“The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has ordered all contact to be severed with the newly elected Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, until he reins in militants, reports said tonight.”
Yes - the phrase “reports said” should be noted.
Does it strike anyone that Sharon is just a little bit keen to sever talks with Abbas?
Opportunities to break the cycle of killing between the Palestinians and Israelies happen very rarely. Most people reckon that the death of Arafat is one of the best in recent years, so why does Israel seem so keen to throw it all away?
I am in no way defending the militants who shot the 6 Israelies, but sometimes one side just has to grit its teeth and NOT up the ante.
Surely by taking this action ( if true ) Sharon has given a golden ticket to Hamas, PLC etc to carry on the bloodshed if they want to. What is the point in that? They are terrorists. I’m gonna guess they want to kill jews. How about cutting Abbas some slack ( i dont think the guy has even been sworn in yet !), you know - helping the situation instead reinforcing the Arab view that there really is no point in waiting for Israel to do anything positive?
I’ll try to condense this into 1 question - but please respond to any of the above points:
Does Israel have any moral obligation to help Abbas stop the bloodshed or should it carry on as if Arafat were still in charge, and revenge each and every death?
Temporarily suspending ties is almost the very least Sharon can do. Four months ago he would have sent in an armored division.
You have to understand the context, here. By peace-process standards, what Sharon did was almost concillitory. Noie that he said nothing about postponing or cancelling the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, set for May.
" what Sharon did was almost concillitory" - Alessan - could he not do something ACTUALLY conciillatory? An olive branch and all that? This really maybe the best chance you guys have to get some sort of ceasefire.
I understand what you are saying - and you are a lot closer to the madness than me, but at some point someone has to be the bigger man. The withdrawal from Gaza was happening anyway - regardless of Arafat and tit for tat killings. It would be loonacy to stop that plan now.
2 questions for you:
What does not talking to Abbas achieve?
What do you think the Israeli public / press would do if Sharon said nothing and let the shootings pass?
Again - it is easy for me to comment coz i am currently not under threat of harm. However, i spent time in Israel some 10 years ago and the people i knew - although very welcoming - did not strike me as “olive branch” kind of guys. Is this part of the problem too?
Sin
I just wanted to revive this thread - there have been some developments.
See? Baby steps. The thing about big “olive branch” type gestures is that they don’t work, mainly because neuther side can actually deliver on them, yet. You have to calm things down, build up some trust, and only then you can eventually make progress.