The shakshuka government

[bemildred]

Minister Aharon Uzan once said about the collapsing
Menachem Begin government: "This isn't a
government; it's a shakshuka, a slapdash dish of
eggs and leftovers." The unbearable lightness with
which the cabinet decided to cut National
Insurance Institute allowances, and Netanyahu's
hasty retreat, actually shows a government that is
more slapstick than slapdash. It's the government
that is incapable of killing Sheikh Ahmed Yassin,
but manages to revive Yasser Arafat and that
discusses the state budget as if it were haggling
in a Persian bazaar.

Since when does a chief of staff
say publicly that cutting the
defense budget is an earthquake
of Yom Kippur War proportions?
Since when does an air force
commander threaten to ground
planes? Since when do defense
officials threaten to shut down
the Arrow missile, the spy
satellite, and the Merkava V4
produciton line? The health minister threatens
that doctors will have to pick and choose among
who will live or die in the hospitals.

Haaretz

[Jim Sagle]

1. Ay, caramba!

[bemildred]

2. Two more paragraphs:

This government never examined why, if Arafat is
the be all and end all, it isn't worth trying
to talk with him. Why hasn't a single minister
stood up and asked why Sharon out of hand
rejected the cease-fire proposal from Jibril
Rajoub and Abu Ala, without even bringing it to
the government for consideration?

In his day, Moshe Dayan coined the phrase that
"a people cannot raise the security flag and
the social flag at the same time." That is true
today. As long as the political uncertainty
remains, and Sharon behaves like a lone ruler
without an opposition, sticking to his policy
of gaining time and rejecting a mass evacuation
of the settlements, he dictates to the country
a future of more war, more terror, more
economic destruction, unemployment and poverty.
The question is, where is the government, and
its responsibility to the public?

[Gimel]

3. Settlements

Although it's not so easy, the settlements will be gradually removed. A settlement freeze is difficult to impose. Mass evacuation? May happen, but only within the framework of a peace agreement. In the meantime, the decision to put Ariel and other borderline settlements within or without of the security fence is an issue of both security and social interest.

[dfong63]

4. why do you expect it to get easier in the future?

Although it's not so easy, the settlements will be gradually removed. A settlement freeze is difficult to impose.

if even a freeze is difficult now, how will it be easier to implement a gradual removal later? the problem is getting bigger with time.