Well Tonto, it looks like our mission here has been a success. Why you say that, Kemo Sabe? Because I have managed to piss someone off big time. Hmmm..Who that, Kemo Sabe? Why it's none other than the InstaPundit Watcher, obviously someone who has decided to take on the Professor. For some reason she has decided to smear him, or at least try to. Maybe she was a student and he failed her. And crap! She called what I wrote crap! Would that be horsecrap or bullcrap, Kemo Sabe? Dammit, Tonto it doesn't matter. What does matter is I looked at my site meter today, and, at that time, out of the last 100 hits I took, 27 came from her page. She's sending people my way! That means I'm probably pissing even more people off. I can hear it now: 'Who was that guy who wrote that crap?' 'You don't know? Why that was the Grouchy Old Cripple!' Hi yo wheelchair! Away!
And speaking of crap, did anyone catch the op-ed Jimmy Carter wrote in USA Today? Jimmy, please, foreign affairs was not your forte during your presidency. I seem to remember a little problem with Iran. Come to think of it, you weren't all that good on domestic affairs either. You have been a real good ex-president. And as long as you're building houses for the poor, you're a really great guy. But, cmon, it's bad enough that we got Cynthia McKinney to embarrass us, why do you have to compete with her in the output of inane blather?
So without further ado, Jimmah tells us what needs to be done in the Middle East.
Recently, Emory Professor Kenneth Stein and I spread a detailed map on my office floor and examined the hundreds of strategically planted Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, each surrounded by a military force and connected by a web of guarded highways. The remaining unoccupied Palestinian lands appeared as small, isolated red splotches.
Red. How appropriate since the Palis want to spill as much blood as possible.
Ken indicated the $350 million barrier of fences and trenches being built northeast of Jerusalem. This, he noted, may represent the ultimate desire of most Palestinians and Israelis: a permanent and impenetrable separation of the two peoples.
For the Israelis. Yes. For the Palestinians, unless they are deprogrammed, nothing less than the total destruction of Israel is acceptable. Haven't you guys been listening? Arafat has made no secret of his 'final solution'.
Sadly, such isolation already exists in the policies of Israel, the Palestinians and the USA. Each lacks real support outside its own political circles. Unless other parties come forward to bridge these divides, there is little hope to offer those suffering from daily violence.
Once again, the Israelis were willing to give land for peace. It was Arafat who walked away from what was probably the best offer the Palestinians will ever get, emptied the jails, and started up the violence. And this has been a pattern. Over the last fifty years the Palestinians have had many opportunities for peace. Unfortunately, their version of peace is the total destruction of Israel. Attention Israelis! Drop your weapons and move slowly to the sea. Start swimming.
Given these barriers, it's easy to despair for this troubled region, perhaps even to consider real progress impossible. Reassurance comes from examining the Middle East peace process as a long series of historic and often unexpected steps forward:
Usually followed by very bloody steps backwards.
Until Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's startling Jerusalem visit and the subsequent 1979 peace treaty, Arab diplomatic recognition of Israel was inconceivable.
And we all remember what happened to Sadat after making this bold move.
When Jordan's King Hussein and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin made a similar pledge 15 years later, there was no concerted Arab boycott of Jordan as there had been of Egypt, indicating wide acceptance of Hussein's decision.
Acceptance? Jimmah, what kinda drugs have you been on? The boycott of Egypt didn't work because we give them $3 billion a year. And obviously Hussein had better bodyguards than Sadat.
In 1993, the Norwegians proved in Oslo that Rabin could deal directly with Yasser Arafat as the Palestinians' leader. On both sides, this was an unprecedented recognition of the other's legitimacy
Except Yasser never did get around to taking out that part of the PLO charter calling for the destruction of Israel. 'Damn, forgot to do that! But these infidels are so desperate for peace they'll believe anything.'
With Israel's encouragement and later approval, Palestinians conducted a peaceful, transparent election in 1996, which my center monitored, and chose a president and Palestinian Authority members who were universally accepted as legitimate.
What a strange choice of words: transparent election. Transparent to Jimmy maybe. Did he look at the ballot?
Such positive changes encourage the search for a just and lasting peace. Except for the Oslo agreement, success came with balanced U.S. involvement. Our mediators treated both adversaries with equal respect and let them freely present their views, convinced that an agreement was a victory for both.
See Abdul. I told you those Americans would believe anything we said.There have been other significant developments. Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed normal relations with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from occupied Arab lands to the June 1967 line and its just treatment of Palestinian refugees.
What an agreement! Move back behind indefensible borders and take in a whole big bunch of Palestinian refugees who would then outnumber all the Jews. Let's hold elections. Jews are expelled. 'See Abdul. I told you it would work.'
This unprecedented possibility of peace between Israel and the entire Arab world is widely accepted in the region.
Yeah, unconditional surrender by Israel does sound like a plan that would be accepted in the region. Hey, Jimmah, when are you gonna run for President of France?
President Bush took another important step in September, when he called for a Palestinian state.
He did say they were gonna have to dump Yasser and quit killing Jews. Two things that don't look to probable about now.
Still, violence persists, threatening to negate or reverse many of these proud achievements.
I'm confused. Name one proud achievement. I guess Jimmy is too. The only proud achievement of his Presidency was screwing up so bad that he guaranteed the election of Ronald Reagan. As bad as Jimmy was, Ronald McDonald could have probably defeated him. And he would have done a better job of running the country.
Some misguided Palestinians
Yasser Arafat, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the PLO, the Palestinian Authority, and pretty much of the rest of the Palestinians. Did I leave anyone out?
honor suicide bombers as martyrs and celebrate the killing of Israeli civilians.
Blam! Another busload of fierce Israeli warriors. Ain't we brave?
Some Israelis believe their West Bank and Gaza settlements to be sacrosanct and try to justify the sustained subjugation of increasingly hopeless Palestinians.
Ahhh the settlements. The Palestinians should have made peace over twenty years ago and there would be no settlements to even talk about. The settlements, just like everything else, are negotiable. Unfortunately, and Arafat has made no secret of this, his ultimate goal is the total destruction of Israel. Jimmy, wake up! Have you been listening?
The United States has now joined almost all other nations in accepting the basic premises of Israeli withdrawal, peace between Arab states and Israel, and a Palestinian state.
Now if we could just convince the Arabs and the Palestinians. It's this peace with Israel thing they seem to have problems with. It's this existence of Israel thing they seem to have problems with.
This is a notable decision, but further progress is undermined by our almost undeviating approval of Israel's demands
Yeah, we want them Palestinains to quit blowin' themselves up around those fierce Jewish women and children. I know this is an unreasonable demand, but it's the least they can do.
and our refusal to deal with the Palestinian leaders who are apt to be re-elected in January.
OK Jimmy, here's the deal. We don't want to deal with terrorists. We don't want to deal with people who are chronic liars. Yasser Arafat is a lying terrorist. If they are serious about joining the world of civilized nations, they need to elect leaders who are civilized. That pretty much leaves Arafat out. I mean, even Colin 'we must continue with the peace process' Powell has given up on Arafat.
The situation seems likely to fester until then, and perhaps long afterward.
Yep. And it's the Palestinians' choice. We've already had too many nations run by thugs. Nazi Germany comes to mind. Hey, they liked to kill Jews too didn't they?
The often-surprising past achievements show we cannot abandon the search for a just peace.
I'm sorry he's lost me here. Could he be talking about the farce that was Oslo?
But there cannot be another historic step without negotiation among the principal parties, because any unilateral concessions are almost inconceivable.
A rare lucid moment. Oh, wait a minute. I bet what he means by a unilateral concession is the Palestinians not strappin' on bombs and blowin' themselves up and seeing how many women and children they can take with them. And remember, Islam is a religion of peace.
With the United States aligned today with Israel and making demands that Palestinians will not accept,
Not accept? Stop terrorism? Jimmy, we declared war on terrorism. You might have been out of the country then solving civil rights problems in Zimbabwe. 'Y'know those damn white farmers just won't leave their land. I know. Let's call Jimmy Carter.' Jimmy, Israel has stated over and over again that it will trade land for peace. It turned over 40% of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority which, in violation of Oslo I might add, turned into a staging area for an incipient Palestinian Army. Then, Arafat, walked away from negotiations and emptied the jails and started the violence. I realize that you would like the Israelis to lay down their arms and allow the Palestinians to slaughter them, but they are made of sterner stuff than you. Geez, you make Neville Chamberlain look like a raging war hawk!
other world leaders — perhaps in the Arab world,
Strike one
Europe
Strike two
or the United Nations
Strike three. Yer outa there!
— now need to share responsibility, as in Oslo, for the progress that must come.
Jimmy, I know you mean well, but...Look. Here's a hammer. Here's some nails. And here's some lumber. Go build a house.
And build it in Hillary's village.
Posted by denny at July 1, 2002 02:08 PM