Posted on 05/26/2003 8:24:28 PM PDT by Pokey78
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va.
In the midst of yesterday's stormy six-hour meeting of Israel's cabinet, assembled to reluctantly affirm or angrily reject Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to accede to White House pressure to sign on to a lopsided "road map," a beeper went off in the pocket of an aide.
A message was passed to Sharon: in anticipation that his trust-Bush argument would prevail, the stock market in Tel Aviv had rocketed up nearly 7 percent (equivalent to a 600-point rise in our Dow Jones industrial average).
The former general, who had been relying on his defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, to assuage the cabinet's security concerns, promptly launched a second front: "Hope is important," Sharon (in a Sunday midnight telephone interview) recalls saying. "Cuts in the budget alone won't help us. What we need is, first, quiet, and the start of the political process."
That may have made the difference. Although 11 members voted no or abstained, 12 were willing to gamble on Sharon's trust in Bush. "It was not an easy meeting," he says. "I decided not to postpone until we could be sure of the vote, but to take the risk because Israel must not be looked upon as an obstacle to the search for peace. What President Bush said the other day affected me — that he was fully committed for the security of the state of Israel. Maybe now there is a possibility to move forward."
As the vote showed, hard-liners are worried about "Arik": He had insisted on "quiet" — an end to terror attacks — before negotiating, but then changed that to "100 percent effort" by new Palestinian leaders. Sharon had also insisted on evidence beforehand of a campaign to disarm and pacify Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but he was willing to hold private talks during a spate of suicide bombings. Sharon had spurned negotiation as long as Palestinians asserted claims to return en masse to Israel, but even as they kept putting forward that non-starter, he met with the new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas.
"I discussed security with Abu Mazen a week ago. I offered him this: if they can't gain control of all the areas, take responsibility for just a section of the front, and we will not be acting in that area. But he was bothered only by the road map.
"I'll see him again during the next few days and we'll continue to talk on how to act against terror. That's the important thing in the performance-based plan. That's the condition for progress between and within the phases. That Arafat controls most of the armed forces is a problem."
Sharon's critics point to the road map itself, drawn up mainly by European and U.N. Arabists and swallowed by our State Department.
"Fourteen points we brought to the attention of the White House will be implemented together with the road map," Sharon says in defense of his approval. "The U.S. said these are real concerns that will be addressed `fully and seriously.' We attached those 14 points to our government's resolution, and that provided us with a certain feeling of security. That, and the friendship and deep strategic cooperation that exists between our two countries."
That's like a side letter to an agreement, which the Palestinians and Europeans brush off (though President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points was the basis of a peace conference ending World War I). Sharon would add a 15th objection: "the removal of references to U.N. resolutions other than 242 and 338, and the Beirut conference. We cannot live with Arab League resolutions."
Especially sticky is the claim of refugees to land fled from a half-century ago, which Arabs call a "right of return." Palestinians want to kick hundreds of thousands of Jewish "settlers" out of a future Palestine while inserting an even greater number of Muslims into Israel. Jews find that a deal-breaker.
Bush may include a summit meeting with Abbas and Sharon (not in Egypt) if the Palestinian shows a willingness and ability to confront Arab terrorists. Media and European pressure is on Bush to lean on Israel to trade security for the appearance of peace.
"I am willing to go far for a durable peace," said the Israeli leader last night, "but I will make no compromise on security. We are a very small country whose people are prepared to defend themselves by themselves. My historical responsibility is to preserve that capability."
Just because you have no faith doesn't give you the right to go around accusing others of your weakness.
Don't bother addressing me again. I have no time for people like you.
Who -- them?
The terrorists amongst Palis get rewarded with removal.
The rest of them get to live where they were born, in a seperate state.
Something has to be done, and yet you would stand aside while innocent Jews are killed every day.
You have seen a roadmap that is old and worn out presented and you instantly assume that means something. With God in charge, the map means nothing, it's the driver and the vehicle that matter.
We have watched as miracle after miracle has happened over the last year and a half, I have no reason to believe that God has changed His mind on the future of Israel and suddenly He, or the US, will forsake it. I have no reason to believe that George W. Bush, who has proven to be faithful to his word and to the Israeli people, will suddenly abandon them.
The idea that we would abandon the Jews after all we've been through lately is laughable.
I know, you do.
Something has to be done, and yet you would stand aside while innocent Jews are killed every day.
You've got some real problems to accuse me of that, I'm one of the most pro-Israeli people in this forum. Bush's "road map" will only lead to more Jews being killed. The Palestinians want to wipe out the Jewish state of Jews. But Bush seems content to reward them with more of Israel's land. Soon, the time will come when God will say "enough" of this madness.
I don't need to know, I have faith that God is in charge. I also know that Sharon would not be going along with this if it would endanger the Israeli people. I think there are honorable men in charge of both countries and we've already seen that the UN and the EU have been made to look foolish time after time after time. That tells me that there's more to this than meets the eye.
But ye of little faith go ahead and cast your doubts like a dark cloud, the rest of us will be praying for the security of Israel and doing what we can to help these two good men cut through the geordian knot.
Well, time will tell.
MM
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