Fantasy-Based Policymaking Update. Peace is at hand!
By Benny Avni in the New York Sun (thanks to Ruth King):
UNITED NATIONS — A barrage of rockets hit a southern Israeli town yesterday just as Israeli and Palestinian Arab representatives officially launched the diplomacy that was set in motion at Annapolis last month, leading the mayor of Sderot to tender his resignation in protest, and many other Israelis to wonder about a familiar linkage between peace diplomacy and an increase in violence.The dramatic resignation was announced during a live interview on Israel Radio's popular "Morning Show," when Mayor Eli Moyal said he could not "face alone" the rocket attacks on Sderot, Hamas's most frequent target since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Israel's army chief of staff, General Gabi Ashkenazi, said yesterday that the military is weighing a large-scale operation to seize land in Gaza. But a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity told The New York Sun that Prime Minister Olmert's Cabinet, which dedicated its meeting yesterday to the unending rocket attacks from Gaza, ordered no such an operation yet.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, made a clear distinction between the current diplomacy and that of the 1990s, often characterized by a late prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, as "we will conduct peace talks as if there is no terror and fight terror as if there are no peace talks." Unlike Yasser Arafat's tactic of using terrorism to bolster his diplomacy, the officials said, the current Fatah leadership is a real peace partner, while a separate entity, Hamas, strives to undermine successful peace talks.
"Hamas is responsible for the violence that comes out of Gaza, whereas we see the legitimate Palestinian government of Abbas and Fayyad as a true peace partner," Mr. Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, said...
Yes, good luck with that, Regev.
"We will conduct peace talks as if there is no terror..."
How many people will pay the price of this madness with their lives?
I can understand a bit of the suicidal policy of our government since we have an ocean between us. Israel is on the frontline and has a better understanding of the enemy, so why the appeasement?
Elric66,
I've wondered the same thing. Appeasement with the Nazi's only bought them death. Why would anyone think this would be different?
Gee, didn't Condoleezza Rice say something recently about "confidence building?"
livefreeordie!,
Its not like they have anything to cling on to. Isnt insanity defined as doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result every time? How many more times will Israel cling on to the possiblity of peace with the Plais before they realize its just a fantasy?
If I was the mayor, I would have sued Olmert for failing to protect Serdot.
Fatah is a real peace partner? By what standard-
a smaller body count than Hamas?
The difference between Hamas and Fatah is the difference between the SS and the SA.
Pretend peace talks and war going on against Jews at the same time?
It's very simple. The Palestinians have already explained it clearly:
"Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, vanquish the Americans and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one. Oh Allah, show them a day of darkness. Oh Allah, who sent down His Book, the mover of the clouds, who defeated the enemies of the Prophet – defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them." - PA Speaker Ahmed Bahr.
Cause there is nothing to lose, right?
"...we are eager for death..." - PA Speaker Ahmed Bahr.
Yitzhak Rabin: "we will conduct peace talks as if there is no terror and fight terror as if there are no peace talks."
As long as they do the "fight" part, it actually sounds like a good plan.
Olmert, however, has no "fight" in him, and he is therefore a huge enemy of Israel.
Starting at around lunchtime today, Israel should begin fighting like there's no tomorrow, because if they don't fight, there won't be any tomorrow.
At what point did we decide that "palestine" now belongs to the Muslims?
Grasping at straws. A fist full of straws will not keep an nation afloat. Olmert needs to go, he can't even hold on to the few straws he has...
Has someone sent the "Purpose Driven Life" author and pastor a set of links to this material?
To paraphrase a quote from him I read just yesterday: as long as you're talking to the enemy they won't be launching rockets at you.
He needs to stand corrected.
Elric66,
Insanity is EXACTLY the correct way of looking at this.
Nothing- absolutely NOTHING- good came from bargaining with the Nazi's. Nothing good is going to come from bargaining with the moslems. The idea of "Just give them what they want, and they'll leave us alone" didn't work the last time it was tried. I'm not Jewish, and I'm not living in Israel, but seeing this madness take place again absolutely breaks my heart. I just cannot understand how the Jewish people are allowing the same horrors to be set in motion again.
I pray for the people of Israel. I pray that their leaders will open their eyes and see what needs to be done to protect their people. I pray that the blind desire for 'peace and harmony' will be replaced with reason and resolve. I pray that this happens...before it's too late.
My husband continues to beat me and batter me but we are getting counseling. The beatings and the counseling are two separate things. As long as we are 'talking' its good - if I don't die first.
The reason the Israel continues with this insanity is two-fold. One, Israel was founded by leftists and therefore suffers from a certain degree of self-loathing and doubt about their right to exist. Two, pressure from the US.
"Rockets Hit Israeli Town As Jerusalem Talks Begin"
...Islamic rockets, that is.....demonstrating Islamic negotiation tatics....
Trying to find a three state solution, with only two states at the table. The other, put in power by the vote of the people, is told to stay away.
They launch rockets instead.
I'm confused.
1. There is no two state solution.
2. The US is yet again making a monumental mistake by pursuing this and pressurizing only one side.
3. Israel needs to grow some cojones and start defending its people. While it still can. Or should I say: If it still can?
One day the west might wake up and realize that there is a war going on. The other side calls it jihad of which the Israel-Palestinian Authority is just one part.
Until then the insanity of our leaders - who will do anything to appease our enemy - will continue to lead us into the abyss.
Lionheart.