Israeli public opinion calms down a little."
" Unfortunately," Indor concluded, "when Israel has to choose between its own military needs and its commitments to the U.S., it chooses the latter - or else reduces its own needs to a minimum."
Posted by Ted Belman at October 17, 2005 12:06 PM