Another sign that the Gaza withdrawal will bring no peace. From AP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
An explosion hit a vehicle of the Multinational Force and Observers on Monday, wounding two peacekeepers near Rafah, raising tension as Israel withdraws from the Palestinian territory, MFO and Egyptian security officials said.Egyptian security officials said two Canadian women serving in the MFO were wounded, however the Interior Ministry reported no casualties....
Local security officials said the explosion at about 8 a.m. badly damaged the vehicle carrying MFO members, who were leaving the airport where they had been based, 15 kilometers from Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
Senior Egyptian security officials in Cairo said the two wounded were Canadian women sergeants, one of which had been injured in her foot. The spokesman for the Canadian Embassy in Cairo, Ulrich Shannon, said he could not confirm any casualties.
The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Egyptian security officials at the scene said it was caused either by a land mine or bomb. The detonation was so powerful that it was heard in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority officials told The Associated Press.
I understand that they interviewed one of the Palestinian "soldiers" who said that Gaza was their short term goal. When asked what their long term goal was, the reply was "Jerusalem".
What a sad situation for the Israeli people.
It will be a miracle if the Israeli withdrawl from Gaza goes smoothly.
The palistinians will quickly move in arms & militants, consolidate borders. 6 months from now, co-ordinated attacks will begin. Israel will go through 3-6 months of internal, political turmoil. As death toll mounts, citizens will demand total eradication of Gaza population.
The hot war is about to begin.
Posted by: wannabersc at August 15, 2005 10:08 AM
I'm afraid you're right. It will be downhill all the way now; I hope Bush and his mouthpiece Rice are happy. I have lost all faith in the Bush administration's competence in Middle Eastern affairs. The people who convinced Bush that this is a fair and reasonable maneuver are incompetent fools, and I hope the backlash slaps them all out of jobs.
They probably think that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict revolves around land, not religion, and that Israel is a huge, massive country, created from stolen "Palestinian" land. How did truth and history become so distorted that even world leaders believe the fabrications and lies of the most depraved, xenophobic, sociopathic, savage group of sub-humans on the planet, the "Palestinian refugees?"
Poor little Israel; this is so sad, unfair, and so utterly in vain. It makes me want to cry.
SusanP
How did they do it, indeed. Quite a massive PR campaign, formally launched when Arafat made his first appearance before the UN and by sticking to a simple message, however dishonest, of a people who were uprooted from lands that were their home since time immemorial.
The Israeli narrative being a much more complicated one, and Israelis no longer being seen as the underdogs, lost the world's rather fickle sympathies.
The only glimmer of hope in all of this is reflected in a not very well known phenom that started a while before Arafat's demise, when all the EU diplomats in the West Bank quietly told the PA that if they didn't put an end to the murder of unarmed civilians that they should look elsewhere for a shoulder to cry on when the Israelis struck back by killing off Hamas leaders, etc.. And then there's the impact of Islamist activities on the Continent as well, that makes them look a lot less cuddly and sympathetic.
If the terrorism continues despite the withdrawal, as it no doubt will, it is quite possible that the jaundiced feelings that have started to set in among Palestiniophiles will really take hold, and the pendulum will swing back.