Posted on 05/31/2004 3:32:45 PM PDT by Robert_Paulson2
The sand in his hour glass is down to a couple of grains.
He's over 70. If he were going to be "dead meat" he would have done so decades ago. He'll maneuver just enough to get the heat off and remain in power.
Egypt has been very quiet all this time, but they are very big and they are right there.
I wonder who or what is that gets most of the credit for this development. Sharon? Powell? The troops in Gaza? Encouraging and intriguing.
I read somewhere that they were willing to oversee some security and enforcement issues in Gaza... as Israel withdraws.
I wonder if JORDAN will be willing to do the same with the West bank palestinian territories that Israel is going to abandon as well?
My reaction on reading this article is that a deadline of June 15 does not seem to me to be a real deadline. They tell him he needs to step aside but he's got more than 2 weeks to "think it over"? I would think if they were serious it would be more like 48 hours. I'll be happy to be proven wrong in the event that Egypt does give Sharon the green light to give arafart a one way ticket to allah - but somehow I'm not buying it.
Might not be a bad deal. There is a peace treaty with Egypt, so if Egypt will accept some responsibility to police their own it could get real quiet in the region.
Arafat needs to relax power so that another terrorist with a suit has more of it? This is all a farce. It doesn't matter who Arafat gives more power to. The whole regime is a terrorist one and must go. Even if Arafat was eliminated, the Palestinian Authority would continue to be a terrorist regime. Would we have delt with the Taliban if Mullah Omar was no longer in power? Of course not. The PLO-PA are just as terrorist as Hamas with the same goal to destroy Israel. And I have been hearing that the US is fearing a Hamas take over in Gaza (as if they weren't already in control of the 98% of it that isn't in Israeli control), and want the Palestinian Authority to have power. What a joke. Like the PA isn't terrorist.
It depends what you consider quiet. They continue to support Arab terrorists murdering Jews, specifically through their smuggling tunnels and home made weapons they supply to the terrorists through these tunnels in Gaza.
Right. Egyptian tanks are not bombarding Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Egyptian bombers are not flying over Israel. What is Egypt's relationship with the Gaza Strip?
It is all a fake peace. It's a hunda (a cease-fire where they reload). Egypt continues to rearm each year and continue to build their armies. It continues to breach the peace treaty by not having an ambassador in Israel, spying on Israeli positions with unmanned drones, and supporting the terrorists and their operations right on their border which they do nothing about, but support. They also incite anti-Semitic and anti-American propaganda in their state media. The fact Egypt does not police its border now will not change even if Israel expelled the Jews in Gaza and left the 2% of it it currently controls. Their anti-Israel activities will increase as a result.
I suspect that is what this is about. New sheriff in town?
He is a coward, he will comply.
I think Egypt is afraid that the Palestinians will cause them serious grief when the Israelis leave- that's why they let Israel keep Gaza in the first place. Same story with Jordan ceding the West Bank- the inhabitants are more trouble than the territory is worth.
Egypt is putting very little pressure on Israel mainly because the US is doing everything possible to keep the two apart, including invading Iraq so Israel didn't need to. We should hope the peaceniks don't win this Nov because Israel would then be on its own. We don't want that.
It was part of Egypt prior to the 1967 war. When they signed the peace treaty they let Israel keep it, probably because they didn't want the Palestinians running loose in their country.
Egypt continues to support anti-Israel terror groups and continues to spread anti-Semitic propaganda in its media and schools. I see no reason why there should be a push for Egypt to take over the border as if it doesn't have it today. The US has some observers on the border with Egypt through the UN but these do nothing. The US isn't really keeping apart Egypt, but it is Israel that is detering Egypt...for now. As I said Egypt continues to rearm, mainly through the billions of dollars given to Egypt every year by the US which in turn are used to purchase US weapons. Israel is glad Saddam Hussein is gone from power, though I don't know if I would support the notion that Israel was going to invade Iraq, so the US doing so prevented this move as you say. Regarding the US elections, frankly US policy towards Israel will not change no matter who is in power. Policy towards Israel's neighbors maybe, but to Israel itself there will be little change in actual policy. Israel will continue to buy US weapons for defense, the US will continue to support the establishment of a PLO terror state, the US will continue on the most part to act as an Israeli ally in the UN, the US will continue to maintain its embassy in Tel-Aviv, view the territories as "occupied," etc. Israel will not be on its own even if Kerry were to be elected, though a Bush reelection would probably be better for Israel in terms of groups behind the president, as there will be the Evangelical Christians who could lobby for pro-Israel administration decisions.
Its all about the money...stupid.
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