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 ...
I held on to GWB because of the tax policy, pending supreme court justice nominations, respect for the office and the military, anf coattails.
Delivered on ALL points. In the cool-headed analysis 10 years from now (when we still have two Bush appointed conservatives and abortion is illegal), it was the right decision in spades.
As the commercials say on TV,.....
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!
If we act now without delay and supply Abbas with more arms and heavier weaponry, more equipment, more modern and armoured vehicles, and of course, MONEY. LOTS and LOTS of MONEY, we still have a chance to really outfit Hamas the way it would love to be outfitted. In style and with class.
Last week some dumb schmuck Three Star Condi Rice assigned to assist the PA troops, said that they were getting pretty sharp and could, with a little fine tuning, be a significant military force in the area.
We probably had NCOs handing out buckets of cash on every street corner. And CIA Case Officers running at full speed in every direction trying to trip each other’s assets.
Doncha’ just hate it when things like this happen?
I tell you, none of this would have happened except for those miserable labor unions of the JOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSS in Egypt. If they could have negotiated straw for the bricks, the JOOOOOOOOOOOOSSS would not have gotten pissed off and left, re-entering the Land of Israel, and stealing all of the poor Palestianians land, which is what caused all of this crap, in the first place.
Right?
No?
It did NOT happen that way?
OK.
Nevermind.
I’ll give you that, but it sort of reinforces my point to my thinking - Bush’s inaction has been so bad everywhere else that the incredible economy he kick started AFTER 9/11 and his excellent SC appointments are almost completely overshadowed.
Abandon what? This is democracy in action, Mideast style...representative government.
US CONSIDERS accepting it? What else is the US going to DO about it? LOL. “Considers.”
They want Bush to be able to solve every problem right away. There is this new variant of BDS that affects only conservatives. This is the right’s moral equvalent of the left wanting Bush to drive the greyhounds into the Super Dome after katrina to get everyone and to drive them out.
DIRECT FROM THE HAMAS CHARTER:
Preface: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (A quote by Imam Hassan al Banna)
Article 13: “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas
They sure are. Funny how the US thinks that if they treat terrorists (Abbas, Fatah) as a legitimate "government" that they will turn into one magically. And I'll bet we do the same with Hamas.
I would move the few million Jews now living in Israel to New York City where most Jews already live and let the Arabs have Israel. The Nation we call Israel would soon go back to the wilderness and desert it was before the Jews buiilt a modern civilized nation. .
We would benefit saving all of the billions in foreign aid we biw give to the terrorists.
.
except for the fact that Israel, a sovereign nation, with a government and stuff, is full of Israelis who love their country, have a Biblical connection to it, do NOT want to move, would resist such an attempt at moving them with more sophisticated violence and vehemence than you could ever imagine, and finally, who is the United States to even suggest such a dopey initiative such as moving the population of a sovereign nation anywhere against it’s wishes. Outside of that, it's not the stupidest idea I have heard in the last twelve minutes. But it is very close.
We need to change those plans. Now.
L
We need to change those plans. Now.
L
No, Islam will not win this time either.
Nothing. After all, we helped create it by insisting that Hamas participate in the electoral process. Remember, “Considers” means providing aid.
>>We’re gonna acquiesce to Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip.
Do we have any choice in the matter - short of an invasion?<<
I feel a serious reluctance to have American troops intervening in a Palestinian civil was to defend Yassr Arafat’s bloody party. Even against somebody worse.
When are US taxpayers going to be forced to contribute foreign aid to this bunch of terrorists? Or are we already doing this?
How ironic. America ships automatic rifles to its sworn enemies (the "Palestinians") while in America, it's virtually illegal for an American to own one. (Just try buying one!) And to add insult to the injury we Americans have been forced to pay for those "palestinian" guns.
>>When are US taxpayers going to be forced to contribute foreign aid to this bunch of terrorists? Or are we already doing this?<<
Only indirectly - we give money to Egypt and Jordan and then they give a smaller amount to Fatah.
Bush and Rice have told Machmood Abass that he has their support (and our money). What is this? Our administration picks one of the two murderous, vicious terrorist groups to favor hoping that it will subdue the other and bring peace to the region!?!? And when the savages stop killing each other they will turn their weapons toward Israel!
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