U.S. demanding Israel formally accept road map

Ha'aretz ^ | 05-22-03

[adam_az]

You are mistaken.

Do some research and learn the difference between a loan guarantee and a check.

[yonif]

The June 24 speech said they must fight terror or no support for state or anything like the roadmap. Looks like Bush forgot what he said.

[CyberAnt]

I just don't believe this in the first place, and in the second place, the rag it's printed in is also suspect. Bush really understands Israel's right to defend itself.

The PA just want Israel to accept the road map so they can hold it over Israel's head - while the PA does not keep any of its requirements. We all know how this works - except the PA.

[yonif]

The problem has always been that Palestinians want all of the West Bank with the Jewish people gone and the Jewish people want all of the West Bank and all the Palestinian people gone.

Ahh, no. You have the Oslo Accords, and the offers made by Barak to prove that.

[yonif]

I meant to disprove it.

[yonif]

And, the PLO was founded in 1964, 3 years BEFORE ISRAEL EVEN TOOK CONTROL OF THE TERRORTORIES

[yonif]

Maybe Israel won't be able to accept America's next multi-billion dollar annual stipend as well. I support the President on this initiative.

So your saying because of the loans the US gives Israel, Israel has to do what ever the US wants her to do? Israel will not negotiate with terrorists. You support Bush on this? Then tell him to go negotiate with Al Queda, and that he should have negotiated with the Taliban.

[yonif]

Great idea! Next year lets have the Israelis help themselves and send us twelve billion instead. That works for me.

Israel has never defulted on any of its loans.

[yonif]

I just don't want to send them all twelve billion dollars a year and have them spit in my face when we ask them to try to find peace with their neighbors.

What are you talking about? Most of the aid is in the form of loans, which have ALWAYS been repaid.

[Phil V.]

THE JERUSALEM POST'S TAKE



May. 22, 2003
US wants Israel to implement 'road map'
By HERB KEINON

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With the road map stalled because of the recent terror wave, the US is trying to get Israel to begin implementing part of the diplomatic plan without completely endorsing it, according to diplomatic officials.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who has said he accepts the plan, has made clear that he will not begin implementing Palestinian obligations under the plan until Israel gives it a full-throated endorsement

According to these officials, the US is aware that the road map as it stands now, without incorporating into it any of Israel's 15 objections, would have little chance of gaining Israeli cabinet approval.

As such, the US is calling on Israel to make some steps along the road map without fully endorsing it. The US, according to these sources, does not believe Israel's reservations to the plan are enough of a reason not to move forward on the plan, but also realizes that without Palestinian action against the terrorism, Israel can not be expected to make any dramatic gesture to the Palestinians.

Right now, one official said, "the Americans are thinking hard on how to get this whole thing unstuck. "This, he said, is the subject of the talks Dov Weisglass, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau chief, is currently having in Washington. Weisglass was scheduled to meet National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice last night.

Israeli officials said one possible way to bridge the gap between the Israel demand that its reservations be taken into account, and a US reluctance to open the whole plan for renegotiation, is to add side-letters or rephrase parts of the document. Both the Palestinians and the EU are adamantly opposed to changes in the document, and are demanding Israeli acceptance as is.

The US, according to diplomatic officials, is trying to extract a formula from Sharon beyond his oft-repeated expression that Israel accepts Bush's June 24th speech and vision of two states. In American eyes the problem with this statement is that it implies a vast difference between the road map and the Bush vision, something Bush Administration spokesman have repeatedly denied.

Israel has indicated to the US it is willing to take some humanitarian measures called for under the road map that do not endanger Israeli security, but that it can't be expected to lift closures at a time when there are between 50 to 60 terror warnings a week.

"If the Palestinian Authority would start to take some action against terrorism, it would have been much easier for us to take the steps to ease restrictions on them,"one senior Israeli official said.

But rather than PA action against terrorism, Israeli officials say that what has become apparent over the last few days has been the involvement of outside forces in continuing to stir up trouble inside the territories with fingers pointed at Iran, through their Hizbullah proxies.

One reason there are so many terror alerts right now, according to these officials, is that there is a constant flow of money and weaponry coming in from aboard. With the loss of Saddam Hussein as a supporter of the terrorist infrastructure, Iran according to these sources -- is rushing in to fill the gap.

The official said that Palestinian suicide bombers have become an important symbolic tool for recruiting suicide bombers in other parts of the world, one of the reasons the Iranians are so keen on seeing that the situation here does not calm down.

The official said that the appointment of Abbas has made it unlikely that Israel will launch a major military offensive akin to last year's Operation Defensive Shield to combat the current wave of terror.

The official described the current situation as a "very complex and delicate situation that could easily deteriorate into chaos."He said that escalation does not serve Israel's interest, and that Israel does not want to be blamed by the US for scuttling the chances of Abbas ever taking over effective control.

[yonif]

Gee, I thought the Palestinians were already doing everything humanly possible to fight terrorism.

And the mere fact they say this shows that they are letting terrorism happen in the first place !!

[yonif]

That's no doubt why they keep building settlements there.

The land is disputed not occupied. Jordan and Egypt gave up claims to those areas after the 1967 war. Why do you think they didn't want it back after the peace treaties with Israel? So if the land is occupied, what country's land is Israel occupying?

[yonif]

Do some research and learn the difference between a loan guarantee and a check.

Bingo.

[CyberAnt]

The Jerusalem Post is really the only mideast paper I believe in. Sounds like they have it correct.

[Phil V.]

RENEW YOUR VALLIUM PRESCRIPTION. . . . please?

[clockwork]

Yes I support the President, I'm sorry you don't.

[dalereed]

"This has Colin Powell's name written all over it."

Israel should tell Powell to take his road map and roll it up and stick it where the sun doesn't shine!

Then tell him to go stand in front of a bulldozer!

[UnBlinkingEye]

Do you think that Jews should not be allowed to live in Samaria, Judea, or Gaza?

I think Jewish people should live wherever they want as long as they pay rent or buy the property. However the current Israeli government seems to have adopted a policy of taking land and killing the residents.

[Mo1]

Exactly. Give the demands some life...watch them be altered and rejected...move to the next stage without the previous rejectors.

Trying to analyze President Bush's approach before it's actually executed is an act of futility. He's two or three steps ahead of anyone trying to interpret what he's doing.

After watching the President the last couple of years, I'd have to agree

I do have a sutpid question .. Has it been reported what Sharon is willing to accept and agree to?

[UnBlinkingEye]

Israel has never defulted on any of its loans.

You forgot to mention that Israel has never been asked to repay any of its loans.