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ratbastid · 01-13-2008, 06:45 AM

Okay, folks, Hell just froze over. I approve of everything I heard Bush say during his Israel/Palestine visit about the peace agreement he wants to craft there.

I've long thought that the US tacit approval of Israeli expansionism is a major contributor to instability there. Israel behaves like an older brother, constantly wheedling and poking its smaller siblings, then lashing back with superior strength when they retaliate--all the while feigning wide-eyed innocence.

Bush's plan (as I understand it from the NPR sound-bites and the articles I've found that repeat them) is to halt settlement in disputed territories, halt Palestinian attacks, and then create a unified Palestinian homeland. His approach to causing all this seems mainly to be a toughened line with Israel. He's calling for "an end to the occupation that began in 1967". As far as I can recall, our term-of-art for that occupation has been "settlement" up until now. "Settlement" is what you do when there's nothing and nobody there before you get there. This is the first time I've ever heard it called what it is: "occupation".

I'm excited about this for a couple reasons. First, while I'm fairly torn about the issue, I really believe that establishing a post-holocaust Jewish homeland and imposing it on the generations-long owners of that land was an attempt to right a massive wrong with another massive wrong. What's done is done, though, and at least those displaced people should have sovereign territory of their own. Maybe once they have their own borders they can get to work bettering life for their own people, rather than being at war against those they see occupying their former home. And hopefully the rest of the Muslim world will see us standing down from our strident pro-Israel policy and start to look at us as something other than aggressors.

Now, if negotiators can't find their way back to the table, then this is all talk. But given that the US is the main prop holding Israel up, I sincerely hope that the president's shift in position will at least get Israel's attention.

I really have to congratulate the Bush administration on this one. This is the first time I've seen foreign policy done really right by them.

Your thoughts?

01-13-2008, 06:45 AM	#1 (permalink)
ratbastid Darth Papa Location: Yonder	Bush on Israel Okay, folks, Hell just froze over. I approve of everything I heard Bush say during his Israel/Palestine visit about the peace agreement he wants to craft there. I've long thought that the US tacit approval of Israeli expansionism is a major contributor to instability there. Israel behaves like an older brother, constantly wheedling and poking its smaller siblings, then lashing back with superior strength when they retaliate--all the while feigning wide-eyed innocence. Bush's plan (as I understand it from the NPR sound-bites and the articles I've found that repeat them) is to halt settlement in disputed territories, halt Palestinian attacks, and then create a unified Palestinian homeland. His approach to causing all this seems mainly to be a toughened line with Israel. He's calling for "an end to the occupation that began in 1967". As far as I can recall, our term-of-art for that occupation has been "settlement" up until now. "Settlement" is what you do when there's nothing and nobody there before you get there. This is the first time I've ever heard it called what it is: "occupation". I'm excited about this for a couple reasons. First, while I'm fairly torn about the issue, I really believe that establishing a post-holocaust Jewish homeland and imposing it on the generations-long owners of that land was an attempt to right a massive wrong with another massive wrong. What's done is done, though, and at least those displaced people should have sovereign territory of their own. Maybe once they have their own borders they can get to work bettering life for their own people, rather than being at war against those they see occupying their former home. And hopefully the rest of the Muslim world will see us standing down from our strident pro-Israel policy and start to look at us as something other than aggressors. Now, if negotiators can't find their way back to the table, then this is all talk. But given that the US is the main prop holding Israel up, I sincerely hope that the president's shift in position will at least get Israel's attention. I really have to congratulate the Bush administration on this one. This is the first time I've seen foreign policy done really right by them. Your thoughts?