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Posted March 25, 2007

I suspect that my postings in the next few days will be only intermittent. This is in part because I am struggling with what to write. How do I convey the deep depression (read furious anger) that I and like-minded persons here find ourselves contending with in the current situation? The impossibility of it all? And partly because the frequent "happenings" that are taking place are strictly ephemeral, and don’t merit serious lengthy reporting or analysis.

In a way, what I am seeing reminds me of "sound and fury signifying nothing." Because ultimately, all of the grandiose talk of "peace" is most certainly going to yield nothing of the sort. But, oh! the air is aflutter with the ludicrous suggestion that we are just on the cusp of that peace. There is, on our part here, incredible bewilderment that this could be the tenor of international thinking now. And great fear that in the process of pushing for that absolutely unattainable goal, the international community will squeeze us in ways that are seriously damaging.

Both Sec. of State Rice and UN Sec. Gen. Moon are here now. They’re having all of these various meetings — with each other, with Israelis, with Arabs. I will not detail each one. But Moon, on arriving in Jerusalem last night, announced that there was "renewed determination in the Arab world to push the 2000 Saudi peace proposal." Said he, "I believe this is a moment of gathering dynamism."

And Rice? How do we stand it when she has the unmitigated gall to say that Israel and the Palestinians must establish a "common agenda" to move forward to establish a Palestinian state? Is she totally demented? Is she out to see us totally destroyed? Is kissing Arab tushy just so important to her that she says the hell with the rest? She is suggesting we move to create at our borders a state that would have our destruction as its goal. There was only one position that would have been legitimate for her: To tell the Palestinians that she would promote nothing on their behalf until they got their act together and showed some semblance of civility and genuine intention towards peace.

How do these people speak about our negotiating "peace" with a unity gov’t that will not foreswear terrorism, will not recognize our right to exist? How??? How could this be happening? This was the time for the international community to stand behind us, but it is not the case. Within the community of nations, we are alone. Only among individuals and groups do we find friendship — not within governments.

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The fiction, of course, is that ultimately the unity gov’t will modify, as it sees what promise awaits them. This is Rice’s "political horizon." After meeting with Abbas, Moon said that he hoped the new government would "show a genuine commitment to the basic principles … of peace." What poppycock. He won’t even meet with Hamas. What commitment to peace did he have in mind?

The Saudis are hoping to bribe some verbal moderation — giving further money to the PA.

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Rice is also talking about involving the Arabs in some way in conjunction with the Quartet to further "peace efforts."

Were the Arabs states sincerely interested in helping Israel to be a secure and recognized part of the Middle East, I would be jumping for joy. But I know better. And it is important that everyone reading this understand that it is not the case. Even those Arab nations labeled "moderate" are virulently anti-Semitic and intend us no good at the end of the day. I will continue to say this as long as it needs to be said: The Saudi peace plan is not about peace: They want to flood us with "refugees," which is a recipe for destruction from within, and push us back to the ’67 lines, which taking all of eastern Jerusalem (including the Temple Mount and the Kotel), all of Judea and Samaria, and the Golan.

There were reports that Rice was asking the Arab states to withdraw the demand for "right of return," but she has now backed off on this: Oh no, she wouldn’t dream of telling them what to do. This remains our best hope — for without a change on this score, there is only stalemate. And indications are that there will be no change at all; Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa made this clear again today.

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Olmert has come out against negotiations with the PA now because of the unity platform. The question is whether he will hold in the face of pressure. He has made a very unambiguous statement regarding Abbas failure to keep his word, as he promised repeatedly that there would be no unity gov’t until Shalit was released. But Olmert’s spokesperson, Miri Eisen, has come out in a general way in favor of the involvement of Arab nations.

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About kidnapped Gilad Shalit, I feel pain and also great fear. Hamas has let it be known that what they are seeking to do with the prisoner release is to set a new precedent by getting Israel to cross the previous red line regarding release of major terrorists with considerable blood on their hands. Guaranteed, the first of these would be Marwan Barghouti. Yes, yes, Olmert is eager to show that he can secure Shalit’s release. However, the consequences of a release of such terrorists are obvious: not only would there be an increase in terrorist attacks, there would be more kidnappings! If the goal is to set a precedent, the intention is to follow with more of the same until all the big terrorists are out. This cannot be permitted to happen.

I say this in a forthright way. I am sorry for Gilad’s father, Noam Shalit. I do not minimize his suffering. G-d forbid that I should be in his shoes. But he does not help the situation when he says there should be no limits on efforts to get his son released. This increases the political pressure on Olmert, which is what Noam intends; but he’s wrong: we cannot put 100 or 1,000 other people at greatly increased risk in order to release his son. The Olmert gov’t needs to stand strong on this and I’m not sure if this will happen.

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The Fatah-Hamas friction, with shootings, etc., continues.

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Homesh, in Samaria, was one of 25 communities forcefully evacuated during the "disengagement." Former residents of Homesh are now calling for the rebuilding of the community in the face of the obvious errors made with the "disengagement" — the promises of greater security as a result, etc. Tomorrow there will be a march of some 5,000 into Homesh, and the IDF is permitting this. What will happen thereafter I cannot say, nor do I expect much that is positive. Personally, I think that "disengagement" was such an incredibly colossal mistake morally and strategically that we ought to return to all places where we pulled out.

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