tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post3979559223495215555..comments2024-01-01T01:47:59.449+02:00Comments on Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Strange Negotiating MethodsYaacovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835192312242961481noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-35669752686876692692009-09-22T00:45:42.740+03:002009-09-22T00:45:42.740+03:00Well, what will this conclude then??? I hope it wi...Well, what will this conclude then??? I hope it will be something positive and constructive for our country as well.rob fletcherhttp://www.vacationrentalsad.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-90930968397505312222009-09-21T20:03:19.516+03:002009-09-21T20:03:19.516+03:00Sounds about right. The natural extension of the O...Sounds about right. The natural extension of the Obama position after Cairo, if the Israelis did not accept his conditions, was to incrementally sanction Israel, and to do so progressively Israel relented. This is what I think most of the world was led to believe would happen.<br /><br />Why do you think Obama is not pursuing the bully strategy?<br /><br />Does this mean the American foreign policy establishment has decided that a strong Israel with occupation is more important than a weak Israel and a Palestinian state?<br /><br />I was having a conversation with some unaffiliated, Conservative, Brestlaver and Chabadnik Jews over Rosh Hashanah - an eclectic mix. It was very surprising how uniform and (in the left's language) hawkish/rightwing/Likudnik the overall Jewish American position on Israel is (and even more so on Iran), at least from my non-representative sample.<br /><br />Some of them were much older than I, in the 50s, 60s. One had met Ben Gurion and Moshe Dayan at a Bible competition prize ceremony in the 60s. This guy, a Moroccan/Venezuelan Jew mentioned something that struck me... how after the right in Israel rose to power in 1977 (?), the left changed the language of the territories.<br /><br />Prior to '77, everyone called them the Liberated Territories. After '77, they started to become Occupied Territories, Palestinian Territories, etc., at a time when the Palestinian national movement was still practically non-existent.<br /><br />A small example, I know. One can't help but think, however, that our biggest wounds are self inflicted.<br /><br />Another interesting tidbit: After '67, a Jew could go anywhere he wanted in the Territories without any fear of being attacked. He used to go with some yeshiva students to Nablus, I don't remember why. You could take your wife and two kids and drive to the center of Gaza or the Gaza beach for a picnic. The Arabs were so completely defeated, mentally, that they wouldn't dare look at a Jew the wrong way.<br /><br />It's interesting, from my own personal experiences now, that while the Arabs seem to have recovered their motivation to kill Jews, many if not most still have this residual inferiority complex. I was first told of it by a Palestinian I was dating some years ago, in my more reckless times.Avigdorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05008730229882004376noreply@blogger.com