Gronne- As for the US staying out of it -
QUOTE(gronne @ Feb 7 2005, 10:27 PM)
Well since I don't know what he's requested USA to do it's a bit hard to say.
He's asked for some funding (if you'll recall yasser embezzled over a billion dollars that his widow is now living pretty nicely off of in france), and we announced yesterday that we would give them 40 Million in the next 90 days to help him meet the US criteria. The money is extremely important because it will allow the PA to build independent schools and medical facilities, right now Hamas controls most of the schools and medical facilities.
Hes asked for some consultation on how best to do some of the things, the US deployed General Ward to monitor and give advice.
He's asked that we pressure syria and iran to stop funding hezbollah and hamas. Although I dont know what we can really do their.
I believe he also asked for neutral ground to meet on - although he may not actually need it now that egypt has offered to provide neutral ground.
Does anyone else get bad chills when thinking about the repercussions of hamas and hezbollah losing control of social services and getting their funding cut? Desperate times call for desperate measures, and when you're a terrorist, that means death.
QUOTE(The unProfessional @ Feb 8 2005, 07:27 AM)
Does anyone else get bad chills when thinking about the repercussions of hamas and hezbollah losing control of social services and getting their funding cut? Desperate times call for desperate measures, and when you're a terrorist, that means death.
Ive thought about that - its going to get rough, but it has to be done. The PA will never have true authority until it happens.
Hamas and hezbollah really dont like Abbas to much . . .
QUOTE(Intifada website)
"Known universally for his "flexibility" with Israel... Abu Mazen (Abbas) is thought of generally as colourless, moderately corrupt, and without any clear ideas of his own, except that he wants to please the white man."
It looks like they have agreed on a cease-fire agreement at their summit in Egypt, as reported by CNN.com. The deal hinged on Israel handing over control of 5 cities in the West Bank, and the release of over 500 Palestinian prisoners. I hope that Hammas will at least hold off their attacks until after the proposed time frames. Once again, it comes down to what the terrorists end up doing.
The article over at MSNBC also stated that the German Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer said in Berlin that the renewed U.S. engagement is of central significance. So I guess that not everyone thinks that the US is the barrier to peace.
QUOTE
It looks like they have agreed on a cease-fire agreement at their summit in Egypt, as reported by CNN.com. The deal hinged on Israel handing over control of 5 cities in the West Bank, and the release of over 500 Palestinian prisoners. I hope that Hammas will at least hold off their attacks until after the proposed time frames. Once again, it comes down to what the terrorists end up doing.
terrorists don't believe in diplomacy.. especially when the future of their organization depends on it.
there will be attacks and they will be big
Exactly, Abbas doesn't control Hamas or any of the other Palestinian militant groups any more than Sinn Fein controls the IRA. These groups, somewhat understandibly, will want the Israelis to withdraw from both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which just isn't going to happen. A lot has been said about Abbas finally being able to bring peace to the region, but until Isreal withdraw to the UN borders, I don't think they will be any concrete improvements in the situation.
QUOTE(jbp20717 @ Feb 9 2005, 01:33 PM)
Exactly, Abbas doesn't control Hamas or any of the other Palestinian militant groups any more than Sinn Fein controls the IRA. These groups, somewhat understandibly, will want the Israelis to withdraw from both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which just isn't going to happen. A lot has been said about Abbas finally being able to bring peace to the region, but until Isreal withdraw to the UN borders, I don't think they will be any concrete improvements in the situation.
that was my first point. He doesnt control hamas or hezbollah but he has taken them on. He also has the support of 62% of the palestenians on this (it was part of his election platform), so hamas and hezbollah know they are in the minority and that it is the will of the majority that they stop for now.
Hamas is doing a lot of machismo type posturing. Like demanding that all Palestenian prisoners to be released (8000 in total) before they will agree to a cease fire instead of the 900 sharon offered. Even if sharon was willing to give up all 8000, Abbas doesnt want them all quite yet.
This ceasefire is tenous at best and anything could set it off. The one thing that would not suprise me is if we start seeing Israeli citizens (not IDF) fireing on the Palestenians. The US is demanding that sharon re-locate roughly 10,000 Israeli citizens now in order to keep up with Abbas and his willingness to follow the "roadmap". What are the odds that at least one person in that group that will be willing to take a sniper shot and kill a palestenian. The reason is that this situation is so unstable right now that it would only take one incident to tear it apart. Then the Israelis could stay right where they are.