THE SPINE OCTOBER 22, 2007
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On August 6, Ehud Olmert was on his way to the truly charming West Bank town of Jericho for one of those confidence-building meetings with Mahmoud Abbas. Alas, Israeli security had found out -- their intelligence is superb! -- that Fatah operatives attached to the Palestinian Authority had planned to target Olmert's party as it entered Jericho and assassinate him and others. The Israelis discovered the plot, and arrested some of the principals. Since these were security officials, they knew the details of the visit.
Israel then handed them over to the P.A., and last week, instead of being charged and detained, they were released by the Palestinians. This is not a way to build confidence or to build peace.
Under pressure from the Olmert government, the former detainees have been re-arrested. In the meantime a Fatah spokesman said the charges were "an Israeli fabrication and lie."
The fact is that the P.A. is a joke, a bitter joke, a joke that cost lives, Jewish and Arab, a tragic joke.
18 comments
"The fact is that the P.A. is a joke, a bitter joke, a joke that cost lives, Jewish and Arab, a tragic joke."
That maybe, but I am not laughing.
I agree with Abigail that the Olmert government doesn't have to mandate to negotiate a sustainable agreement with the Palestinian Authority.
- jacksondyer
October 22, 2007 at 9:45pm
Jackson: There was an interesting article in this weekend's Sunday Times Magazine by Daphne Merkin--about what happened to calling evil evil. Thought of you. Nothing mind-blowing, but of some interest.
- MOLLYSIMON
October 22, 2007 at 9:53pm
Assassination plots seem to be all the rage -- Putin, Olmert, Bhutto. Dangerous world.
- rozenson
October 22, 2007 at 10:08pm
Wow, a new site!
congrats TNR and Spine.
I even had to sign in!
- babigail
October 23, 2007 at 5:29am
Let's see if the 50-word barrier has been lifted:
www.haaretz.com/.../LiArt.jhtml
<a href="www.haaretz.com/.../LiArt.jhtml"> a link done in html as in the old days</a>
- babigail
October 23, 2007 at 5:35am
GREAT!!!!
Thanks!
- babigail
October 23, 2007 at 5:36am
Testing!
- basman
October 23, 2007 at 10:34am
Thanks for the link Molly Simon. I downloaded the article and will read it later. I read Daphne Merkin whenever she publishes in TNR.
I also remember the lawyer she writes about Verge. he defended Klaus Barbie the miserable Nazi who used to pick up Jewish children by their hair and throw them into t waiting trucks which took them to the railway station. The issue of "evil" is a complex one but it has lawys seemed to me that people who defend people like Barbie are worse than the perpetrators of atrocities and I am in a liberal mood today.
Anyway, here is an article for you:
Where do you stand in the new culture wars? by Sarah Baxter
www.timesonline.co.uk/.../article2701379.ece
"As the rise of Islamism challenges the old assumptions of left and right, new cultural fault lines are emerging. Take our quiz to see which side you are on"
- jacksondyer
October 23, 2007 at 10:36am
Hi Itzik,
They deleted our brillian Nitzsche and Dostoyevsky conversations at the University blog area.
Shame on them.
- jacksondyer
October 23, 2007 at 10:39am
Jack , yeah, I noticed.
We will have to be brilliant about something else, I suppose: perhaps the nature sonnets of Mitt Romney.
- basman
October 23, 2007 at 11:00am
jackson: Loved the article, but not so much the quiz. Of course, according to the quiz, I'm a true liberal. However, questions like do you believe in universal freedom, etc. don't really make the real point, which is can democracy be exported. And is it better, in some cases, to let the evil powers-that-be stay in power if that means they turn into Iran?
- MOLLYSIMON
October 23, 2007 at 3:15pm
I didn't even look at the quiz, molly. No time.
The article was very good, though.
- jacksondyer
October 23, 2007 at 4:28pm
"We will have to be brilliant about something else, I suppose: perhaps the nature sonnets of Mitt Romney."
That would be expending mental energy on a void, Itzik.
I am not sure that Mormons are allowed to read sonnets.
- jacksondyer
October 23, 2007 at 4:32pm
How does one add a picture to the post?
- jacksondyer
October 23, 2007 at 4:34pm
Basman: Glad to see the midget font hasn't driven you away. Kids on trampoline, but it's air isn't so great b/c of fires, so a bit of coughing.
- MOLLYSIMON
October 23, 2007 at 6:37pm
Jackson: Do you think ND will ever come back? I know you hope she won't, but I can't help but be amused.
- MOLLYSIMON
October 23, 2007 at 6:38pm
Molly: It is a digression to be sure, but I t drove hrough the entire state of California this summer to wind up in Escondido for a few days, passing by Malibu, Oceanside, etc etc. It is mind blogging --having recently beeen there--to see the constant news accounts of the immensity and pervasiveness of the burning.
- basman
October 24, 2007 at 9:55am
Posting Basman is Basman on the left.
Reclining Basman is Leo William Pearce Basman, who don't care nuthin' about any of this guff.
Mind you, his older brother, Max Pearce Basman, 2 1/2, loves spelling "ontology" with his alphabet soup. Max is an Alpha Male. Otherwise he would be a Beta Max.
Clearly, these little Basman brothers, like their mother, their grandfather--Posting Basman, their mother's sister, their Great Uncle--posting Basman's brother, and their other Grandfather on the Pearce side--the redoubtable William Alexander Pearce (William the Elder), former Solicitor General of Bermuda, are going to be lawyers.
- basman
October 24, 2007 at 8:36pm