Report: Israel preparing for PA collapse; will prevent elections

[ProgressiveMuslim]

Date: 23 / 11 / 2008 Time: 10:34


Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israel wants to prevent upcoming Palestinian elections "even if this means a confrontation with the United States," according to a military strategy report published in Israeli media outlets on Saturday.

Israel is working toward "preventing new elections in the Palestinian Authority" and planning for the collapse of the PA, "which will effectively kill the two-state solution," Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported.

The paper warned that when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's term ends on 9 January 2009, "he might disappear from the political arena," causing the PA to "disintegrate" and making a two-state solution highly unlikely.

Due to the risk that Hamas could win Palestinian elections to replace Abbas, Israel should try "preventing elections in the PA, even at the cost of a confrontation with the US and international community," according to a quote lifted from the report.

The document urges cabinet officials to lobby three American generals currently planning recommendations for a US position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Officials hope to intervene in the decision-making process to mold American strategy to "correspond with interests," the plan reportedly recommends.

It also urges the Israeli military to pressure Hamas by supporting alternatives to its control, adding that, "If the truce collapses and conflict is resumed in the Gaza Strip, Israel must act to topple Hamas's rule there."

But Israel hopes to avoid a major escalation with militants in the Gaza Strip, the document claims, although it notes that if talks fail, the military will send a "firm message of deterrence" to Hamas. And if the five-month truce is actually declared null, Israel will "consider embarking on a broad confrontation to hit the enemy severely and end the clash within a short time, and with as clear a result as possible," the report added.

The Israeli military recommendation highlights further strategy for 2009, which includes preparing for a possible military confrontation with Iran and returning the Golan Heights for a comprehensive peace agreement with Syria, Ha'aretz reported on Saturday.



http://maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33446

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Tell 'em "WFO"

Wait
For
Obama

--p!

[amdezurik]

2. but peace might break out then

and that would disappoint these types, they get hard-on's thinking of dropping cluster bombs and splurge when they hear stories of kids picking up unexploded ones thinking it is food and being blown-up...

[GoesTo11]

3. If Hamas wins elections, it will be pretty bad there.

The only consolation will be that some on DU will enjoy saying that it's Israel's fault that Hamas' has gained power.

[LeftishBrit]

4. It would be bad

And I wouldn't enjoy it; but I would consider that the Israeli right are partly responsible for the atmosphere in which they could gain power.

By the same token, I would hold Hamas partly responsible if Netanyahu wins in Israel.

[IndianaGreen]

5. A long view on this pathetic conflict

I think a single Palestinian state is doomed from the git-go! Gazans are as different from the Palestinians living in the West Bank as the Iraqi Shia are from the Sunis. In fact, the West Bank Palestinians are, in addition to being primarily Suni, better educated and better off than the Shia in Gaza. The conflict between Hamas and Fatah are mere reflection of the underlying religious and class differences between the two.

It is easy for Westeners to idealize people living under subjugation without taking into account what would happen when the oppressed become the oppressor. I submit to you what oppressed groups have done when given the opportunity to settle historical scores. In Iran, the minority Bahai has been persecuted since the Shah was toppled. In Iraq, the minority Christian and Turkmen communities have been attacked respectively by the Shia and the Kurds. Did I mention how the children of the Holocaust have treated their Palestinian brethren?

I wish we had more Nelson Mandelas and Desmond Tutus in this world; but we don't! Any peace settlement in the Middle East will invariably lead to civil war, either among Palestinians or among Israelis. The whole point is to extricate America from a region in which we have no business sticking our noses in.

My own personal preference, and that is all it is, is for Israel to grant full citizenship to Palestinians; in effect, the Occupation is replaced by a secular federal state made up of Jews, Shia, and Suni. Let democratic elections take place and a new Knesset be elected in which all factions are proportionally represented. We should not be supporting theocratic states, whether they are Jewish, Islamic, or Christian.

[LeftishBrit]

7. personal preference...

'My own personal preference, and that is all it is, is for Israel to grant full citizenship to Palestinians; in effect, the Occupation is replaced by a secular federal state made up of Jews, Shia, and Suni. Let democratic elections take place and a new Knesset be elected in which all factions are proportionally represented.'

Actually, so is mine, but I also have other personal preferences, ranging from winning a million pounds in the lottery, to all Islamic states becoming secular and democratic. None of it's going to happen in the near future. Something similar to what you suggest has been attempted in Lebanon for decades, with no success and constant eruptions of civil war. A two-state solution is the only hope at present.

[oberliner]

6. This is an article about an article in Ha'aretz

Here is the actual Ha'aretz article that this article is reporting on:

Defense establishment paper: Golan for Syria peace, plan for Iran strike

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1039929.html

[ProgressiveMuslim]

8. Also reported in the Daily Star

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=97927

[shira]

9. make up your mind

First, it's the Gaza bombshell where the west wants the PA to take out Hamas. Now it's the west really wanting Hamas to take out the PA.

I'm not sure which is worse. The conspiracy theories here or the ones on the batshit nutty RW sites.

[azurnoir]

10. Skipping a few steps are we

True enough that "the west" as you call it, of course without naming exactly which countries you are referring to in this case, for my part it is in this case the US, wanted the PA PNA or Fatah choose your name to take out Hamas, however things didn't quite work out that way and Hamas now is now ostensibly the ruling power in Gaza. The US in a retread plan B came up with Annapolis and a supposed peace plan that Hamas was not allowed to take part in, Israel played along at least for while, now stuck with an apparently unwanted "peace deal" even one fraught with caveats such as a Hamas must be removed from power before Israel will deal with Fatah and elections that Fatah might well lose it is Israel who wants a way out of any agreements or at least according to the article. The West* as it is called are in reality two different countries both with "lame duck and disreputable" leaders with somewhat different goals, and even those are most likely about to change.

*the west is more than Israel and the US however for these purposes they are the two named

[bemildred]

11. So the Gaza == Stalingrad analogy is looking better and better.

And the Dov Weisglass "diet" strategy is admitted to be a failure, but we are to continue with it anyway because the alternative is "unthinkable".