TOPDOG08.COM

« I would have paid to see this | Main | Deconstructing Lindsey Graham »

July 15, 2004

Now that's what I call a grudge

Everyone knows what the solution is to the Palestinian-Isreali conflict. Arafat rejected it after Camp David, then accepted it a year later, but Sharon turned around and said "You can't accept it, because now I rejected it." In the end, Isreal and Palestine are both going to have to accept the plan that everyone knows is the only possible solution, or there will be continued bloodshed in the region for years to come. In my view, the way to solve this is to make the holy areas of Old Jerusalem an international city, beyond the control of either Palestine or Isreal, just like Vatican City is beyond Italy's control. However, compromise does not seem to be in their vocabulary. I mean, I've heard of holding a grudge, but this is ridiculous:

The plan includes recommendations on how to contain what Israel expects to be an extremely volatile environment. The stickiest issue, it says, will be where to bury Arafat.

Officials close to Arafat say he has never indicated where he wants to be buried, but the assumption is he would want to be laid to rest at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, a supreme honor for Muslims.

Israel will strongly oppose burying Arafat in Jerusalem, the document says. Israel and the Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital, and Israel has continually resisted Palestinian attempts to gain a foothold in the city.

Remind me why Isreal gets to decide who is buried in one mosque or the other?

I think Bill Clinton said it best the other day:

You know Israel is never going to agree to an unlimited right of return, because then you'll have two Arab-majority Muslim states in the holy land in 30 years. And the Palestinians are never going to agree to take a state that doesn't include eastern Jerusalem and more or less 97% of the West Bank. Enough to give the Israelis the settlements that take in 80% of the settlers and then some sort of little land swap.

And we now no longer -- it's an easier problem on the stationing of the Israel Defense Forces along the Jordan River for a period of time because Saddam Hussein's gone. That's the one thing that could help settle the thing. So we all know this.

Now here's the question: how many more kids are going to die before we make this deal?

Posted by Mike at July 15, 2004 10:52 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.topdog08.com/cgi-bin/mt-trackback.cgi/357

Comments

Post a comment