"Oh yes, yes, yes... here are the guns, there are the Jews. It must be so confusing for the poor terrorists. Which target do we shoot at first, oh, how to choose..."
Posted on 02/02/2005 7:12:36 AM PST by Sunshine55
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday held out the possibility of U.S. support to train and equip Palestinian forces as she seeks to promote Middle East peace on a visit to the region next week.
Making her first trip abroad as secretary of state, Rice will meet Israeli and Palestinian officials in Jerusalem and the West Bank on Monday to try to capitalize on what Washington sees as a new chance for peace after Yasser Arafat's death.
The disputed shooting of a Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip on Monday illustrated the fragility of the relative calm since the Palestinian icon died and triggered mortar fire by Arab militants on a nearby Jewish settlement.
Rice said Arafat's successor, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, had demonstrated the will to clamp down on violence by quickly deploying security forces in the Gaza Strip, where militant groups have adopted a tacit truce.
"It's not perfect, but they have made some progress" on getting control of the disparate Palestinian security forces and on cracking down on violence against Israelis, Rice told Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
"Obviously the Palestinians are going to need help in terms of training and equipping their new security forces and I am sure that there will be ways that we might be involved in that," she said.
Rice suggested Washington could also help the Palestinians develop democratic institutions and, eventually, support reconstruction if Israel carries through with its plan to close all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four in the West Bank.
"What I hope to do when I go there is to try and sustain -- help to sustain -- the momentum that they (the Israelis and Palestinians) have clearly developed over the last several weeks," she added.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.netscape.cnn.com ...
Is it still disputed?
Yeah, sure (NOT). It reminds me that after the Oslo Agreements, the same "security forces" were equipped for the same purpose, which helped them to start the intifada in September 2000
Rice should think more and talk less about that
No No No!
Either the two sides continue to kill the very best of their new generations of men and women, or they try to find a way to live side-by-side.
I will never quit being optimistic that there can be, at the very least, a shaky peace. It would sure beat the almost daily threat of violence that exists today.
Oh yeah. We can trust the Palestinians. Sure we can.
How exactly will this promote peace???
There's a difference?
Well, I'll reserve comment on her statement until it is clarified...
BUT...
anybody who watched Arafat's funeral (the Palestinian security forces were supposed to be in charge) could see that those forces need training, organization, or both.
It was a circus...nobody seemed to know what anybody else was doing.
In order for Israel to not remain the bloodbath of a country it is today, we better hope we can create a difference.
Hey, imagine if Powell had said this.
Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen) denied that the gas chambers were used to murder Jews, quoting a "scientific study" to that effect by French Holocaust-denier Robert Faurisson.
Abbas wrote the 6 million victims is the product of a Zionist conspiracy: "It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement...is to inflate this figure so that their gains will be greater"
F@&k the scumbag, I wouldn't trust him with my wallet.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/01/09/the_problem_with_mahmoud_abbas/
Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Arafat's longtime accomplice -- the two men co-founded Fatah, the largest terrorist faction within the PLO, in 1965
On Dec. 29, the State Department transferred $23.5 million to the Palestinian Authority -- a mark, said Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, of American "confidence in the direction of the PA's reform program." The absurdity of such confidence was made clear one day later, when Abbas brazenly campaigned with members of the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade in Jenin. A picture of Abbas riding on the shoulders of Zakaria Zubeidi -- a notorious terrorist and one of Israel's most wanted men -- was published around the globe.
He hews unswervingly to Yasser Arafat's hardline positions -- an Israeli retreat to the 1949 borders, Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, the elimination of every Jewish settlement, the dismantling of Israel's security fence, and no limit on the "right of return" -- code for the abolition of Israel as a Jewish state.
My thought exactly. What was she thinking?!
Have they suddenly lost their minds in D.C?
IMHO a forced peace(like the Balkans early in the 20th century)will inevitably lead to war.
There's a difference between having the blood of innocent civilians on your hands as opposed to the blood of terrorists.
It would sure beat the almost daily threat of violence that exists today.
I don't believe training, equipping and giving money to the terrorists is better than that.
If you put lipstick on a terrorist.....
"Oh yes, yes, yes... here are the guns, there are the Jews. It must be so confusing for the poor terrorists. Which target do we shoot at first, oh, how to choose..."
What "equip" should mean: toy guns
What "train" should mean: learning how to stay at home and away from suicide bomb vests
There is a difference.
As long as frustrated college boys and clerical students like the members of Hamas believe that life begins after a suicide bombing, then the killing will resume, eventually. Hamas has been able to demonstrate its mojo by bombing everything in sight, making the Fatah look like the bitch girly men that they are to the rest of the Pallie street. Of course, the fact that Arafat was a notorious rump ranger didn't help matters, but there you have it.
Rice is about building lasting institutions. If that means that today's terrorist becomes tomorrow's politician, than that's the Arab world for you. Hamas' leadership has been killed off by the IDF. Rice knows this, and doesn't have to deal with them. So, she deals with Abu Mazen, Fatah, and the rest of those criminals.
You go to diplomacy with the countries you have, to turn a phrase. Rice doesn't have much to work with, but it's her job to turn lemons into lemonade.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.