Krauthammer: Withdrawal correct and necessary...
- From: "Count 1" <omnipitus2002@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:18:32 GMT
....and other interesting suggestions.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/charleskrauthammer/ck20050819.shtml
Israeli withdrawal is correct and necessary
Charles Krauthammer
WASHINGTON -- The Israeli abandonment of Gaza is a withdrawal of despair.
Unlike the Oslo concessions of 1993, there is not even the pretense of
getting anything in return from the Palestinians. Nonetheless, unilateralism
is both correct and necessary. Israel has no peace partner -- Mahmoud Abbas
has nothing to offer and has offered nothing -- and in the absence of a
partner, there is only one logical policy: rationalize your defensive lines
and prepare for a long wait.
(...)
The second problem is world reaction to the Gaza withdrawal. Far from Israel
getting any credit for this deeply wrenching action, the demand now is for
yet more concessions -- from Israel. The New York Times called the Gaza
withdrawal ``only the beginning'' and declared sonorously that Ariel Sharon
``must also be forewarned'' that giving up the West Bank must be next.
This is a counsel of folly. The idea that if only Israel made more
concessions and more withdrawals, the Palestinians will be enticed into
making peace is flatly contradicted by history.
We are not talking ancient history here; we are talking the last 12 years.
Under Oslo, Israel made massive, near-suicidal concessions: bringing the PLO
back to life, installing Yasser Arafat in power in the West Bank and Gaza,
permitting him to arm militia after militia, and ultimately offering him (at
Camp David 2000) the first Palestinian state in history, with a shared
Jerusalem and total Israeli withdrawal from 95 percent of the formerly
occupied territories (with Israel giving up some of its own territory to
make the Palestinians whole).
How were these concessions met? With a savage terror war that killed 1,000
Israelis and maimed thousands more.
The Gaza withdrawal is not the beginning but the end. Apart from perhaps
some evacuations of outlying settlements on the West Bank, it is the end of
the concession road for Israel. And it is the beginning of the new era of
self-sufficiency and separation in which Israel ensures its security not by
concessions, but by fortification, barrier creation, realism and patient
waiting.
Waiting for the first-ever genuine Palestinian concessions. Waiting for the
Palestinians to honor the promises -- to recognize Israel and renounce
terrorism -- they solemnly made at Oslo and brazenly betrayed. That's the
next step. Without it, nothing happens.
***
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Krauthammer: Withdrawal correct and necessary...
- From: lanman
- Re: Krauthammer: Withdrawal correct and necessary...
- From: kuff (Isaac Adams)
- Re: Krauthammer: Withdrawal correct and necessary...
- From: Bob Cooper
- Re: Krauthammer: Withdrawal correct and necessary...
- Prev by Date: Re: CAIR and Michael Graham
- Next by Date: Re: Masculinity Challenged, Men Prefer War and SUVs
- Previous by thread: Expanding Polio Epidemic Due to Virulent Muslim Stupidity
- Next by thread: Re: Krauthammer: Withdrawal correct and necessary...
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
