Out of Gaza - and into Jerusalem

[newyorican]

Ariel Sharon is a master of manoeuvres, writes Lindsey Hilsum. While the world watches the withdrawal from Gaza, he is creating and expanding settlements in more strategic areas

The feint is an old military trick - the general sends a section of his forces to distract the enemy, so the battalions heading for the real target meet little resistance. Watch out for the feint in the Middle East in the coming week. Television news all over the world will show dramatic scenes of Israeli settlers in orange T-shirts being forced to leave the Gaza Strip, in what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon calls a "painful sacrifice" for peace. Thirty-two thousand soldiers and police are being sent to remove 8,200 settlers, by force if necessary. Viewers will see Jewish settler women dragged kicking and screaming from land Israel has occupied since 1967.

But Sharon is an old general, a master of manoeuvres. While we are reporting the demise of the Gaza settlements, he is presiding over the creation and expansion of settlements in more strategically important areas, where few are watching. According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, 3,981 new "housing units" are under construction in the occupied West Bank. At the same time, the Israeli government is building apartments and infrastructure on the outskirts of Jerusalem, to consolidate its hold over the city both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital.

read more...

[H5N1]

1. Sharon the liar is full of the boo shit once again

he takes ten when he gives one

[Jim Sagle]

34. Ariel's da man, doin' the best he can...to make the world a better place.

:beer:

[Behind the Aegis]

2. .

Israel is undertaking the disengagement plan as a means to ensure its own security and improve conditions on the ground. In no way does this preclude further negotiations with the Palestinians or further Israeli territorial concessions.

The disengagement was initiated when prospects for negotiations with the Palestinians were very bleak. The Israeli Government believed that given the Palestinian Authority’s collusion with the campaign of terrorism there was no hope for a mutually negotiated agreement. At the same time, the Israeli Government realized that something needed to be done – even if it was done by Israel alone – to change the situation on the ground and enhance Israel’s long term security. While it was understood that the disengagement from Gaza would be painful and difficult given the uprooting of Israeli settlements and its inhabitants, it was believed it was the bold step Israel needed to make. A disengagement from Gaza would free the army from protecting 8,000-plus Israeli settlers living in the midst of Palestinian population of over a million (and demographic studies show, quickly growing). It was also stressed that this move was intended to improve the life of Gaza Palestinians who would no longer have to deal with Israeli soldiers or Israeli settlements in their midst.

From his first announcement of the disengagement plan in December 2003, Prime Minister Sharon stated that it was not the end of bilateral negotiations with the Palestinians, stating: “The Roadmap is the only political plan accepted by Israel, the Palestinians, the Americans and a majority of the international community. We are willing to proceed toward its implementation: two states – Israel and a Palestinians state – living side by side in tranquility, security and peace.”

While the disengagement was initially intended to be a unilateral Israeli action, improved relations with the Palestinian Authority following the death of Yasir Arafat have led to cooperation with the Palestinians to try to ensure a smooth transition to full Palestinian control of the area. This cooperation bodes well for the potential for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations should the Palestinian Authority take real and sustained steps to stop terrorist attacks. In the context of those negotiations, successive Israeli prime ministers, including Prime Minister Sharon, have stated that Israel must make painful territorial concessions in the search for peace.

[newyorican]

3. You might be...

a prolific writer, but I wouldn't know. What is evident is that you are a prolific cut'n'paster, but you really should give proper credit to the real source for "your" words.

The second response down looks very familiar. Are you aware of an embarassing incident that occurred to Joe Biden?

[Behind the Aegis]

4. That's where I c/p'ed from...

...I wasn't intending to pass it off as mine, as my style is much different. I left off the quotation marks. I posted too quickly and thought I had put them and didn't 'proof-read.' It is also the reason I didn't title the piece because it wasn't "my piece." Normally, I will place quotes and put the entire piece in italics. So, I didn't even c/p correctly.

[TomClash]

5. Were the sources of this cut and paste intentionally left out?

Even though you replied to Newyorican's post, you never did credit the author(s).

As for his suggestion of plagiarsim, well . . . I'll let your actions speak for themselves.

"Duck, the water fowl, not the action."

[Behind the Aegis]

6. The reply was the credit to the site he listed.

There were no "authors," only the site. Had I seen his post in time, I would have gone back and edited, but an hour had passed.

Personally, your assessment of me is inconsequential to my life. I know a "duck" when I hear one quacking!

[Name removed]

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[TomClash]

16. Advice heeded! nt

[Tinoire]

14. Not to mention dearly departed Jem n/t

[Violet_Crumble]

15. Goodness! That was a blast from the past!

I still remember that 'incident'!

[Englander]

17. Is this an example of plagiarism?

I'd like to think that a poster at DU wouldn't do such
a thing,but the question has to be asked.

There's no title,or quotation marks,or link to ADL,or
mention of the fact that this has been ripped from
ADL,& all or any of the above would give a signal to
anyone reading the post that the words were taken from
the ADL website,& were not those of the poster.

How would anyone reading the post know that the paragraphs
had,in fact been taken from the ADL activist's guide,& were
not those of the poster? It would appear at first glance
that the words presented were written by the poster,while in fact
they are taken from ADL. Isn't that plagiarism,attempting to pass
off someone else's work as your own?

[Lithos]

33. No, it is not considered as such

I think it was rather obvious it was culled from an external source - the style and content made it rather obvious. Plus there was no effort to call it his own body of work.

As for demarcating elements, it is far too common an event to see posts where no such material is used.

If there was a pattern you might have a case, but based on this singular event, no.

I think it is time for this to move on.

Lithos
I/P Forum Moderator

[Tinoire]

13. You beat me to it. Excellent article.

Original thought follows, in other words not weekly talking points but straight from my own head, heart and mouth.
--

I especially commend the ending of this astute article:

As the Gaza disengagement proceeds, the louder and more violent the protests by the settlers and their supporters, the better it is for Sharon. Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun explained it to Israel's Haaretz newspaper: "Sharon needs national trauma to impress upon the Israeli public and the international community that it is impossible to do this again."

(snip)

Watch the television pictures, and see Israel withdrawing from Gaza. Listen to the Israeli commentators, talking of historic events and the pain of abandoning the settlements. Then look at these maps, and it will all make sense.

This is another one of Sharon's heart-breaking charades which I'm sorry, I don't find amusing at all, especially not to the tune of an extra 2 billion a year in foreign "aid" from the US so that he can "compensate" the settlers for the loss of their colonialist life-style.

The only good thing about this charade is that it proves that settlements can be dismantled and that they must ALL be dismantled.

O, I wish I was in Dixie... hooray, hooray,
In Dixie Land I'll take my stand
To live and die in Dixie
Away, away,
Away down south in Dixie...

What Sharon considers "painful concessions" are nothing more than itsy bitsy baby steps towards justice.

[JohnLocke]

23. Hmm

I'm sorry, I don't find amusing at all, especially not to the tune of an extra 2 billion a year in foreign "aid" from the US so that he can "compensate" the settlers for the loss of their colonialist life-style.

What's wrong with that? Paying the $2 billion is in American strategic interests--the compensation assistance helped in ensuring an orderly pullout from Gaza, which in turn reduces Arab-Palestinian resentment of the U.S. and Israel, preventing terrorist attacks. That $2 billion, to me, seems like money well spent--a good return on investment.

Not to mention, of course, that $2 billion is chump change for the federal government, which had $2.2 trillion in the FY 2004 budget). If my calculation is correct, that's only 0.002 percent of the budget.

[newyorican]

24. Paying anyone...

to return stolen property is foolish. It only encourages the ethically challenged and other raving nutters to rush into the West Bank and steal even more land in hopes of an even bigger payday.

If not for those trees we might just see the forest...

[JohnLocke]

25. Foolish thinking

Even if we accept that the land has been "stolen" (which is, of course, a ridiculous statement), the situation is dire enough to forgo all realism. The Israeli-Palestinian situation is the harshest sort of realpolitik. If the world doesn't grasp this than peace will never be realized.

[newyorican]

26. Your position is clear...

"...the situation is dire enough to forgo all realism."

[JohnLocke]

27. Typo

I meant "idealism."

[Jim Sagle]

36. Money well spent...FNA right!

:beer:

[Jim Sagle]

35. What a twisted mis-application of anti-segrationist folklore - using it

against a people who simply want to live in peace. For shame!

[tucoramirez2005]

18. Wishful thinking

It's over.

[pelsar]

19. the irony...

of course the irony of it all is that the palestenains in the jihad movements all like sharon..calling him a "mans man" someone they can deal with........

[tucoramirez2005]

20. The average Palestinian just wants

his house back.

Sharon and the Palestinians understand each other perfectly; they know it's till death (with or without a pullout from Gaza, or the West Bank, or the Temple Mount, or Jerusalem, etc. etc. etc.).

[eyl]

21. In which case

I really don't think you'd like the inevitable conclusion

[Violet_Crumble]

28. Yeah...

..and I agree with you what the inevitable conclusion would be.

Violet...

[tucoramirez2005]

29. I have no stake in it at all

The inevitable conclusion is unfolding in front of us, and many people not directly involved in the situation seem quite content to let nature take its course.

[eyl]

31. Well, you certainly seem to be rooting

for the Palestinians.

And if they insist on turning the clock back to before 1967 (at most) - they may be seriously...disappointed...by the response.

[tucoramirez2005]

32. I don't care who wins

I don't want US tax dollars spent on either side.

[barb162]

22. the two state solution is just people mouthing words

at each other?

[tucoramirez2005]

30. Isn't that obvious?

The "2 state solution" has been rejected by Palestinians since 1947; why would they accept it now?

They're confident they'll win, and they have nothing but time.