Bush: Israeli barrier hampers peace, Egyptian barrier protects

10/20/2005 (Washington D.C.)- President Bush says during joint press conference with PA leader in Washington, ‘The way forward is confronting the threat armed gangs present to creation of a democratic Palestine.’ Abbas, in response, insists Israel lift curbs on Palestinian travel in the West Bank, saying they had turned the lives of Palestinians into 'Hardship and humiliation.' President George W. Bush heaped praise Thursday on Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and said prospects for Palestinian gaining a state seem to be closer than ever before. But Bush said at a news conference after one-hour meeting in the Oval Office that "The way forward is confronting the threat armed gangs present to creation of a democratic Palestine." Supporting Abbas, Bush called on Israel to stop constructing settlements on the West Bank. He assured Abbas he shared his vision of two states living side by side in peace and security.

"Israel should not undertake any activity that contravenes its roadmap obligations," Bush said, referring to a blueprint for peacemaking approved by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. Without elaboration, the president said Israel would be "held to account" for any actions that hamper peacemaking or burden the lives of Palestinians. But Bush said he was a "heck of a lot more confident" of peace prospects than when he first took office five years ago. Both Abbas and Prime minister Ariel Sharon are committed to making peace, he said. Abbas, in response, insisted on Israel lifting curbs on Palestinian travel on the West Bank, saying they had turned the lives of Palestinians into "Hardship and humiliation." The Palestinian leader also criticized Israel's security wall, particularly its location in Jerusalem, where the Palestinians intend to establish the capital of a Palestinian state. In contrast, Egypt has begun construction of a security fence around the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in an effort to stop attacks on the town, the BBC reported on 18 October. Which the US has barely voiced an opinion on the security barrier.

Officials said the fence will stretch for 20 km and force vehicles entering the town to pass through one of four checkpoints. Sharm el-Sheikh has been the scene of two devastating bomb attacks in the past 18 months; the latest, in July, saw more than 60 people killed by suicide bombers. The resort is popular with Israeli and Western tourists and the attacks have damaged confidence in the Egyptian tourist industry, a major source of revenue.

The government can-ill afford a collapse in visitors similar to that which followed the notorious attack on a tourist bus at Luxor in 1997 which claimed 58 lives. The construction of this fence must be seen as part of ongoing security operations targeting Islamist cells. Despite the arrest and killing of several people allegedly linked to the attacks of this year and last, the Egyptian authorities clearly feel that the threat of further bombings remains.

Jews are admirable in my eyes for their self-sufficiency, resilience and a history of honest struggle against forces who mean them harm for what they believe more than for what they do.

Nicely put, but Israel is a predominately secular state.

I think the hatred of Israel by muslims has more to do with the fact that Judaism itself (as does Christianity) threatens the myth that Islam is a true faith. Islam cannot coexist with these faiths because their existence disproves the claims of Mohammed.

The funny thing is that muslims hate Jews not because of what the Jews believe but because of who they are.

Any idiot (read non-muslim) can see that God has smiled on the Jews...as Satan (or the force of hatred in the world for you non-believers) has done everything in his power to destroy them. Muslims see that too but refuse to believe their eyes.

http://www.middleeastfacts.com/weblog/index.php?p=47

Appearing before cheering crowds last night, Abu Mazen said that the period of the “little Jihad [holy war] had ended, and now the big Jihad is beginning.”

Abu Mazen did little to allay Israeli fears that he is no different than Arafat. He said he dedicates his victory to “brother shahid [martyr] Yasser Arafat,” to the “shahids and prisoners,” and to the “Palestinian people from Rafiach to Jenin.” The crowd responded, “A Million Shahids Marching to Jerusalem!”

Abu Mazen continues to adhere to the traditionally maximalist demands of full Israeli withdrawal from all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a PLO state, and “right of return.”

That is a fine sentiment.

However, Abbas, as with every prior Palestinian leader, has a terrorist position in private, in the company of other Arab leaders and in actions that are under his control.

The only "moderate" position that Abbas has involves the public presentations he makes for western consumption and the "moderate" tone he takes with western governments.

That moderation is no different that the Marxist/Soviet overtures for "peace"; just another tactic in war.

Scratch any "moderate" Palestinian leader and you will find someone who is simply trying to develop western influence in a goal and agenda that is no different than the openly "terrorist" Palestinians goal - the eventual destruction of the state of Israel.

And we should participate in that goal because?

I would work for a POTUS in 2008 that gives the Palestinians one year to sign a permanent peace treaty with Israel, afterwhich we would ask Jordon to take joint authority with Israel in the west bank and Egypt to take joint authority with Israel in Gaza, with the goal to let Jordan and Egypt annex those areas completely - end of discussion.

There has only ever been one impediment to peace in Palestine - the willingness of Arab Palestinians to fully accept the state of Israel and to accept Israel's right to live in peace.

That was their failure when the infant state of Israel had less than half of its present area. That was not good enough.

That was their failure when Jordan "occupied" the west bank and Eqypt "occupied" Gaza. Still, the failure of the Palestinians to form a peaceful state side by side with Israel was sold as Isreal's fault, when the truth is that a Palestinian state in the west bank and Gaza was not good enough. Of course, there was no move by Jordan or Egypt to actually release those areas to Palestinian governance either. The truth is that the goal then, as now, was the destruction of Israel and that was the public policy of Jordan, Egypt and the PLO.

That was their failure when Jordan and Eqypt lost control of those areas in war, a war they and the Palestinians started. After that war, and the Palestinian losses in that war, the Palestinians expanded their war of terror instead of opening peace negotiations with Isreal to salvage someting for "Palestine". That was not enough. The goal remained the destruction of Israel.

That was their failure when they continued that war of terror and brought the Israeli IDF into a defensive "occupation" in those areas lost in war. That was good for their terrorist propoganda machine because they had a public excuse for their terrorism against Israel - "occupation".

That was their failure when Israel pulled the IDF out of those areas, for 13 years, to advance the Oslo accords, only to be met with renewed terrorism when Arafat would not come to final agreement on terms for peace. Why? Those terms would have accepted the state of Israel.

The Palestinians have had many occasions to reach a peace with Isreal.

They have preferred continued war instead, because they have never given up the goal of destroying Israel.

What they seek in "negotiation" is nothing less than for Israel to negotiate away its own existence.

The west has been taken for fools in that venture and their foolish position has made for common cause with people and a culture that seeks the end of western culture as we know it.

The west's flirtation with the Palestinian cause as well as the use of the excuse of that cause among Arabs is nothing other than suicidal for the west.

The fact is that the Middle East, if push were to come to shove, needs the west's purchase of its oil far more than the west needs the oil. The absence of that oil for western markets would be met by technological innovation and efficient-energy advancements; economic adpatations that the middel east regimes are neither prepared for or capable of matching to their changed situation without western support.

But, the west's view of diplomacy has nearly always been predominately shortsighted until myopic failure creates a crisis (40 years of the priority of Middle East "stability" simply permits the building of the breeding ground for Islamic fascist terrorism).

Thus will be the eventual case-study failure with trying to help a Palestinian state whose leaders will never be satisfied without the destruction of Israel.

You're right. Weldon and Pence should be in the 08 race and in the party leadership.

Bush is losing his grip. I wonder if it's due to fatigue. He seems unable to recognize that his stupid "roadmap" creates in a palestinian state what the war on terror is about destroying in Iraq and Afghanistan...state based islamofascism.

Islamofascism should be eradicated in Gaza and the West Bank and those territories annexed to Isreal. The west should facilitate the territorial growth of Isreal and the territorial reduction of islamofascism in the Holy Land. Not that I am overly fond of Israel, but they are highly skilled at fighting/killing terrorists. We need them on our side. Bush should not be "sandbagging" our allies and "enabling" our enemies (the palestinians). His goofy roadmap does just the opposite. I think it's leftover legacy from "whatzisname?" sec of state last term and basically designed to prevent mid-east peace from ever happening.

Israel must choose a defensible border, and seal it. There is no other workable peace plan. Any other "roadmap" merely delays the solution, and guarantees the deaths of more innocent Israelis and more young deluded arabs.

Where precisely Israel places the border is for Israel to decide, based purely on her strategic realities; this is the line she must be prepared to go to war for. Any arabs living inside the line must be offered the option of compensation and relocation to the far side of the line; any arab within the line who gives aid or sympathy to the baddies must be expelled without compensation.

Any Israelis living outside the line must be compensated and relocated to the safe side.

And then you seal it. No one enters Israel by land. Any arabs having business in Israel must enter by commercial airline. The arab regions not claimed by Israel will be cut off from markets and employment in Israel, and will have no choice but to seek union with Jordan and Egypt. This is inevitable, and is as it should be.

Any land used as a staging area for attacks across the line must be seized, cleared, and incorporated permanently into Israel proper.

Any negotiations should be conducted between Israel and Jordan for the arab West Bank, and with Egypt for Gaza. No other country or agency has any standing in the matter. The so-called Palestinian Administration should not be consulted on anything; they are a regional government that should eventually be subsumed into the Jordanian and Egyptian governments. You don't negotiate international agreements with mayors and county supervisors.

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