From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Mon Jan 27 2003 - 23:20:24 MST
John K. Clark stated:
<<I don't buy it, Arabs were killing Jews long before Oslo and things were
not very peaceful for the Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, in fact there has not
been a time since Israel was created that Arabs were not killing Jews. >>
My guess is the Jewish population was too low to win decisively,
punishingly, where the Arabs would say: Oh my Gawd I can't stand this! Lets
negotiate a peace. I think there were times that they were genuinely shocked;
as in the 6-Day war in 1967. Soon after, there came an Arab tradition of
poetry to deal with their despair at having lost to Israel.
My sense, is that the Arab Muslims never had any sense that the Israelis
could damage all 250 million of them out (why would they want to?). Or
rather, inflict "unacceptable damage, as the Pentagon term bespeaks! If you
believe that if you die in war, one one is ushered into a flesh;y paradise,
"unacceptible damage" may have a quite broad meaning.
But please remember, the same Islamic societies were beaten by France, the
UK, and Italy in the 19th and 20th centuries. It does take political will to
do it, and one has to decide if its worth it.
<<That would mean driving millions of people from their home, again. I don't
think that would foster goodwill.>>
My understanding is that there is no Good Will, nor is there likely to be
Good Will. This has become, for now on both sides, a sectarian fight. In
Israel, Peace Now membership has completely dwindled to a few leftists. In
the Islamic states, there never was, or has been, a Peace Now movement;
although I notice that certain Palistinians get lynched by the PA
occasionally, so maybe there are a few peaceniks among them? I suspect Israel
will do all it can now, to separate each side, otherwise the murder and
killing will continue.
<<I hope you're right and yes, the rational response would certainly be to
just relax and enjoy all that money but I worry because people are not always
rational.??>>
Money can make people rational, as well as irrational. But I will suppose
that the US using the CIA, will make sure everything is calm. Iran is a rare
example of a people rebelling against modernization. Iraq, is at least
somewhat different.
FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE
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