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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel shelves West Bank withdrawal |
| 2006-07-05 |
| AS Israel braces for a long-term operation in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's election promise to withdraw from large chunks of the occupied West Bank by 2010 seems dimmer than ever. The months that followed last summer's evacuation of the Gaza Strip, when Israel unilaterally withdrew from the coastal area after a 38-year occupation, served as a test case for a far more complex and wider West Bank pullout. Under Mr Olmert's plan, Israel would pull out of 90 percent of the Palestinian area and strengthen its hold on several large settlement blocs. This plan, Mr Olmert has said, would be implemented with or without Palestinian agreement. But a catalogue of dramatic developments since Israel's historic departure from Gaza have since cast a shadow over Mr Olmert's "realignment" plan, the central pillar of his coalition government. As a result, Housing Minister Meir Sheetrit, a senior member of Mr Olmert's Kadima party, said any hopes of implementing the plan have been dashed. "There is no realignment plan," he said. "There is no international support and no public support for it in Israel, without which the plan could never move forward." The most fundamental change that followed Israel's withdrawal was the rise to power of a Palestinian government led by Hamas after the radical movement won a landslide victory in last January's parliamentary election. Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's destruction and which refuses to recognise the Jewish state's existence, represents a deeply Islamist ideology inspired and supported by Israel's arch-foe Iran. said. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #5 It is well past time to admit that Ben Gurion made a mistake in 1948, and that Dayan repeated that mistake (on a larger scale) in 1967. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-07-05 17:53 |
| #4 They should do in Gaza what they did in Operation Defensive Shield in 2002. Essentially they killed or captured the terrorists' A and B teams in the West Bank, leaving behind a network of informants and undercover snatch squads which continue to mop up score of militants there every month. This has brought relative peace to the WB and even cooperation from the Pally police (who allegedly handed over the murderers of the 18-year old settler). The Pallies will never be able to live in peace with Israel until they have security forces who are de-facto allies of the Israelis. It doesn't matter what their political leaders say, because their society is tribal, like the Indians in the Old West. Making peace with Red Cloud didn't bring peace with Sioux. |
| Posted by: Apostate 2006-07-05 17:18 |
| #3 actually what else can they do? I think it's a good plan. The Palestinians have their own state, for the first time in history, but the idiots elect leaders whose sole purpose is to wipe Israel from the map. So, it seems a smart idea for for Israel to wack hose leaders and keep doing it until they see if they can finally get to some who do want to build a real government. What other choice do they have? Dig mass graves and kill them all? Not nice. While I may be wrong, I suspect that if the Palestinians could get some leaders who care about them and their welfare that they might just think about getting a job and getting a life. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-07-05 12:56 |
| #2 The government has apparently decided on a long-term operation in the Gaza Strip aimed at stopping projectile fire into Israel and bringing down the Hamas government. "As long as Israel is tied up in Gaza and Hamas remains in government, there is no chance of talk about a second withdrawal," said the official. Really stupid. They should go in, take care of business, get out. If they hang around they'll just end up owning the Paleostinians again. Until the Paleostinins learn that it is stupid to elect Hamas, Hamas will be the desirable romantic alternative. Tough love. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-07-05 10:20 |
| #1 translation: The Palestinians passed on our offer for peace and can't get over their desire to massacre us. Despite every effort on our part to avoid it, we are going to war with Hamas and perhaps Syria as well. Thanks for nothing, rest of the world; this could have been much less bloody with a little support. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-07-05 10:10 |