Are They Really that Stupid?
I refuse to believe that the Bush administration is really this stupid:
The Bush administration is pressing Israel to withdraw from a sliver of territory claimed by Lebanon. Officials said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the case for Israeli withdrawal from Shebaa during her trip to Israel earlier this month. After meeting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on July 22, Ms. Rice made an unscheduled one-day visit to Beirut to meet Siniora and express support for Lebanon in wake of the Syrian military withdrawal.
In a delicate position, where Sharon is desperately trying to hold on to what little deterrent against Arab militarism and terrorism Israel will have after disengagement, is the United States really trying to hand Hezbollah a huge victory.
But the great part about this is not just that it's a reward for terrorism and Arab intransigence. It also makes Sharon's job with the Israeli virtually impossible by proving that Israeli concessions will always be pocketed and the Arabs will always use the international community to demand more:
One of Israel's claims is that land-for-peace never does them any good, because even when the international community promises to guarantee that Israel has fulfilled all of its obligations, the Arabs always come up with more land that is "rightfully theirs," and which Israel has to give back "in the name of peace." Then they raise hell and attack Israel over the newly "disputed" land, and the cycle begins all over again.
When the hell did the Shaba Farms become "disputed"?!?! The northern border isn't "poorly defined"!! It's quite well defined - so much so that when Israel withdrew in 1999 UN officials literally walked over it inch by inch to certify that Israel met 425. The way the article reads, you'd think that this is some legitimate dispute instead of a transparent ploy to give Hezbollah a pretext to continue fighting - after Israel withdrew, Syria literally gave Lebanon the area so that Hezbollah wouldn't have to disband and could keep on killing Jews (and, incidentally, aiming over 10,000 rockets at Israel).
So I guess a generous reading of this absurdly anti-Israel but oh-so-State-Dept demand is that, contrary to what you might belief at first blush, Secretary Rice might not be trying to spark a nuclear war in the Middle East. She might be simply trying to ruin Sharon's political career and set Israeli politics back two decades.
[Cross-posted on IsraPundit]
The Bush administration is pressing Israel to withdraw from a sliver of territory claimed by Lebanon. Officials said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the case for Israeli withdrawal from Shebaa during her trip to Israel earlier this month. After meeting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on July 22, Ms. Rice made an unscheduled one-day visit to Beirut to meet Siniora and express support for Lebanon in wake of the Syrian military withdrawal.
In a delicate position, where Sharon is desperately trying to hold on to what little deterrent against Arab militarism and terrorism Israel will have after disengagement, is the United States really trying to hand Hezbollah a huge victory.
But the great part about this is not just that it's a reward for terrorism and Arab intransigence. It also makes Sharon's job with the Israeli virtually impossible by proving that Israeli concessions will always be pocketed and the Arabs will always use the international community to demand more:
One of Israel's claims is that land-for-peace never does them any good, because even when the international community promises to guarantee that Israel has fulfilled all of its obligations, the Arabs always come up with more land that is "rightfully theirs," and which Israel has to give back "in the name of peace." Then they raise hell and attack Israel over the newly "disputed" land, and the cycle begins all over again.
When the hell did the Shaba Farms become "disputed"?!?! The northern border isn't "poorly defined"!! It's quite well defined - so much so that when Israel withdrew in 1999 UN officials literally walked over it inch by inch to certify that Israel met 425. The way the article reads, you'd think that this is some legitimate dispute instead of a transparent ploy to give Hezbollah a pretext to continue fighting - after Israel withdrew, Syria literally gave Lebanon the area so that Hezbollah wouldn't have to disband and could keep on killing Jews (and, incidentally, aiming over 10,000 rockets at Israel).
So I guess a generous reading of this absurdly anti-Israel but oh-so-State-Dept demand is that, contrary to what you might belief at first blush, Secretary Rice might not be trying to spark a nuclear war in the Middle East. She might be simply trying to ruin Sharon's political career and set Israeli politics back two decades.
[Cross-posted on IsraPundit]
