Israel

Ariel Sharon has been taken to the hospital suffering from what first news reports call a stroke.
(I’ll be gone; someone else may want to replace this with more information as it happens – and commentary.)

TMLutas has a creative idea.

More than 10 years ago, the Israel and the PLO worked out the Oslo Accords. This was an agreement where Israel was to allow the Palestinians to form armed internal police forces, which were then supposed to confiscate weapons and forcibly disband terrorist cells. The PLO itself, on the verge of achieving a Palestinian state, would disband. Israel would relinquish some of the territory that had been seized for Jewish settlements, and the Palestinians would hold free and fair elections in order to form a legitimate government instead of being run by a bunch of terrorist organizations.

This was pretty much just the first steps, though. The idea was to eventually have a nation called Palestine which would rule its own territory and leave the Israelis alone, while Israel returned the favor.

A few of the first steps were actually completed. Some of the Jewish settlements were bulldozed and the land was returned to the Palestinians. The Palestinians were allowed to form armed internal security forces. Next step was elections.

Didn’t happen. The newly armed secruity forces recruited and armed many more gunmen than they said they would, many of them murderous terrorists. Of course, the first thing these guys wanted to do was use their shiny new AK’s and murder even more people.

And do you think that the “police” even tried to shut the PLO down or arrest terrorists? Don’t make me laugh.

I’m reminded of this painful episode of naivete on the part of the Israelis because of this news item. The terrorist organization Hamas is claiming that they’ll agree to a “truce” if Israel releases thousands of Palestinian prisoners. They also want the Israelis to redeploy their troops away from Gaza. Don’t worry about Jewish civilians after the army pulls out, Hamas says, because they’ll station Palestinian police forces in order to protect them.

Does anyone else see a pattern here? Or is it just me?

UPDATE
Francis Porretto says that calling a truce simply to gather strength for further hostilities is a favored Islamic tactic.

May we hope the Palestinians mourn thoughtfully and let the healing begin.

A news item on the Reuters wire service reports on a 10 year projection prepared by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. It seems that they think there’s a very real possibility that the European Union will impose sanctions on Israel because of the ongoing Palestinian problem. Proponents of sanctions have been quick to compare the proposed sanctions to similar actions that were imposed on South Africa due to Apartheid.

To be frank, I’ve always been mildly surprised that the EU hasn’t gotten around to some sort of sanctions already. Most of the support that the Palestinians rely on to keep their terrorist war going comes from Europe, and hate crimes against Jews seem to be on the rise in some European countries. Added to this is the constant criticism of Israel’s actions against suspected terrorists while there’s a ringing silence when it comes to any Palestinian violence.

I’d have to say that, unless Palestinian society destroys itself after the security barrier is completed through civil war, things are unlikely to change. European opinion is always going to be weighted against Israel, and sanctions appear to be inevitable when the EU finally gets it’s act together and produces a unified foreign policy.