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| Middle East | |
| Jordan Urges Support for Mahmoud Abbas | |
| 2003-05-30 | |
| Jordan, an ardent backer of President Bush's Mideast peace drive, is urging worldwide support for Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas as the key to countering terror and ending the conflict with Israel. ``There is no hope That tears it — they're doomed, doomed! Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, will play host for three-way talks next week in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba with Bush, Abbas, known also as Abu Mazen, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Bush hopes to get them started on a three-stage road designed to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and set up a Palestinian state by 2005. Or not, depending on the splodydopes. In an interview Thursday, Bush said that during his visit to the Middle East, he will remind the Palestinian and Israeli leaders that he was the first U.S. president to publicly espouse the establishment of a Palestinian state. ``I am for two states, living side by side, in peace,'' he said. Bush also noted that he has consistently said that the Israelis are going to have to deal with the settlement issue. Right after the Paleos deal with the right of return. Ambassador Kawar, speaking before the Israel Policy Forum, a self-described pro-peace group of American Jews, said ``there is a real power struggle'' under way within the Palestinian movement. ``We are worried Abu Mazen doesn't have support from the Palestinians,'' he said. ``It is very important to give the new prime minister the support he needs to fight terrorism.'' He's not going to fight terrorism, he's going to give the Paleos some good PR until the Hamas guys get tired of playing around. Calling on Israel to help, Kawar said lifting curfews and roadblocks on Palestinians, freezing construction of homes for Jews on the West Bank and halting the demolition of Palestinians' homes were crucial in supporting Abbas. Also crucial for letting splodydopes through. Edward S. Walker, a former assistant secretary of state and U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt, agreed that helping Abbas was essential. ``The bottom line is going to be how much support Mazen gets from us, from Israel and the Arab countries,'' said Walker, who is now president of the Middle East Institute. ``One thing is absolutely clear. Arafat can't deliver. He hasn't got the president and he hasn't got the Israelis,'' Walker said in an interview. ``The only person who can deliver is Mazen.'' They're doomed. Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said at the White House that the president was going to ``look the leaders of the Israelis in the eye and look the leaders of the Palestinians in the eye and say to them, 'You must make progress, you must implement the road map, you must carry out your concrete obligations.''' The Palestinians must improve security and Israel must provide humane treatment to the Palestinians Both sides have to want it first. Turning to one of the most difficult issues in the conflict, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians claiming a right to live in Israel, Kawar proposed a solution. Most of them should receive compensation, with a donors conference held to attract worldwide contributions, and a small number, perhaps 20,000 whose families live in Israel, should be permitted to live there, he said. That will never fly: the Paleos will consider it an abandonment of what they've fought for and the Israelis will consider it the end of Israel. Paleos don't want to live in Israel, they want to live in Palestine. The Palestinians claim they were forced to leave during Israel's 1948 war for independence or that they are descendants of Palestinians who fled. I'm a descendant of (among others) French, Brit and Scot people who fled to the U.S. Does that give me a claim in Europe? Barring a major disruption in the volatile region, Bush will meet in Egypt on Tuesday with President Hosni Mubarak, the leaders of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and with Abbas. Then, on Wednesday, Bush is to meet with Sharon and Abbas, in Jordan. It is a high-stakes gamble by the president, who had been roundly criticized in Europe and the Arab world for not moving quickly into the Mideast morass and is now jumping in with both feet. Remember what happened to Poppy.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 I do not believe there will ever be a lasting peace in the Mideast. There never has been. The best that can be hoped for is managable tension and workable logistics. Nor do I believe that Israel should allow Paleos back in to what is now Israel. Do you honestly think Israel would grant them full franchise? Heck, christians can't even get that now in Israel. Israel wants a jewish state. The salient fact is, they're gonna have it. What should be sought is an entirely new homeland for the Pals. Lebanon, Jordan, heck - Iraq, for crying out loud. What the rest of the civilized world needs to do is make it worthwhile for the host nation. That means money. Ideological crusades look a lot less attractive when you have a stake down and your family is fed. I don't think the occupied territories can support the whole Pal population. (The Gaza is ugly anyway)Revive the fertile crescent. Make it sort of a Fhlostan Paradise. Relocate Joe Ali Schmuck there. |
| Posted by: Scott 2003-05-30 19:03:50 |
#3 Paleos don't want to live in Israel, they want to live in Palestine. No. They want the destruction of Israel and to drive all Jews into the sea (kill them). You can't negotiate with these murderers. Anyway, they have a state. It's called Jordan. |
| Posted by: Celissa 2003-05-30 19:01:19 |
| #2 Let's face it. There's going to have to be a bunch of dead guys before the Paleo side is ready to negotiate a settlement. Our money is now on Abbas, not Arafat. Hamas is discovering that being a leader in their organization causes a fatal disease, lead poisoning. There is a tiny change here that may or may not be exploitable. Abbas needs to decide that it's time for Arafat to be a martyr to the cause, before Arafat makes a similar decision. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-05-30 10:34:14 |
| #1 Financial compensation is a perfectly good option, given that it worked so handsomely in getting palestinian moral support for Saddam. However, I agree it won't work in this case, since the Palestinian beef isn't the loss of the homes or land, but that the Joooooos will be their neighbors. I won't make my final decision on Dubya until, say, October 1 of next year, so there's plenty of time for him to pull off one of his "Defining Moment" stunts that Steven Den Beste has noted he's prone to do. The fact that Abbas is seen as the key player, not Arafat, is something of a sea change that Bush started. Sharon, I think, is deciding to take one of the most daring steps of his political career that is sure to doom it, in order to ensure the continued existence of Israel: He's letting down the nation's guard and is going to allow a terrible atrocity to take place against his people so that Dubya has the pretext he needs for that "Defining Moment". Know for sure that when that happens, the left and the Euros are going to make the accusation that the Israels caused it because they knew it would happen if they did what they, the left and the Euros, wanted them to do to show their "good will". |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-05-30 07:50:15 |