Evidently America has been getting so presumptuous about giving East Jerusalem to the Palestinians that their condemndation has actually aided the Palestinians into demonstrating hatred and causing all sorts of problems in Jerusalem. First it was Biden who was furious with the announcement of 1,600 apartments to be built. Then Clinton scolded very harshly. Netanyahu was in deep trouble because his interior minister told the truth at the wrong time.
To me it sounds like everyone but Israel takes it for granted that East Jerusalem is to be the capital of Palestine. Was the announcement ill-timed? Perhaps it was a desperate move to tell these outsiders that it's a place sacred to Jews, and has been in the original plans of Israel for an eternity is not at least the last 3,000 years. It's part of Israel's land that is not to be bartered with. Panic struck and the announcement came out. I think the interior minister felt the steam roller coming and pushed back.
The timing was amazing. First, I was really expecting Mitchell to be there. It was announced in the papers that he was coming for peace talks and Biden would come after him in a few days. At this time there were all kinds of demonstrations going on in Jerusalem by the Palestinians over Israel's decision to protect religious and cultural places because the Palestinians were letting them go to pot. Try to do something nice and you get in doo doo. There's never a dull moment in Israel as I recall from living there from 1980-1985. I haven't heard a word about Mitchell but this episode is bringing out all sorts of hate-mongers towards Israel.
Israel is a nation, albeit a very teeny one. It is not a state or a city of the United States. It's cross to bear is that it is dependant on money from the United States to buy arms to protect itself from these same enemies. The United States is so fair that it has also been supplying money to all the other enemies in the surrounding neighborhood, making the necessity continuous. Now the biggest ogre in the neighborhood, Iran, is a threat with the worst weapon of all, atomic ones that can reach Israel.
If the future Palestine were made up of lovely Canadians who wanted offices in East Jerusalem for their state, it might be a different story. It would be lovely to have such nice neighbors who are so similar with similar goals and acceptance in their hearts. But these Palestinians have been fighting us for over 60 years now and only a few have decided to accept us. Fatah hasn't really come around at all, only on the surface for show, I'm afraid. They've had their share of attacks on Israeli civilians. Of course they're easier to deal with than the off the wall Hamas and other terrorists who are as bull-headed as they come. Finding an enemy who is willing to live in peace is hard to do. The problem is that the Palestinians are divided and not acting as a unit. How can we come to an agreement about a new state next door or in our living room that way ? Come off your high horses, Biden and Clinton. Don't act so shocked. Palestinians need to earn the trust you expect us to have, and we haven't got any so far. We've been slapped in the face for 60 years now. You just experienced it one time for a few moments.
Reference: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100314/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians
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