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| Middle East |
| Paleos fire rockets into Israel to start Powell’s "Roadmap" trip |
| 2003-05-10 |
| EFL Palestinians fired six crude rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Friday, lightly injuring a 10-year-old girl, while Israeli troops demolished eight Palestinian homes near an area where a car bomb exploded earlier. The violence came a day before the arrival of Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is trying to kick off the "road map" peace plan to end 31 months of fighting and create a Palestinian state. Coexisting with Israel, which differs from the Paleo's goals Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, praised his new Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, as a "partner" for peace and said he is ready to renew peace talks with Syria without conditions. One of the homemade Qassam rockets fired from Gaza struck a street in the Negev Desert town of Sderot, spraying debris that lightly injured a girl, who was taken to a hospital, police said. Three other people were treated for shock. The rockets struck just a few miles from Sharon's sheep ranch. Militants have fired dozens of the rockets into Israel in recent months. The attacks have caused little damage and few injuries, but Israel considers them a provocation. and a good reason to keep playing whack-a-mole with the "militants" In the Gaza Strip town of Deir el-Balah, Israeli army bulldozers demolished eight homes and damaged another two, making 45 people homeless, the mayor said. The homes are close to the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom, where a Palestinian blew himself up in a car late Thursday as he rammed into a tank. The attacker was killed, and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade claimed responsibility. Abbas, who is a senior Fatah leader, has denounced such violence. The U.S.-backed road map urges Palestinians to stop bombings and shootings, while Israel is expected to withdraw troops from Palestinian towns and cities and freeze construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The plan envisions a final peace agreement, including the creation of a Palestinian state, by 2005. It is to be launched with statements by both Israel and the Palestinians, with each saying it recognizes the other's right to exist in peace and security. The Palestinians have accepted the road map, while Israel has expressed major reservations. Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat That's true, we can turn the Israelis loose, which would cause the Paleos to do more than statements The Palestinians have accused Sharon of delaying implementation by posing new conditions. A key dispute is over whether the Palestinians must crack down on militants ahead of an Israeli troop pullback, or whether steps must be taken simultaneously. Since we know they lie, prevaricate, delay, kill innocents, support terrorists, ululate at American deaths and injuries, and are without a openly supportive friend in the world, now is the time to use the stick and hold the carrot back for results not statements |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #6 I hate to agree with it Anon T, but you're probably right. I just don't want to see my children and grandchildren get sucked into an intractable conflict between the world's most violent and yet fastest-growing religion, on one hand; and a Likud faction that dreams of a return to Solomon's borders on the other. |
| Posted by: Scott 2003-05-11 01:14:47 |
| #5 Frank - I wish I believed that. My people in Lebanon say it hasn't stopped. I'm a staunch Israeli supporter, but I'm a stauncher American. I'm tired of being played by our own allies. Bush needs to jerk the slack out of Israel (read: Ariel Sharon). He's gonna get alot of our people killed. Just like the Iraqis, the paleos are not one block. Joe Ali Schmuck who runs the falafel stand in Hebron is just trying to get by. Hoping to dodge the wacko imams, the Israeli bulldozers and the local hard boys trying to recruit his kids. Arafat was a player also. He played us. He played Israel. And he played his own people. He needs to take the dirt nap. Those people lived there before 1948 and even Balfour ('17?). It's hard to watch a world power half a globe removed give away your homeland. The call for organized resistance sounds pretty good. (It would to me if the UN gave Texas to Mexico - Well, maybe not Texas. Texas AND California. Hmmm. OK Texas, California AND Louisiana - then they'd really have a fight on their hands!) Attempt at levity. This is heavy crap. I have heard (second hand) that many paleos already acknowledge Israel. Heck, there's working Arab-Israeli relationships. But there are people on BOTH sides that do not want this. The radical rabbis are no better than the radical imams. And make no mistake, their love for America is no greater either. I believe Israel has a God-given, UN given and Balfour-declared right to it's homeland. But Joshua is dead. Displacing canaanites should be done with compensation, not force. If the world, and especially world jewry had realized this, it would have cost a lot less money and blood. |
| Posted by: Scott 2003-05-11 00:43:43 |
| #4 It doesn't seem like the Palestinians even want to understand. 50 + years of warfare, and what have they accomplished? Lots of dead on both sides, a number of countries trashed, and a whole lot more innocent people of all religions, ethnicity and nationalities killed, maimed and terrorized. The key here is Israel's right to exist. Unless and until the Paleos get it through their heads that Israel is going to stay there will be no peace in the middle east, and all the conferences and envoys and meetings will not do a damn bit of good. |
| Posted by: Anonymous Troll 2003-05-10 23:53:39 |
| #3 Scott - if they were innocent, I'd agree, and if the Israelis continue to expand their settlements, I'd agree. I don't believe either are true. Israel seems to finally understand (i.e.: the fence) that a defensible border excluding the Paleos, and precluding the right of return, is the ONLY answer. Should they renege, they incur our condemnation and rightfully so. The Paleos, on the other hand, don't live up to agreements, treat their own people as boomer fodder, and don't seem willing to ever accept Israel's right to exist - this is a recipe for extinction, and rightfully so |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-05-10 22:29:37 |
| #2 I'm all for Israel doing more. Strict curfews. I.D. verification on every corner of the occupied territory. Summary execution of every armed arab within the borders. What I am NOT for and consider immoral and incredibly STUPID on Israel's part is the destruction of innocent palestinian's homes in reprisal of terror attacks. The paleos claim that current Israeli policy is just 'making room' for new settlements. It sure smells like it. Most of those paleos are not combatants. But they're gonna be. |
| Posted by: Scott 2003-05-10 17:14:02 |
| #1 Powell: WHAT the HELL was THAT? Abbas*sweating*: Fireworks to celebrate your arrival, honored partner in peace! |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-05-10 16:30:09 |