Swiss cheese?
Of all the ridiculous statements coming out of Ramallah today, perhaps none is so ridiculous as President Bush's statement that 'Palestinians' deserve a contiguous state that is not like 'Swiss cheese': "It is vital that each side understands that satisfying the other's fundamental objectives is key to a successful agreement," the president said. "Security for Israel and viability for the Palestinian state are in the mutual interests of both parties."The only way for a 'Palestinian'
Bush said that disputed territory must be mutually negotiated, but said "any agreement will require adjustments" to the borders drawn for Israel under a 1949 armistice. He was referring to settlements Israel wants to keep when an independent Palestinian state is formed.
At the same time, Bush reiterated that any viable Palestinian state must be "contiguous," saying Palestinians deserve better than a "Swiss cheese" state.
Does he plan to provide support for such a reichlet - whose only 'export' will be terror - in perpetuity? Or does he plan to allow the 'Palestinians' to drive the Jews into the sea so that the 'Palestinians' can be the ones to have the viable state - between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean - if that's even what interests them? Has anyone in the American State Department thought about this question?Bush also drove through the Hizme checkpoint this morning. It's a checkpoint my wife's sisters and their husbands drive through all the time, and we have driven through it many times ourselves. Here's what he had to say about that:
Due to heavy fog, Bush was driven from Jerusalem to Ramallah instead of taking a helicopter. That meant he passed through a security checkpoint, and drove within sight of the Israeli security fence that Palestinians call an unacceptable wall.While it's far from perfect, the checkpoints don't just create a 'sense of security' - they keep 'Palestinian' suicide bombers out of the rest of the country (and by the way, there is a 'closure' on Judea and Samaria until Midnight Saturday night - no 'Palestinians' in or out except 'humanitarian emergencies'). When I moved here in 1991, there were no checkpoints, and while there were terror attacks, they were nowhere near as frequent as they were from 1993-96, let alone 2000-04. The checkpoints were imposed by Yitzchak Rabin in 1994 when the terrorists came here after Oslo. That ought to tell you something.
"My whole motorcade of a mere 45 cars was able to make it through without being stopped," Bush later noted, "I'm not so sure that's what happens to the average person."
"I can understand why Palestinians would be frustrated driving through checkpoints," Bush said, immediately adding that he understands the Israeli position on why they are needed as a barrier to terrorists.
"They create a sense of security for Israel, they create massive frustration for the Palestinians," Bush said.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:06 PM
2 Comments:
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Carl - yes. The only way to create a "contiguous" Palestinian reichlet would be to dismember Israel in half. The President's vision is pure fantasy. It would mean Israel demolishing the separation wall and removing the roadblocks and security checkpoints.
Bitchonist Ehud Barak, not exactly a security hawk, says those are there to stay. Nothing would drive Ehud Olmert and Kadima/Labor faster from power than an announcement the separation wall/security checks and the IDF presence on the side of wall is going to be withdrawn. Its not going to happen.
Israeli politicians may be feckless but they want most of all to keep power. A Palestinian reichlet as Bush envisions it, for the above reason given, is never going to come into existence. Even if every last Jewish town and village in Judea and Samaria is gone from the map by then.
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