Will the bulldozer devour forever?

[newyorican]

The atmosphere in the meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) was charged and tense, reported Sharon's people. In the context of the endless spin, they are interested in presenting Sharon as a firm leader, who doesn't give breaks to any Arab. "He demanded that dismantle the terror infrastructure," they announced with admiration, and the newspapers quoted them enthusiastically. "We didn't give them anything," they emphasized, and the Israeli public emerged satisfied. Look, we gave it to them again. Although we're withdrawing from Gaza, we proved to them who's the boss here and who gets reprimanded.

Sharon, cynic that he is, continued to maneuver on the matter of home demolitions. He is both for and against. Who is as familiar with the soul of the Likud Central Committee members, whose greatest fear is "to come out looking like suckers versus the Arabs," and, therefore, if we have to withdraw, at least let's destroy everything. Let them suffer.

-snip-

The demolition festival was led by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a ministerial consultation held by Sharon about a month ago, Netanyahu enthusiastically supported the demolition. In his opinion, "Leaving the buildings will serve as a great moral victory for the Palestinians - equivalent to `Have you murdered and also inherited?' - and we must prevent a situation in which Palestinian murderers inherit the homes of their victims, and dance on the roofs while calling for the destruction of Israel."

-snip-

After we have demolished thousands of houses in Gaza and on the Philadelphi route, and left families to the mercy of the sun and the rain, Netanyahu and his friends want to strengthen Israel's destructive image in the eyes of every television viewer throughout the world. The hatred that already exists toward Israel and the Jews is not enough for them. They want all the inhabitants of Europe and North America to see the bulldozers turning the houses into piles of ruins, and the Palestinians watching them from their miserable tin shacks. Is there a worse image than that in terms of the Israeli interest? What condemnations will be leveled at Israel for destroying buildings that can serve as vacation villages, hotels, entertainment facilities, universities and conference centers?

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[Jim Sagle]

1. The world needs to quit its bellyachin' and address real problems.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. The most important statement!

"The Palestinians are also vacillating between yes and no." And, therein lies the problem, because no mater WHAT Israel does, it will be the WRONG thing! So, Sharon should pull a King Solomon and "threaten to cut the baby in half!" Stick to a position, until the PA can come to a decision! Sharon needs to lay this at the feet of the PA.

[pelsar]

3. i liked this sentence....

hey want all the inhabitants of Europe and North America to see the bulldozers turning the houses into piles of ruins, and the Palestinians watching them from their miserable tin shacks. Is there a worse image than that in terms of the Israeli interest? What condemnations will be leveled at Israel for destroying buildings that can serve as vacation villages, hotels, entertainment facilities, universities and conference centers?

its the palestenians who want us to bulldoze the settlements to prevent an internal "mini civil war" on who gets what....and the palestenians as a bonus get a great PR photo op:

[Violet_Crumble]

4. The solution seems simple...

Israel doesn't demolish anything that the PA hasn't said it wants demolished. Even better, if anything is to be demolished, then Israel can supply the funding and the PA can take care of the demolition work. I don't get what's so difficult about this...

Violet...

[Behind the Aegis]

5. But that is part of the problem

The PA can't make up their bloody minds! One minute they want one thing, the next, the want the direct opposite. So, they need to get their act together, then present a rational plan.