Posted on 04/08/2002 10:46:22 PM PDT by VinnyTex
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
Seventy-two hours after President Bush told Ariel Sharon to pull out of the West Bank "without delay," the Israeli army was still pounding away at Palestinians in the biggest offensive there since 1967.
"I meant what I said," an exasperated president railed at Sharon yesterday afternoon. Yet, still, the Israeli war machine rolled on.
Round one in the clash between the president and prime minister thus goes to Sharon. And before the president puts America's credibility on the line again, he might reconsider. For in any face-off with Sharon, he is likely to be rebuffed again.
And if Bush wants a measure of where Sharon's mind is, he might check out the newest member of Sharon's ruling coalition.
Representing right-wing settlers, the National Religious Party is headed by charismatic ex-general Effi Eitam, a man of deeply radical views. As the Financial Times reports, Eitam has "urged Israel to destroy the Palestinian Authority, bring Arafat and his associates to trial and reject any form of Palestinian sovereignty in the occupied territories. The Palestinian state, he said, should be established in Jordan and the Egyptian Sinai desert.
"Eitam also described Israel's Arab citizens ... as a 'cancer. ... (I)f a war is forced on us, then in war, behave as in war,' he said. 'I can ... see that as a consequence of war, not many Arabs will remain here.'"
In brief, Effi Eitam is an ethnic cleanser cut from the same bolt of cloth as Slobodan Milosevic. Is the president aware of the breadth and depth of the chasm that exists between what he believes is best for America and what Sharon believes is best for Israel?
The president wants a negotiated peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Sharon believes that authority is a nest of terrorists to be eradicated and openly regrets he did not kill Arafat when he had the chance in 1982.
The president believes in the Oslo formula of land-for-peace and the Saudi plan adopted by the Arab League, which calls for Israel to pull back inside its '67 borders. Sharon rejects Oslo and land-for-peace and looks on the Saudi plan as a formula for Israel's suicide.
President Bush believes Jewish settlements on the West Bank and in Gaza are obstacles to peace, that their construction must be halted and their dismantlement begun. As housing minister, Sharon was father to many of these Sharonvilles and has continued to expand them even during this intifada. And Effi Eitam did not come in to Sharon's coalition to help tear down Jewish settlements.
Whatever one may say of him, the soldier Sharon is a serious man who will go down fighting for what he believes is vital to his country. Does the president have the toughness or tenacity to bend such a man to America's will, or break him, if he believes it vital to America's interests? We're going to find out.
In his coming clash with the president over the terms of a Mideast peace, Sharon sees his place in history, his life's work and his country's survival in the balance. And the politics of the issue dictate that Sharon stand firm. After the Passover massacre, his war on the Palestinians has sent his stock soaring. Some 72 percent of Israelis back his assault on the West Bank cities and camps, and he has become again the most popular man in all of Israel. Why should he back down to George W. Bush?
What leverage does the president have in a showdown with Sharon? If he threatens to withhold the $3 billion in foreign aid Israel annually receives, the president will face a firestorm in Congress and in his own party. Already, his call for Sharon to pull out of the West Bank is tearing at the seams of his political coalition.
Many conservative Christians back Sharon's war. The neocons, who rule the op-ed pages, run the little magazines and contribute most of the TV talking heads, side with Sharon. Conservative talk radio is against Bush on Israel. If the president wants to assess the media firepower he faces, he might look at "Alterman's List," that roster of media heavies ? drawn up by Nation magazine's Eric Alterman ? who reflexively back Israel in any dispute with the Palestinians.
Tony Blankley, one of the wiser heads among Washington pundits, believes the president sent Powell to the Mideast to show the Arabs he is doing his best to restrain Israel and has little expectation of success. But when a president puts his credibility on the line like this and is brushed off, he is diminished before the world.
As of today, it appears that, like Lola, whatever Israel wants, Israel gets ? and Sharon knows it. And now so, too, does George W. Bush.
If the president is not to be seen in the Arab world as Sharon's poodle, he is going to have to stand up one day on his hind legs and bite his perceived master. Is he up to it? Again, we're going to find out.
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You know well as I that this withdrawal from the West Bank is premature. That some Pallie killers and terror mongers will escape the reach of the IDF. Israel really needs two more weeks to clean up this mess.
If bush says jump and sharon jumps, its because this is a team-type JUMP rope contest. Bush-Sharon vs. 15 arabs dressed in bedsheets-and an arafat who has not had a bath in a month or more....
Israel WILl go too far. it is EXPECTED. Once the threat is removed, we can go into Iraq... What, did the patsies think we could go into IRAQ with hezbollah nailbombing Israel for attacking their lord and savior Sadaam Whosinsane?
EVERYBODY with an IQ over fifty KNOWS we had to go into the west bank to find and remove the dirty nukes that were rumored to be there. Sadaam and ARafatty were planning to blow the big J... if we attacked Sodom... Big J, being Jerusalem...
I think we ought to also insist that Israel go to where the arabs would place the bomb for maximum impact... the dome of the rock mosque... in an attempt to bomb the center of jewish and Christian faith... Search that mosque...
That's where I think the dirty nukes are. It's a perfect place for the "abomination that makes desolate", in biblical terms...
Sharon does not use a strip of toilet paper without us knowing. He and Bush probably even use the same brand. I hope Bush does follow through and if no reasonable arab leadership comes forward as Bush warned it must... I hope he scuttles the Oslo accords. as in no hope for a palestinian state in our time...
AFTER we take sodom's hydra down of course.
How is it Pat's business who is in Sharon's cabinet? Nothing like a strong Zionist like Sharon to get the Imam Corner in a dither. :) Bush has no problem with Sharon. Both strong leaders. I'd like to see Pat support Bush though. Support his President.
When israel is within THREE minutes jet fighter time from Syria and Lebanon... and six of Saudi Arabia... They cannot possibly consider standing down for a period of peace... it would be suicide.
I think Israel needs to be expanded.
I dont think there should EVER be a palestian state, unless it is a demilitarized zone in eastern jordan and the egyptian pennisula, with security rights for Israel.
It's not up to me though.
Muslims have NEVER willingly sacrificed a mosque. Not once!
Also it is probably among the most Israeli-watched sites. How would enough of anything get smuggled in to make a bomb?
Maybe, but you have to go back a couple weeks and Israel said they need two weeks and we're close to that now. Bush and Sharon made this plan when Sharon was in the US last month.
Last week their defense minister said they said they needed 4-6 weeks and two days ago on Fox they were saying 2 weeks per town X 160 so you see it can go on for years. This ain't gonna happen no matter how much rope the US gives them.
They will enter another phase next week and this is where Bush will have to stay tough. I think by Rice's comments a few days ago where she said "The Bush Plan" takes priority on terrorism will mean Yasser will have to act or he's toast !
I wish. But the toaster is being maxed out in Afghanistan.
Personally, I think we should unbolt the UN building, helicopter it to Jerusalem and make the city a living museum. We could have the blue helmets guard the city and make it a really fine tourist destination.
Not trying to mess with you but I don't remember this two weeks you talk about. Not at all. But could be true. My own feeling is events take on a life of their own....And this is what has happened with Israel's massive incursion into the West Bank. This has TREMENDOUS support within Israel and is a real morale booster.
Something that really should have been done a year ago or more.
Notice the UN resolution said Israel must withdraw from the cities...? That means that the EU/UN consents to Israel surrounding the cities.
Israel takes a step back, and now the Arabs have to take a step forward. As I said a few days ago, since the Eurosnots are in the mood to appease, let them appease Sharon!
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