Deja Vu

[Violet_Crumble]

by Uri Avnery
February 01, 2006
Gush Shalom

If ariel Sharon had not been in a deep coma, he would have jumped out of his bed for joy.

The Hamas victory fulfils his most ardent hopes.

For a whole year now, he did everything possible to undermine Mahmoud Abbas. His logic was quite obvious: The Americans wanted him to negotiate with Abbas. Such negotiations would inevitably have lead to a situation that would have compelled him to give up almost all of the West Bank. Sharon had no intention of doing so. He wanted to annex about half of the territory. So he had to get rid of Abbas and his moderate image.

During the last year, the situation of the Palestinians got worse from day to day. The actions of the occupation made normal life and commerce impossible. The West Bank settlements were continuously enlarging. The Wall which cuts off about 10% of the West Bank was nearing completion. No important prisoners were released. The aim was to impress on the Palestinians that Abbas is weak ("a chicken without feathers", as Sharon put it), that he cannot achieve anything, that offering peace and observing a cease-fire leads nowhere.

The message to the Palestinians was clear: "Israel understands only the language of force."

Now the Palestinians have put in power a party that speaks this language.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=9638

[Tom Joad]

1. Thanks for posting this.

[TomClash]

2. "The enemy of the enemy is my friend"

But . . . "be careful what you wish for - you just might get it."

[bemildred]

3. I don't know if I agree with Uri entirely here,

although he is right about Arik's intentions,
and it is a damn shame that Arik is not able
to watch the mess he created and offer his shuck
and jive explanations ...

I suspect that Uri, who is a true lover of Israel
in his way, must be quite dismayed at ugliness of
the present situation.

[RJnAbbysNana]

4. I like Uri Avnery.

He's a very wise man.

Regards,

RJnAbbysNana

[pelsar]

5. same old story...

the palestenians cant do anything on their own....they even voted in hamas because of israel........maybe just maybe, they voted in whomever they voted in because THEY decided thats what they want?