AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/30/2002 10:58:00 PM
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Where are we standing?
Israeli Channel 2 had a special report on almost 2 years of violence. It was interesting – no big headlines though. Most of the commentary was made by Ehud Ya’ari (which Imshin really digs, and I like him too). Here are the main points:
Arafat’s goal in this conflict was to achieve Independence without paying full price of peace. Arafat thought he’d have a popular uprising and full Arab involvement – he didn’t get any of those two. The violence quickly shifted from mass demonstrations confronting the IDF into terrorist activity. Arab states made it clear they are not going to intervene in any military way.
What happened? Independence got further away from the Palestinians. Arafat still doesn’t want the reach a ceasefire. Even the Europeans have given up on him, they are now trying to talk directly with the Hamas leadership in Damascus Syria.
Palestinians consensus is breaking down, even Hamas in Gaza is beginning to feel public pressure on him. This conflict is reaching it’s final straight but it could take a long time before it will end. At the end of the day Israel the Palestinian partner for negotiation will be the Fatah movement.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/30/2002 09:58:00 PM
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If it looks like sometimes I contradict myself – well that’s possible. If you haven’t noticed I’ve got no clear answers nor magic solutions. Bear with me.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/30/2002 09:54:00 PM
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They brought it on themselves
Two of my favorite bloggers write excellent (as usual) posts today. Here are the best parts (IMHO) you better read the whole post.
Tal G. writes exactly what I think: “The quiet and stability that we are experiencing comes at the expense of the Palestinians (as well as at the expense of the pressures on the IDF and reservists). But it's foolish (and I would say immoral) to argue that Israel should sacrifice its own citizens (and civil stability) in order to spare Palestinians from hardships necessitated by the failure of their own government (and to a large extent the failure of their culture).“
Imshin J explains why we don’t want to have any contact with them: “The forced separation between Palestinians from the territories and Jews has nothing to do with any racist sentiments or apartheid, which is what they’re trying to pin on us. It’s a direct result of the Palestinians’ violence and nothing else. The principle being that if we can’t trust them not to stab us (that’s how it was during the first Intifada -stabbings in the street) or shoot us or blow us up, then they can’t be in our streets.”
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/28/2002 08:18:00 PM
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Marshall Plan II
Stef Wertheimer, an Israeli industrialist millionaire, is promoting is own peace plan. As a rich man he thinks the Middle East conflict can be solved with money. Through a banner I saw in Ynet (the biggest Israeli news site) I got into a page with the details of his plan (in English). In that web page there are also 2 movies (easy to download) about the plan (also in English). (That’s kind of funny cause the banner was set in an Hebrew web site. I wonder with the money he has why didn’t he hire someone to translate it. Stef if you are reading this I’m free for the job)
Wertheimer is calling foe a new Marshall plan to be implemented on Middle East countries. The logic behind the idea is that if live well and your country is wealthy you won’t be obsessed with terrorism. Now although I’m sure there is a calming effect as Wertheimer suggests but it won’t stop any thing. In almost every wealthy West country there is terrorist activity among the Muslim minority living there, even if they are in good economic status.
During the last 20 month or so of violence there has been several incidents of Palestinians murdering their Israeli employers, some of them whom they’ve known for years. Those murders knew they are going to lose their jobs for their act but still they did it. So that’s another good example that money doesn’t solve everything.
Another problem: According to the plan the money will not be handed to the governments but directly to businessman and investors. In Arab countries in general an in the PA specifically every minister or other important official is controlling a certain area of business such as water, electricity, etc’. So there is no chance that the money will arrive safely to its original destination. More likely it will end out to arrive into PA officials pockets, and we all know how corrupt they are.
As an economics major I do believe that money spins the world, but not always. There is one critical difference between the original Marshall Plan and the Wertheimer Plan. The original plan was implemented on Europe and Japan AFTER the fall of the old regimes, here he wants to implant it on the courrupt ones. That is why it won’t work.
Arab countries are in such poor economic condition because they dictatorships. Only a democracy can thrive. Since the Arab leaders care first and for most for their own butt they don’t want to change their country into a democracy – They know they’ll be kicked out. By the way: Their fear of turning into a democracy is what scares them the most in the American plan for Iraq. They fear that if Iraq will become a democracy their regimes will be in danger to be the next Arab state to become a democracy. They fear Iraq will be a dangerous precedent.
I wonder what’s the statistics on wars between 2 democratic countries? My guess is that the number of wars is very low. Does anyone know?
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/28/2002 06:53:00 PM
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A question for my American readers
Would you say my parents are taking a risk for they will be in NYC on next September 11th? I personally don't think so and obviously so are they but I'm interested in American’s point of view. Do you think something will happen in New York on September 11?
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/27/2002 01:50:00 PM
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Bomb squad in action down the street
Just a few minutes ago a police bomb squad detonated an object suspected to be a bomb just 60-70 meters from my house. As I write the street is still closed for cars and pedestrians and the police are checking the area with their special robot. What ever they blew up it was in a public play area for kids.
I don’t know if it was a bomb, probably not. Those suspicious objects, blown up by the police, are kind of a usual thing around here. Rarely it’s really a bomb, more likely that someone forgot his bag or something like that. Just a few days ago the police blew another of this abandoned bags in my street (which is fairly small).
When I was in London I forgot my small backpack in one of the underground trains. I had my Canon camera there and some other stuff I didn’t want to lose. Luckily I found it in the control room of the station. Someone found it in the cart and handed it to the lost and found. Those English are so polite and well behaved. In Israel if someone notice an abandoned backpack every one pull back and the police are called to blew it – they don’t play no games, first they blow it up then they know if it was a bomb or not.
Update: Well what ever it was, it wasn’t a bomb, as expected. The street is now open, the police are gone and kids are back playing in the park. I went to take a look but couldn’t tell what they blew up or where exactly it was, they left no evidance, like it never happened.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/26/2002 12:14:00 PM
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One step at a time
I suggest you read this analysis by Ha’aretz top commentator Ze’ev Schiff about the Gaza and Bethlehem First Plan:
“Despite the efforts, the Palestinian fire has not ceased in Gaza, but it is clear there has been a sharp drop in the number of incidents. This past weekend saw six incidents, compared to 30 a week ago. It's also known that the PA is engaged in a difficult debate with the Hamas, and the defense establishment is waiting to see how that turns out.”
“There has also been a marked decrease in security incidents in the Bethlehem area since the IDF pulled out of the city. The IDF was ready to let Palestinian policemen reach the city. At first they demanded that Israel return weapons confiscated from the police by Israel. The arms were not returned, but the police showed up with side arms and semi-automatic rifles. Israel has agreed to let uniformed policemen move throughout Gaza. Israel asked for the list of police who would move from area to area.”
What I’m saying that if it will work will stick with the plan and progress, if it won’t work we can always go back to the way things were before.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/26/2002 12:11:00 PM
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Happy end
If you want to read something positive for a change go read Spoons' story.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/26/2002 12:10:00 PM
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Commenting
I discovered that replying to all the comments some of you live is very much time consuming. I’m not going to argue with everyone here, It’s my blog, I call the shots, don’t like it don’t read it. You can still write opposing views in the comments section but don’t piss me off too much.
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