Mideast paralysis.Byline: The Register-Guard It's hard to recall when prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians have been so bleak. Both sides appear trapped in a robotic cycle of violence and vengeance that has strengthened the hand of hard-liners. Israeli artillery shells killed 19 innocent Palestinian civilians in the Gaza village of Beit Hanun on Nov. 8, including 18 members of a single extended family. Among the dead were eight children, one just 8 months old, and their 84-year-old grandmother. Israeli military officials apologized for the errant tank rounds, which were intended for Qassam rocket launchers nearby. When those same Qassam rockets killed a 57-year-old Israeli woman and critically injured two others in Sderot on Nov. 15, there was no apology from Palestinians. Militants claimed the attacks were in retaliation for the Beit Hanun massacre, but they were no different from the 1,000 Qassam strikes against Israeli civilian targets that have occurred this year. There is no moral high ground to be found on these killing fields. The blood-soaked landscape contains more than enough evidence to charge both sides with war crimes. It's old news that the Hamas-led Palestinian government refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist or to abide by To stand to; to adhere; to maintain. See also: Abide any past agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. That self-destructive intransigence in·tran·si·gent also in·tran·si·geant adj. Refusing to moderate a position, especially an extreme position; uncompromising. [French intransigeant, from Spanish intransigente : had led to a complete cutoff of Western financial aid to the Palestinian government. It's also given Israeli officials political immunity from having to establish any diplomatic contact whatsoever with the Palestinians. Now Israel's new deputy prime minister A Deputy Prime Minister or Vice Prime Minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting Prime Minister when the real Prime Minister is temporarily absent. , Avigdor Lieberman, has decided to match the militant rhetoric of Hamas with some bloodthirsty blood·thirst·y adj. 1. Eager to shed blood. 2. Characterized by great carnage. blood bluster of his own. On Saturday, Lieberman said Israel should assassinate the Hamas leadership and abandon all international peace efforts. "They ... have to disappear, to go to paradise, all of them, and there can't be any compromise," he said. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert added the incendiary Lieberman to his government to bolster his faltering coalition, which continues to suffer from Israel's indecisive in·de·ci·sive adj. 1. Prone to or characterized by indecision; irresolute: an indecisive manager. 2. Inconclusive: an indecisive contest; an indecisive battle. summer war in Lebanon. Olmert has tried to distance himself from Lieberman, saying he remains committed to the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which envisions an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. But the road map is, if not dead, barely breathing as a blueprint for peace. Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians have been able to implement even its simplest and least-controversial recommendations. Olmert only mentions it when he needs to curry favor to seek to gain favor by flattery or attentions. See Favor, n. os> to seek to gain favor by flattery, caresses, kindness, or officious civilities. See also: Curry favor with the Bush administration. Along with moribund peace efforts, the ceaseless violence appears to have driven moderates on both sides into hiding. Palestinian support for Hamas seems, in spite of the international boycott, stronger than ever. Within Israel, profound disillusionment Disillusionment Adams, Nick loses innocence through WWI experience. [Am. Lit.: “The Killers”] Angry Young Men disillusioned postwar writers of Britain, such as Osborne and Amis. [Br. Lit. permeates a society with a growing siege mentality. The Israeli Defense Forces, once seen by the Israeli public as invincible, were unable to vanquish Hezbollah during the Lebanon invasion. The IDF (Intermediate Distribution Frame) A wiring rack located between the MDF (main distribution frame) and the intended end user devices (telephones, routers, PCs, etc.). Cables run from the outside world to the MDF and then to the IDFs. See MDF and wiring rack. also hasn't been able to stop Palestinian militants from regularly lobbing crude Qassam rockets into Israeli communities. The rocket attacks continue despite brutal military retaliation in Gaza that has killed 155 Palestinian civilians, including 57 children, in the past four months. Preoccupied with the debacle in Iraq and political unrest in the United States, the Bush administration isn't in a position to resuscitate re·sus·ci·tate v. To restore consciousness, vigor, or life to. negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinian government, constantly on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of civil war, is incapable of meaningful progress on its own. Only the Israelis can break the stalemate. What's needed now is another unilateral Israeli diplomatic effort as bold as former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza. A cease fire, coupled with a prisoner exchange, could change the dynamic. A concession that would support the faltering efforts of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to form a unity government with Fatah and Hamas might make a difference. It's painfully clear what doesn't work, and where the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. is headed. What does Israel really have to lose? |
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