Re: NP Bushspeak

> And it has to be acknowledged
> that Bush is quite critical of Israel in the speech too:
>
> "As we make progress towards security, Israel forces need to withdraw
fully
> to positions they held prior to September 28, 2000. And consistent with
the
> recommendations of the Mitchell Committee, Israeli settlement activity in
> the occupied territories must stop."

don't tell them that! it'll destroy their adolf fiskian theories that the
jews control the whitehouse, the movie industry and the rest of the world
(snicker).

> But I don't think that it progresses the push for peace to keep trying to
> fix the blame onto one side or the other, or to compare death tallies. The
> point remains that a peace deal won't be effective until it is binding on
> both sides, and it won't be binding on both sides until there is unity
> amongst the Palestinians. If that's all it will take, then - for the sake
of
> the Palestinian people if nothing else - Arafat or someone needs to
> guarantee that unity. It might be that he needs to organise a leadership
> council where the factional militants have a say in the way the deal is
> worked out, or it might mean one of the Hamas or Hezbollah principals
needs
> to take over. It doesn't matter who the leader is - Bush doesn't name
anyone
> in either camp, note - as long as the agreement is binding on both sides.
> Arafat's certainly been around as Palestinian "leader" for long enough
now:
> either he's no longer regarded by his people as their representative
> statesman or else he's happy for the bloodshed and retaliations to
continue
> as they are.

arafat's just a figurehead at this point in time, which is why what bush
said is so......inconsequential. the fact is that arafat is no different
than the queen of england or, dare i say, the president of the united
states - he is a public figure that is used as a rallying point, nothing
else. it's the people "under" him that make the decisions, that write the
speeches, that pull his strings. changing the puppet whilst keeping the hand
will get us absolutely nowhere.....

.....which of course is the ultimate goal. i don't think i need to go into
the "sell them the weapons so they can blow it up and then pay us to rebuild
it" thing on a pynchon list. you'll never see peace there as long as it's
such a cash cow...