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| Middle East |
| This Road Map May Be The ONLY Viable Alternative. |
| 2003-06-13 |
| RealClearPolitics.com. Author: J. McIntyre Pasted in its entirety because it I think this approach is the most viable alternative to achieve a Palestinian state. I don't think it will bring "peace", but perhaps a "peace" by Mideast standards is achievable. MIDDLE EAST PEACE: I'm a big believer in the KISS principle. For those who don't know, KISS stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid." Now, I am not under any illusions that the problems that bedevil the Mideast are easy to resolve, they aren't. Let's face it, the Israeli-Palestinian issue has a million reasons why it is not going to be settled any time soon, but here is my 'road map' to give peace a chance. I was watching Hannity & Colmes on Wednesday night where they had George Mitchell and Lawrence Eagleburger discussing the Mideast. Hannity began with a diatribe attacking Ari Fleischer, Colin Powell and President Bush for coming down on Ariel Sharon and the Israelis. His point in a nutshell was: terror is terror, and there will be no peace until Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad etc. are wiped out. He also made the point that if the U.S. were being attacked in the same fashion as Israel we would certainly be responding and striking back, so why condemn Israel for pursuing the equivalent of the 'Bush Doctrine'? One side of me finds this argument very compelling, but the other side sees it for what it probably is: a proscription for more violence. President Bush was right when he suggested that Sharon's attack on the Hamas leader Rantissi did not help Israeli security. The attack might have been perfectly justified, it might have made many in Israel feel good, but it didn't make Israel more secure. There won't be peace in the Mideast until the terror practitioners are crushed, but as long as it is Israel doing the crushing there is no chance of success. Given this assumption, the solution is for the Palestinians to eliminate the terror machine of Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad. And to be fair, this is one of the core tenets of the road map today. The problem is Prime Minister Abbas and the moderate Palestinians don't have the ability alone to win this Palestinian Civil War. This leaves two general possibilities:
Today it seems we are still caught in that cycle of violence. The moderate Palestinians either do not have the will or the means to eliminate terrorism and every time Israel takes action to eliminate the terrorists all they do is make Hamas and the terror groups more popular, while delegitimizing the very moderate Palestinians they want to strengthen. I am in total agreement with the author on this intractable paradox. As in Iraq, the status quo needs to be changed. The "game", as it were, needs to be changed. Let's keep this simple. First, the world community needs to get rid of the terrorists in the Palestinian territories. Let's send in French, Russian, German, Turkish and Egyptian commandos and destroy Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, etc. Arafat then needs to be removed, jailed or killed. With the terrorists crushed, Prime Minister Abbas and the moderates can establish the beginnings of a functioning state and THEN we might be on the road map to Mideast peace. Bottom line, the Palestinian terrorists have to be crushed, but they can't be crushed by Israel or the U.S. This is the only option I see giving Mideast peace any type of chance in the near future. |
| Posted by:ColoradoConservative |
| #11 TGA: Sorry I did not not check back again for a reply last night, I got busy. "If the European Parliament had the powers Subotai is claiming, it would basically abridge the powers of the national parliaments." In fact, the same EU Constitution already takes away the national sovereignty. Without creating a post so long as to overwhelm the site, I cannot quote the relevant passages, but basically anything the unelected EU Commission arrogates unto itself, preempts national parliaments totally. The EU Commission has claimed jurisdiction over literally everything, foreign and domestic. Therefore, the member states have already yielded sovereignty in toto. The end of national sovereignty is a [pardon the French] a fait accompli, as is the abolition of any input by citizens into the government. That is why I say that Arafat and Osama would love the type of system the Germans and the French would impose. Given the lack of enthusiasm the French have for stopping the murder of civilians [Ivory Coast, Congo] Hamas would feel right at home with it too. Europeans have already yielded sovereignty and are doing their best to abandon any pretense of democratic control over the institutions that have power over them. Those of an historical bent will remember the three Reich's ; the Holy Roman Empire, Wilhelmine Germany, and the National Socialist regime. To an outside observer, the EU seems bent on becoming a combination of the three. None of the three featured peace, individual liberty, or democratic control of the government. |
| Posted by: Subotai Bahadur 2003-06-14 13:02:02 |
| #10 It is rather amazing how Americans blame Europe for being "undemocratic" because European nations don't give up their sovereignty fast enough. A sovereignty that is so dear to America. If the European Parliament had the powers Subotai is claiming, it would basically abridge the powers of the national parliaments. It would mean that smaller nations would basically be overwhelmed by the French and German "masses". This is what makes the creation of Europe so difficult. This is why we have to go in small steps, slowly building up the trust it takes to achieve a true union which may still be half a century away. We will get there, I believe. After 225 years the different US states still insist on their "sovereignty" when it comes to elect the president. Thats why the American people still can't elect their president by "popular majority". We know that small things make big impacts sometimes. And you are blaming Europe not to be fast enough when after 225 years the 50 US states still elect their president by electors and not direct votes? I rather see Europe succeed in small steps than fail in big ones. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-06-13 22:35:02 |
| #9 Yank: I admit that my preferred solution would be more drastic; it being the one referred to as "Removal" in the Israeli political lexicon. However, I can see some logic to what you suggest, with one glaring exception. "This government should be a liberal democracy even if we have to import Germans or French to help them." I grant that the French and Germans have gotten the art of taking liberalism to the Socialist extreme, but they don't seem to have the concept of Democracy down yet. The greatest political initiative the two countries are attempting is the European Union. In all the 337 pages of the EU constitution [counting preamble] I don't see any power at all in the only elected branch, the European Parliament. It cannot originate law, pass law, repeal law, or reject anything the unelected European Commission or the European President wants. All in all, it sounds like the kind of government set up that Arafat or Osama bin Laden would love. If we must send them missionaries for liberty, send in a few brigades of Libertarians instead. |
| Posted by: Subotai Bahadur 2003-06-13 20:28:28 |
| #8 Longer term.... If a free Iraq does what other Arab states should have done 50 years ago-- namely, allow Palestinian Arabs to immigrate, integrate into society and lead normal lives-- won't that tend to dissolve the "Palestinian problem"? |
| Posted by: TPF 2003-06-13 20:13:26 |
| #7 Three state solution or divide and conquer: (1) Build a huge wall around Gaza, withdraw all settlements in Gaza, and allow no transit between Isreal and Gaza. Let them fester and hate and grow poorer. (2) Sweep into West Bank and kill or round up known terrorists and thugs. Deport them to Gaza. (3) Set up an East Palistine Government in West Bank with the intent of self-rule along a specific timeline. This government should be a liberal democracy even if we have to import Germans or French to help them. Clean up the media and remove the thugocracy so the West Bank Pals have a chance. Allow economic contact between West Bank and Isreal but keep the wall Israel is building and control over border points all around to prevent infiltration. Allow Right of Return into select West Bank towns, if Pals won't accept it the term can be inversed against them. It won't be long before the success of those living in the West Bank starts to sink into those living in Gaza. Control of the media in East Palistine can have a very powerful affect as well. |
| Posted by: Yank 2003-06-13 17:14:26 |
| #6 GKarp: I agree with you that having international UN type troops hunting HAMAS, IsJihad, etc. is impossible. Egypt and Jordan acting together could however to so. If the UN wanted to do some good - a big if -- they could dispatch several hundred people to ride around in Israeli buses and eat at Israeli restaurants. Taking bus rides and eating is about all the UN really is capable of anyway. |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-06-13 16:16:01 |
| #5 I disagree. The best way Sharon can support Abbas is to crush Abbas's rival power centers - Hamas, Hezbollah... Arafat. And Sharon's far better qualified to do it than some "cobbled-together" group of outsiders. |
| Posted by: Glenn 2003-06-13 15:53:03 |
| #4 The EU and UN using force? Like they are in Bunia? Loudspaekers vs Kalashnikovs... Or Afghanistan: before the recent [partial] capitulation, when there was a real chance of northern civil war, the UN said it was there only to protect the government in Kabul - not to interfere in internal affairs. Huh? |
| Posted by: John Anderson 2003-06-13 15:25:40 |
| #3 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The Israelis and the Palestinians have to, in the end, solve this one themselves. They are the ones who will have to live together or die together. No outside force can make them live together, see Yugoslavia, and most of Africa for examples. Terrorism has never, ever won a cause. It has always failed. Some bright Palestinian is going to come to understand this, and tacitly allow or encourage the Israelis to make a few more martyrs to the cause. When the terrorists are dead and buried, he can then proclaim peace and a national state, lauding them for their sacrifices. Is Abbas that guy? Don't know. Arafat is not. No one controls all the groups. I believe the elimination of Hamas and Arafat's pet goons will be the solution. Hezb is ineffectual in Israel, and will become even more isolated when its buddies are wacked. Kill the terrorist leaders, cut off their money, and let a Palestinian leader proclaim victory. |
| Posted by: Chuck (not Taylor) 2003-06-13 15:09:31 |
| #2 And why would the French, Russians, Germans et al. want to risk their lives to protect Jews? Their governments cannot even bring themselves to call the indiscriminate mass murder of Israelis terrorism. The international soldiers would have the choice of standing aside or becoming targets for the likes of Hamas and Islamic Jihad themselves. The practical effect would be to provide a shield to any Israeli military response while doing little to discourage terrorism. Remember Srebernica. The UN made security promises it lacked the will or capacity to enforce. The UN also had a "peacekeeping" force in the Sinai in 1967. They left as soon as the Egyptians told them to go. The track record of international security forces (without a heavy US presence)is not encouraging; they are rather, like Abba Eban said, like firemen who run away at the smell of smoke. |
| Posted by: GKarp 2003-06-13 14:46:06 |
| #1 On the other hand ... from http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/ "Three cheers for John McCain, who in an interview yesterday with MSNBC's Chris Matthews put the matter plainly:" If anyone came to my hometown in Phoenix, Ariz., and set off a bomb on a bus and killed 18 people and injured 100 of them, my citizens would expect us to respond. . . . Do you want to call that a cycle of violence? You can call it what you want, but these acts of terror, these organizations, funded by the Saudis, at least encouraged by Yasser Arafat, are inexcusable in their tactics--and their results are horrendous." Indeed. The only way to stop the "cycle of violence" is to kill or incapacitate the instigators. If Abbas cannot or will not do so, how can anyone fault Israel for acting in its own defense?" Same ends as McIntyre's, but different means. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-06-13 13:31:35 |