tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post8651885600254892033..comments2024-01-01T01:47:59.449+02:00Comments on Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: Elliot Abrams: Netanyahu Should Initiate, not Hunker DownYaacovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835192312242961481noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-59100264868875536152011-04-26T13:30:39.043+03:002011-04-26T13:30:39.043+03:00and reliably unreliable
except when it comes to ...and reliably unreliable <br /><br />except when it comes to new additions to Arabian Nights, the stories of which were actually told by a woman to a man who threatened to execute her, if she shouldn't manage to keep him enthralled. <br /><br />a cute little fact that somehow is IMHO not ever given its proper weight when "experts" wax lyrical about that cultural "achievement".Silkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16383345395827271854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-23245010835493061462011-04-26T12:17:43.898+03:002011-04-26T12:17:43.898+03:00Another ploy to get more funding:
http://www.ynet...Another ploy to get more funding:<br /><br />http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4060008,00.html<br /><br />And who knows? Maybe they mean it. And maybe they don't.<br /><br />After all, they're a very flexible people....Barry Meislinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04795125774426217113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-91995720954180599982011-04-26T11:22:49.491+03:002011-04-26T11:22:49.491+03:00Silke, it's just a ploy to get some more cash....Silke, it's just a ploy to get some more cash.<br /><br />You know, play hard to get. (How do you say that in German? In Yiddish?)Barry Meislinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04795125774426217113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-80537746322796237682011-04-25T23:23:03.352+03:002011-04-25T23:23:03.352+03:00Barry
me thinks Abbas largely agrees with you ;-)...Barry<br /><br />me thinks Abbas largely agrees with you ;-)<br /><br />http://www.newsweek.com/2011/04/24/the-wrath-of-abbas.html<br /><br />though he seems not have been very accurate in describing what went on starting with the length of the telephone conversations.<br /><br />But maybe by complaining about Obama Abbas is in reality trying to endear himself to him, because surely, if Abbas complains about Obama, Obama must be the greatest friend Israel ever had. <br /><br />(I don't think Abbas has any real plan, he just behaves like Zola claimed those fin de siècle maitresses behaved in order to keep their lovers enthralled.)<br /><br />but most wondrous in that piece for me is how Sarcozy acts - does he really think anybody is going to believe those Grande Nation gestures he comes up with?Silkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16383345395827271854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-29615006968037349232011-04-25T23:15:13.873+03:002011-04-25T23:15:13.873+03:00File this under "Lets do X, then the world wi...File this under "Lets do X, then the world will know that Israeli really, really (10x? I don't remember how many we are up to) wants peace."<br /><br />Yaacov -- which steps are you endorsing and to what outcome?Saul Liebermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07399120227171316267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-44195462775241702502011-04-25T21:58:54.174+03:002011-04-25T21:58:54.174+03:00So that the next Administration can ignore whateve...<i>So that the next Administration can ignore whatever promises Obama makes today in the future interests of "regional peace"?</i><br /><br />I really wouldn't worry about future administrations.<br /><br />Obama doesn't even bother keeping his own promises.<br /><br />(To be sure, incredible as it may seem, there are people who still believe what he says....)<br /><br />File under: "This way to the egress!"Barry Meislinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04795125774426217113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-16260746645424092232011-04-25T06:44:44.434+03:002011-04-25T06:44:44.434+03:00"Read the whole thing. He's right."
..."Read the whole thing. He's right."<br /><br />Yaacov, I really liked Right to Exist, even though I could see that you still had not abandoned your previous luftmentschen dreams of peace and acceptance of some faulty conclusions about Jewish malfeasance towards Arabs. And you still disappoint me, when you make comments like that. <br /><br />Judea and Samaria constitute dispute territories. They are not intrinsically Arab and for some of us, not even an Israeli government has the moral right to tell Jews they can't live anywhere they want there on former Ottoman and Mandate State land or land that was purchased. What Abrams suggests is a prescription for aiding the Arab war of attrition against Jews.Bruce Kodishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07993453727147026944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-72142365875561102462011-04-25T03:13:54.831+03:002011-04-25T03:13:54.831+03:00there had been three years without terror.
ah yes...<i>there had been three years without terror.</i><br /><br />ah yes? <br /><br />what about that highly pregnant woman and the other passengers in that car? what about the soldier murdered at the Lebanese border? what about the shooting from Gaza.<br /><br />All of it no terror?<br /><br />well, maybe by American Standards ...<br /><br />ah in the next paragraph he mentions them<br /><br /><i>periodically lobbed rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel</i><br /><br />they just lobbed them those cute little exploding toys.<br /><br />the rest is such a gossipy back and forth which I can't take seriously from a guy who plays down the amount of terror Israel is exposed to and his whole piece argues on the basis that the Palestinians are people whose word can be relied upon. Why does a writer in a magazine leaning to the presumably Israel-friendly right expect to achieve by making terror look less severe than it is. That it isn't as bad as the 2nd intifada? Certainly that would be a strange standard to apply.<br /><br />The famous Israeli Moshe Feldenkrais (I think it was he who taught Ben Gurion to stand on his head) says somewhere only a movement that can be reversed is a good one ...<br /><br />Feldenkrais definitely hasn't been a politician, actually he was a physicist but he sure knew more than probably anybody else about movements.Silkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16383345395827271854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-8089248150284423852011-04-25T02:34:40.592+03:002011-04-25T02:34:40.592+03:00Eliot Abrams is wrong and so are you.
Israel aban...Eliot Abrams is wrong and so are you.<br /><br />Israel abandonment of Yesha would result in a Hamas takeover.<br /><br />The PA regime is only kept in power by IDF bayonets.<br /><br />The moment its withdrawn, the PA falls.<br /><br />I don't know why Abrams and you can't see the obvious.<br /><br />The Arabs don't want peace with Israel. If the murder of Yosef Ben Livnat today doesn't send you a pointed message about the prospects for peace in our lifetime then you are a fool.<br /><br />An Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state would serve as a trigger for another Middle East war.NormanFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03365459073293643108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-21638016187488672202011-04-25T00:56:07.642+03:002011-04-25T00:56:07.642+03:00He's advocating that Israel should fall back t...He's advocating that Israel should fall back to its minimal positions and abandon everything else. <br /><br />In one sense that step is foreshadowed by the many statements that Netanyahu himself had made to the effect that many of Israels policies are precisely nothing more than negotiating positions. Continuing with positions that the govt of Israel does not itself have principled belief in seems cruel, especially in the eyes of others who don't share the Israeli point of view. <br /><br />But he fails, I think, to grasp the implications of his suggestion. Negotiations will not become easier, but in fact impossible because there will be nothing left to negotiate. The Palestinians will continue to demand more, their international friends will continue with their delegitimization efforts, and Israel will have run out of room to menuver. <br /><br />The best argument in favor of this is that it's the road we're on anyway. May as well get to the end of it if anything new is going to become possible. <br /><br />In fact that's the argument he's presenting, though more elegantly. He's saying that Israel should be like the soccer player who lines up with the other team during a penalty kick, hoping if nothing else to at least confuse the issue. <br /><br />I'm all for creative thinking, but this is more like bungee jumping without a bungee. <br /><br />Plus, Israel has to consider events in Syria and Egypt. Over the next months and years, events in those countries will take place against a backdrop of ..... what? I think it would be better if that were a backdrop of relative quiet rather than one in which the Palestinians see themselves having a momentum for final victory. <br /><br />Unless that's no longer what they're after. Has there been any sign of that?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-42319082761682708322011-04-25T00:02:31.750+03:002011-04-25T00:02:31.750+03:00Victor, I can think of one unilateral act that wou...Victor, I can think of one unilateral act that would have a good impact. Reconquer Gaza. Everyone claims Israel occupies it anyway so Israel might as well have the benefits as well as the responsibilities. It also shows the ongoing process is not just one way. Also ends all this siege and flotilla nonsense and brings security to the South.<br /><br />DannyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-68534902712528738972011-04-24T21:32:35.514+03:002011-04-24T21:32:35.514+03:00A meaningful Israeli unilateralism would entail re...A meaningful Israeli unilateralism would entail relinquishing authority over approving housing construction in the territories. I'm all for watching those fireworks.Avigdorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05008730229882004376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-15663641677546285852011-04-24T19:26:54.350+03:002011-04-24T19:26:54.350+03:00Just a minute. Sharon's gaza disengagement fai...Just a minute. Sharon's gaza disengagement failed to extract permanent guarantees from one American administration to another, much less created an atmosphere hospitable to final status negotiations by creating a rejectionist islamist safe haven off limits to the IDF.<br /><br />So, Israel very clearly and obviously needs to try it all again? So that the next Administration can ignore whatever promises Obama makes today in the future interests of "regional peace"? <br /><br />There is no tangible gain to be had from taking any of the steps Abrams suggests. If the GA resolution fails in September the Palestinians will be forced back into negotiations by year's end anyway.Avigdorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05008730229882004376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-81591582859457812462011-04-24T15:41:25.345+03:002011-04-24T15:41:25.345+03:00On more than one occasion I drew attention on the ...On more than one occasion I drew attention on the Guardian's CiF to the idea that a Judenrein West bank is the most racist concept in the world (perhaps with the exception of Saudi Arabia). It was met with silence by those wonderful exponents of a "one -state-solution".<br /><br />Nevertheless, Abrams is right - it would be a wonderful and justified way to put pressure on the Palestinians in the EU and UN. There is little doubt that the Palestinian position is that its OK for Arabs to live in Israel, but not for Jews to live in a future "Palestine".<br /><br />Of course, that would also be their loss, as a small reading of history and the economic benefits Jewish communities bring to their host countries would teach them. But like the countries around them, they seem to prefer their misery and backwardness to any dilution of their pure Arab culture.<br /><br />Somewhat OT, but the thunderous silence and embarrassed foot-shuffling from the EU about what is happening in Syria is quite fascinating. I expect the Palestinians would enjoy the same privilege of being allowed to murder their won without too much interference from the EU. In fact, they have been.AKUShttp://cifwatch.comnoreply@blogger.com