|
June 16, 2003
I have refrained from mentioning the Road Map in the Middle East for the last two weeks. My fears were right. As soon as the Aqaba summit was over, violence erupted on both the Palestinian and Israel side. The turn to violence---- suicide bombing by Hamas and targeted assassinations by the Israeli army--- was an attempt to derail the peace process. For a contrary view see Israellycool
What we have is a cycle in which self-defense becomes self-destruction.
Arafat would not have welcomed being sidelined at the Aqaba conference. He will fight back to regain control of the Palestinan government and security organization. And Hamas has yet to be bought into the peace process.
Despite the level of violence and promises of more to come the warring parties have restarted talks and attempts are being made to broker a deal that would see the removal of Israeli troops from the northern Gaza Strip and their replacement with Palestinian security forces.
|
If the U.S. were in any way serious about brokering a peaceful solution to the middle-east issue, they would cancel all foreign & military aid to Israel until the state sponsored terrorism ceased.