UN applauds withdrawal plan

[MikeGalos]

In a rare move, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan praised Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday. He said Sharon's words gave new momentum to the peace process.

"I was quite intrigued by Prime Minister Sharon's decision to pull out of Gaza. I think it's a positive development," Annan told reporters. "The withdrawal from Gaza that has been announced by the prime minister — if it does take place — can really give us a very important moment, a new dynamic that can propel the process forward."

Sharon's announcement of his desire to pull out of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip is part of an overall unilateral withdrawal plan he is preparing in advance of his trip to Washington next month. It's expected that the first draft of that plan will be ready next week.

<More at: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1075868619426 >

[MikeGalos]

1. Annan praising Sharon

OK, now I know that Hell has frozen over.

[tinnypriv]

2. Obviously he's unaware of the "compensation package"

Give it time.

[MikeGalos]

3. Ah

he disagrees with you (and, coincidentally the Bush administration) so he must be ignorant...

Yeah. Right.

[tinnypriv]

4. Not me he's disagreeing with

But "Senior sources close to Sharon", who expect to bring the NRP and National Union back onside with their "compensation package".¹

Assuming that happens, we can add to your little list:

Annan in favor
Bush "opposed"
Sharon in favor
National Union in favor
NRP in favor

Now, this would of course mean Annan would have to also be in favor of keeping central settlements in the West Bank, in favor of the current path of the fence, in favor of heavy bombing of the strip even after withdrawal (killing many civilians), in favor of the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in favor of annexing Ma'ale Adumim and the Gush Etzion bloc (likely including Efrat), and in favor of keeping illegal settlements in the WB until Israel agrees at some unspecified point in the future to a "peace agreement".

So yeah, give it time. He won't disagree with the Bush adminstration soon enough, because it will probably accept the Israeli bargain, and change to being in favor of the plan.

So, in a few weeks (assuming the above):

Bush in favor
NRP in favor
National Union in favor
Sharon in favor
Labor alignment in favor (safety net)

Annan opposed
Rest of the world opposed.

It'll be interesting to see which position you subscribe to then.

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1. Caspit, Rappaport. Ma'ariv Hebrew, 4 Feb 2004.

[tinnypriv]

5. Incidentially, for the non-Jpost filtered (i.e. full) remarks of Annan:

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today he was "intrigued" by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to withdraw settlers from Gaza, adding that he was hopeful the move would provide a new dynamic in pushing the Middle East peace process forward.

Reacting to the Israeli leader's announcement, Mr. Annan said he saw the withdrawal from Gaza as a "first essential step," adding, "If it does take place, it can really be a very important moment and a new dynamic that can propel the process forward."

Responding to questions from reporters upon arrival at UN Headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General said the topic of the Middle East was discussed during his meetings yesterday in Washington with top officials from the United States.

"We would want, as the Quartet, to be able to do something to move the process forward," he said, referring to the UN, US, European Union and Russian Federation, which together have sponsored a peace plan known as the Road Map. The plan calls for a series of parallel and reciprocal steps leading to two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace by 2005.

"I was quite intrigued by Prime Minister Sharon's decision to pull out of Gaza. I think it is a positive development, and I hope the Quartet can work with him in implementing that decision," Mr. Annan said, adding that withdrawal from the West Bank would also be required to really fulfil the spirit of land for peace.

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Items in bold not mentioned in the Jpost, which is par for the course, since it thinks nothing of making "nationalistically correct" alterations to wire reports.¹

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1. See for example, 'Israeli Hip-Hop Singer Touches a Nationalist Chord Among Israelis', Associated Press, Dec 2003, and the treatment it received in the Jerusalem Post (one example being that midly critical comments from a Ma'ariv art critic were deliberately excised).