Assaf Oron writes:
First, the happy talk by lazy reporters: "Israel removes dozens of West Bank roadblocks."
And now,
the party spoiler Gideon Levy, who actually goes on the ground to report: the
"removed" Jericho checkpoint was replaced by a "Palestinian Authority"
checkpoint – set up at the instructions of Israel, and taking orders
about whom to pass from Israel! (sorry, Hebrew link, don't have the English one yet)My friend Ehud from Villages Group also clarifies: No major
checkpoint has been removed. The soldiers are still there. They are
just (for the moment) instructed not to check (almost) anyone. This can
change with a single phone call. A happy life in the West Bank indeed.It is good news that Palestinians now can get from (some) major cities
to (some) others in 1-2 hours instead of 1 day – infinity, but this
appears to be a temporary "carrot and stick" game designed to fool the
Americans, and perhaps pave the way to a full-fledged Palestinian
protectorate in the West Bank.
Testing.
The whole "roadblock removal" now seems to be a propaganda stunt to give Netanyahu something he can come up with when reporting to Obama.
We will stop all settlements (except for natural growth) We will remove the roadblocks (and replace them with new ones) We will open the border when the rockets stop (but not until Gilat is released) Always with the small print.
‘this appears to be a temporary "carrot and stick" game designed to fool the Americans’ How adolescent. Israel in its relationship with the US is increasingly suggestive of a child testing parental authority. And how many of it’s security needs and measures are legitimate, and how many are theater designed to legitimize the massive amounts of welfare America grants it, and maintain public sympathy in the US, or are consequence of its own adolescent obnoxiousness and games? Why we Americans are still wasting time and credibility on this perpetual teenage thug is beyond me. Israel should have been thrown out of the house decades ago, and won't ever grow up until it is wrenched from the American tit. There's something really ugly about a 60 year old teenager still suckling from mother's tit, although maybe its normal in some quarters.
Some days, it seems like the only thing we have left is lies, let's hope they work! :-)
To re-quote Namier, We Jews as coloured people think differently. As long as no one is being checked, the checkpoints are observation points for detecting potential terror activity, nothing more. And Jericho has never really been a trouble spot, but even quiet areas of the Middle East have a checkpoint–there is one outside Aqaba, which has been at peace since Lawrence of Arabia, both for Jordanians leaving on their side AND Jordanians leaving for Israel. A "harder" border at the old Armistice Line, enforced by shoot-to-kill orders, rather than checkpoints within the West Bank, could indeed give Palestinians more freedom of movement within the West Bank, but at cost in blood to illegal migrant workers mistaken for suicide bombers. Israel has no legitimate security needs in your eyes anyway.
Israel is like Wormtongue from the LOTR: the 'Two Towers'. How fitting.
From the Haaretz link above: "The lifting of the roadblock to Jericho also allows access to the city to Israelis who might want to visit the casino there." Is the West Bank on its way to becoming a Palestinian reservation? Is this Netanyahu's vision of a demilitarized Palestinian "state?"
And Germany didn't also need lebensraum either. So true.
So, yes; and can we transfer jews like we did the ethnic germans after WW2? Goose, gander?
They already were, they became Israelis, denied citizenship by the laws of Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, etc. in the post-war period. And it's nice that you admit you hate Jews and want to harm Jews, instead of, say, wanting to restrain the State of Israel, which would at least be a political goal subject to the normal means of statecraft. Gets everything out in the open for wavering Israeli Jews, anyone who might be in doubt about the real goals of the people Phil's site attracts.