Posted on 06/15/2007 8:35:56 AM PDT by SJackson
WASHINGTON: Bush administration officials said that they had been discussing the idea of largely acquiescing in the takeover of Gaza by the militant Islamic group Hamas and trying instead to help the Fatah Party of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, retain its stronghold in the West Bank.
The United States had quietly encouraged Abbas to dissolve the Palestinian government and dismiss Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, steps that Abbas announced Thursday, administration officials said. Before the announcement, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Abbas to reiterate U.S. support for the move, they said.
"President Abbas has exercised his lawful authority as the president of the Palestinian Authority, as the leader of the Palestinian people," Rice said. "We fully support him and his decision to try and end this crisis of the Palestinian people and to give them an opportunity for - to return to peace and a better future."
The state of emergency that Abbas announced has underscored the widening rift separating Gaza, where Hamas has largely routed Fatah's forces, and the West Bank, where Abbas still has a strong base. But diplomats and Middle East experts said a "West Bank first" strategy might now be the last option for Rice to salvage something from her plans to push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
The State Department insisted that the United States had no plans to abandon Palestinians living in Gaza.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
We need the one-Grant solution to the strip (as in Ulysses S.) Note I am a Southerner saying this so I do not mean to be unsympathetic to those poor besiged in MS.
But really The Vicksburg Plan looks good to me. Yea Hamas has the strip. Yea they are surrounded. They should be made to enjoy it about like the Vicksburg residents enjoyed their visit by General Grant. No money, food, etc. sent in. Leave one way or the other.
That is what should be in store for Hamastan.
We should offer to assist a counter-attack by Fatah with transport and airstrikes. Offer to move the “Presidential Guard” to Gaza to “restore order.”
I look at it like comparing the Romans and the Mongols - both were bloodthirsty and vicious, but I know which one I’d have a better chance making some form of peace with.
The goal of U.S. security assistance is to help create the conditions necessary to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace via the Roadmap. _-- Keith Dayton, US Security Coordinator
Yes, they created conditions alright. They gave arms, equipment and money to Fatah... and guess who has it now. What conditions are they going to pursue next? You can't negotiate with people determined to destroy you. When will these people get it?
I’ll be honest, I held on for a long time because the guy had an ‘R’ after his name. My philosophy was basically “Well at least he’s not Gore or Kerry”, but what kind of philosophy is that? I’ve had enough of RINOs. 2008 is time to take a real scrub brush to the stains in the GOP toilet.
Thanks for the smile :)
I like the idea, too, but I think a few more elements need to happen first.
There needs to be more Hamas-Fatah violence. There are enough Fatah fighters underground in Gaza to do some serious damage until Hamas liquidates them. This liquidation inspires Fatah to do the same to eliminate Hamas elements from the West Bank. I can't see it getting completed for at least several months, there will be Fatah dug deeply into Gaza, and Hamas with terror cells in the West Bank that will be tough to extinguish.
Further, Israel does not have the will to go medieval on Hamas in Gaza right now. Now that Hamas is through with the majority of fighting Fatah (future skirmishes are going to be mere reactions to Fatah guerrilla activity) they will turn towards Israel. They'll be desperate, because international aid will be completely cut off.
Once Israel decides that enough Israeli lives have been lost from tolerating Hamas, then they'll finish depopulating the place, which is what they should have done last summer. They need enough dead Israelis to justify it to the world, and they need to have no Western country have any allies of any kind in Gaza.
When you start with a flawed premise, regardless of the number of personnel, the size of budget, or degree of enthusiasm assigned to address the situation, you are going to get a flawed result.
Nice - two of three of your images come with “Photobucket.com BAndwidth Exceeded” graphics instead of your pictures...
seems like this would be a good place for a few Iraqi Army battalions to prove their worth, if any....
It’s time to air drop a 24 hour notice of evacuation to all who desire peace to leave for transit camps in Egypt. After 24 hours, begin the bombing.....and don’t stop.
The CIA had its chance and lost.
Now its up to the IDF to finish the job.
Yeah - the moderate in me has given in to the only thing which will work - placing fear in the terrorists that their families will now suffer and die if they do not accept a rational compromise for peace and cooperation with Fatah and Israel.
Bomb out “Islamic rule.”
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
So for the last Billion Bucks “invested” in the Religion of Peace in Palestine, along with a lot of military hardware we are about to reap again another bounty from trying to make deals with evil.
American guns, and American bullets, killing American troops who are defending Islam.
Insane...
There is no reason for the US *not* to recognize Hamas if it recognizes Fatah. They are identical in their goals. That Fatah wants to kill Jews for secular social and cultural Muslim reasons while Hamas wants to kill Jews for explicitly religious Muslim reasons makes no difference to the intended victims.
If you’re in bed with the devil you can’t get *more* in bed with the devil.
Now that Fatah is wiped out, we have lost our only political connection with Iran. For Ahbinanutjob and the US State Department were both backing the same terrorist group with Arms and Money in Israel...
Pretty bad company we keep. Genocidal Nutjob was helping our genocidal nutjobs kill Jews in Israel.
And, after all the Billions of Tax dollars thrown to baby killers, along with CIA sniper training, and tens of thousands of machine guns and tons of bullets, the Palestinian army of 50,000 men are wiped out in five days by 15,000 Hamas.
That means that every Hamas member now has 5 extra guns, and 1.5 of them are US made and paid for by your taxes.
Kinda warms your tummy like a stiff shot of battery acid with a clorox chaser.
What mind???? He never had one!!!!
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