Posted on 08/15/2005 8:37:39 AM PDT by Jerusalem1
| Likud rebel and anti-disengagement leader MK Uzi Landau on Monday announced that pullout foes had "failed in the struggle to stop the withdrawal." Standing at the entry to Gush Katif, Landau told settlers he had come to apologize to them for the failure. "The Chairman of the Likud and a group of a number of other people - not the majority of the Likud - who sit deep in their armchairs in Knesset and the government did not take the courage in their souls to stand for the principles for which we have been working for the sake of the public and the state in the last years. Ffor this, I apologize to the public here," said Landau. Landau blamed Sharon for implementing a policy contrary to what he had promised during the election campaign. "Also in Troy, the Trojan horse brought down the city," he said. Landau said that despite this, the non-violent struggle against the evacuation should go on. "This struggle will continue, and certainly so will the protest and defiance of the government for its illegitimate democratic process," he said. Landau said he had come to Gush Katif to show his solidarity with the settlers, but also with security forces. He called both sides "sacrifices to the situation created by Sharon." He asked settlers not to manage their struggle in a violent manner. "The prime minister wants to see confrontations. The prime minister wants to see orange versus khaki, settler versus soldier. I ask not to give the prime minister this confrontation. Aggressiveness is not our way," he said.
"Gamla" is the organization that heads an umbrella group of all right wing action groups in Israel. There staff is now in Gush Katif, helping to organize one of the most moral and dramatic civil battles of the modern age - the rights of Jewish people to live freely in the Land of Israel. The "mainstream" media will be out in force, giving you their "side" of events, while the GAMLA staff will be there, also, through their web site, bringing you the sites, the sounds and the TRUE reports of what is happening. Don't get confused by left-wing propaganda, you are about to witness a historical event which will be told about WWIII. While Israel begins today to agree to the Arab-Fascist who say Jews cannot live in their own homeland, The PLO says this is just a "step of liberation of all Jewish lands", fighters in Lebanon pack their bags to move to Gaza, and Al-Qieda bases in the city to make sure the PA will not make peace with Israel. DON'T MISS THIS DRAMA, BEING UPDATED ON OUR SITE 24 HOURS A DAY STARTING FROM LAST NIGHT! |
this is how I felt when that white Pinellas County van drove away with Terri Schiavo's lifeless body...
Oh, brother. Is everything about Schiavo?
idunno, but pardonfreakingme.
It's just that dragging unrelated issues into a thread is not helpful at all.
Do you have any opinions on the issue at hand?
yeah. my opinion is exactly what I stated. do I have to interpret for you? I think you should do that yourself. and, if you can't or won't, you can either continue to berate me for posting it or you can move the f*ck on.
You HAVE to like somebody with a firstname like "Uzi".
Pulling out of Gaza and the west bank and the Golan Heights will accomplish NOTHING for Israel.
These pull-outs are not viewed by the lunatics in Palestine as gestures of peace. They are viewed as indications of weakness and hope for eventual destruction of the Jewish "Crusader" State - the ONLY objective which will please Arabs in general.
This is unfortuante as Israel is the only functioning Democracy in the Middle East, the only real ally the U.S. has there, and the only non-Islamic nation in the Levant.
Uzi Landau failed because he lacked public support. The majority of Israelis continue to support disengagement. A majority of Knesset members voted for disengagement. The courts upheld it. He lost because Israeli democracy worked.
No, because Israel cannot withstand the pressure of the entire world, including the US.
When did we decide to pull out from Golan? We annexed Golan and I am aware of no plans to withdraw. We're not even negotiating with the Syrians. I'm also not aware of any withdrawal plans for all of Judea and most of Samaria.
What pulling out from Gaza will accomplish is getting us out of an untenable, unsustainable situation which was pretty nearly impossible for the IDF to defend. We needed more soldiers than settlers to keep the settlers safe -- and they still weren't safe. Far too many Jewish lives were lost for what? We can't maintain 8,500 Jews in the midst of 1.3 million hostile Arabs. It can't work.
These pull-outs are not viewed by the lunatics in Palestine as gestures of peace. They are viewed as indications of weakness and hope for eventual destruction of the Jewish "Crusader" State -
Nobody in their right mind in Israel believes this will lead to peace. Some on the left do, of course, but it is arguable that they are looking at things at all rationally. The beauty of disengagement is that it requires nothing from the Palestinians. They will be walled into Gaza and can rot for all I care. The IDF will be able to act as needed without fear of killing Jews in the midst of the Arabs. The easy Jewish targets for the terrorists will not be there. We will have what we demanded all along: a defensible border.
The one mistake this government is making is to continue supplying services (water, electricity, healthcare) to the Palestinians. We should give them a drop dead date to build their own resources with all the international funds they receive. After that they are on their own.
for eventual destruction of the Jewish "Crusader" State - the ONLY objective which will please Arabs in general.
The Arabs are not monolithic. This is certainly the goal of the current Palestinian leadership and many, probably the majority, of Arab regimes. I would argue that this isn't the goal of a few: Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and King Abdullah in Jordan are probably good examples. Sadly the coup in Mauritania removed an Arab leader who was friendly to Israel. I believe peace with the entire Arab world to be an impossibility. I believe peace with bits and pieces of the Arab world, such as we now have with Egypt and Jordan, is possible, though the non-hostile bits and pieces will change as regimes change. A divided Arab world makes an attack on Israel far less likely, at least with conventional forces.
Disengagement was proopsed first by Ehud Barak and then adopted, in part, by Prime Minister Sharon. It was something we Israelis initiated. Yes, the U.S. certainly pushed for it to go ahead but we started this on its own.
I will remind you that Prime Minister Shamir did stand up to the U.S. and the rest of the world over settlements. The U.S. froze loan guarantees to Israel. Prime Minister Shamir did not budge and nothing changed until he lost the 1992 election to Yitzhak Rabin.
Consider it in the broad context of intifadah, political and economic boycots, church and university divetiture campains, UN resolutions, Arab environment, growing anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism, etc., etc. How long can a little nation like Israel endure that until she bleeds to death. But the US pressure was the last straw that broke the camel's back. 'Cause the US was and is Israel's last hope. Of course, G-d has his plans for Israel, but people want to live today. I don't know if we are arguing or talking about the same thing.
I personally believe Israel will survive. I also believe that if the U.S. stabs Israel in the back there are other nations (notably China) that are trying to forge an alliance with Israel. All that you mentioned will not bleed us to death. In fact, right now, our economy is amazingly strong.
BTW, I believe a large majority of the American people and the American Congress do support Israel. I have severe doubts about the current administration, though.
Only not China, don't make deals with the Devil. India, maybe, but not China. I do too believe that Israel will survive, and I do too believe that the majority of American people stand by Israel. But the virages of the successive administrations, both R and D, cause me bad bouts of motion seakness.
Israel already has a strategic alliance with India. The Foreign Ministry is working to have India vote with Israel at the U.N. as part of strengthening that alliance.
I am as uncomfortable with the current Chinese regime as you are. However, if the U.S. truly sided with the Arabs, what choice would there be?
You know what really worries me? I see no activism among Freepers to get the Bush administration to change its current policy. If the most ardent supporters of Israel won't even do that...
BUT WHAT THE ARDENT SUPPORTERS CAN DO? Just voice their support. I think there is a sense of gloom and helplessnes surrounding this story. And if you push any furhter, you will be reminded of the trillions of $$ of taxpayer money spent on Israel, Pollard story, Liberty, spying scandals, Israel wanting to sell military stuff to China, etc, and how Israel is a little backstabbing and ungrateful SOB. And you can be assured of a lot of activism there.
BTW, I believe a large majority of the American people and the American Congress do support Israel. I have severe doubts about the current administration, though.There's no doubt in my mind that President Bush supports the security of Israel. He just doesn't see Gaza and the West Bank as part of Israel. Neither has any President since 1967, for that matter. Even Ronald Reagan proposed returning the West Bank to Jordanian sovereignty.
Like many of us, he notes that Gaza and the West Bank are surrounded solely by Israel and nations firmly at peace with Israel. Note the fact that he hasn't pushed for any withdrawl from Golan.
What the President wants is a real effort to defuse tensions in the region. Yes, he prodded Sharon to go ahead with disengagement. But the Arab world has made great strides as well. Note the Arab League proposal to establish diplomatic relations between Israel and all 22 of its members if it returns to the 1967 borders. While not acceptable in its current form, it represents a huge departure from previous policy....and it came from the Saudis. I'd say Bush had a hand in making it happen.
For most Americans, we're in the position of trying to defend a friend in a conflict when our friend is partly in the wrong. We defend them, but we try to defuse and remove the parts of the conflict where our friend is in the wrong. That's what President Bush is doing vis a vis the occupation and specifically the settlements.
-Eric
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