US - Israel - Palestine

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What exactly is going on with the US, Israel, and Palestine? I'm watching the news reports and talk about spins and reversals, these stories almost put the campaign spin to shame. For example, is there a peace plan (road map) for Israel and Palestine or not? Well, I thought there was and then you get:

10/02/04 Erlanger, NYT, Israeli Tanks and Bulldozers in Assault on Gaza Town.

And the US, ever the voice of reason (not) urges Israel to show restraint. To which Israel responds Israel: Palestinian State Shelved with US Blessing (10/06/04 Heinrich, Reuters, ). But never mind, because the US is there - U.S. Vetoes U.N. Resolution (10/06/04 Lynch, Wa. Post).

But then again ... UN warns of 'growing Gaza crisis' (10/07/04 BBC )

Of course, the US wants to urge restraint and so what happens?

9/22/04 Lynch, Independent/UK, US offers 500 'bunker-busting' bombs to Israel

Germany, not to be outdone delivers 2 submarines (free of charge) to Israel capable of carrying nuke warheads ( 9/10/04 AFP).

But apparently, there have been other technology exchanges besides "bunker busters" between the US and Israel: An Ominous Drone in the Gaza Sky (10/08/04 Moore, Wa. Post).

Then we have the ongoing threats between Israel and Iran which should raise the concern level of all of us. A concern that is not mitigated by the perception that Israel is a greater nuclear threat than Iran: Israeli whistleblower Vanunu (10/07/04 SpaceWar).

OF course, there is a major new round of "you kill us we'll kill you" between Israel and Palestine. There is no sanity in that situation that I can see - only destruction, death, and increasing rage. The supposed voice of "sanity" is the US, which from all I can tell (from the above) is sending massively mixed messages - show restraint, but here are some shiny new weapons for you to use.

And if you think that this doesn't have any impact of the growing distrust of the US (and therefore direct impacts on "terrorist" recruiting) think again.

Posted by rowan at October 8, 2004 07:20 AM | TrackBack | Printable Version | [eMail this article!] |