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Originally Posted by hotair
It is not the children throwing the rocks, that is a problem. It is the people with the AK’s, who are shooting at the Police, when they show up to deal with the rock throwers.
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No, it's the IDF soldiers who shoot kids for throwing rocks when nothing else is going on. That shit still happens. And the Israeli "settlers" [squatters] in the occupied territories insist that a rock is as dangerous as a bullet[ then procede to shoot kids for throwing rocks and also shoot adult Palestinians who on their way to work and not visibly doing anything dangerous.
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Mideast peace talks marred by 'Israeli slight'
Low-ranking official sent as U.S. general holds first 'road map' meeting
updated 12:02 p.m. CT, Fri., March. 14, 2008
JERUSALEM - President Bush's Mideast peace monitor sat down with Israeli and Palestinian representatives Friday for the first time since talks formally resumed nearly four months ago, but the atmosphere was clouded amid claims of an Israeli slight.
The Palestinians sent their prime minister, Salam Fayyad, while the Israelis dispatched a lower-level representative, Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad — a decision the Palestinians said showed a lack of seriousness.
The U.S. envoy, Lt. Gen. William Fraser III, must confront an upsurge in violence between the sides and the fact that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians have fulfilled their obligations under the peace plan promoted by Bush.
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It should be noted that Jr.'s "plan" puts all the blame on Palestine's government and forced them to take all the first steps with absolutely no guarantee those steps will be reciprocated by the Israeli government in turn.
So no wonder they don't fulfill their end.
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Fraser's appointment was touted as a central feature of the U.S.-sponsored peace talks launched last November at Annapolis, Md. Those talks have made little apparent progress so far and critics have charged that it's taken a long time for Fraser to assume his role as the key arbiter of Palestinian and Israeli compliance with their obligations under the international peace plan known as the "road map."
In the plan's first stage, the Palestinians were to dismantle armed groups. The Israelis were to freeze construction in West Bank settlements and remove some of the more than 100 unauthorized outposts set up by settlers since the 1990s.
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The part in bold is precisely what I mean about putting all the heavy lifting on Palestine's government. They don't have sufficient enforcement power against the armed groups, and in fact are grossly out gunned by the arm groups many times over. The blockaides that the U.S. and Israel put in place make that even harder, and the only way for those to be lifted is if the Palestinian government manages to do what's physically impossible for them. Ergo, a plan designed to fail with blame already assigned to the Palestinian government.
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Israel recently announced several new building projects in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, areas the Palestinians want for their future state. The Israeli moves angered the Palestinians and were criticized by the U.S. and the international community, and Israeli defense officials said they were concerned Fraser might reprimand Israel at Friday's meeting.
Representatives of the sides met Friday morning at Jerusalem's King David Hotel. Sitting opposite Fayyad was Gilad, not his boss, former Israeli prime minister and current Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
The Palestinians' chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, criticized that decision. The defense minister should have been there as a gesture of respect, Erekat said.
"It would have been very appropriate for Barak to go. Maybe Barak couldn't go because he is busy planning more (settlement construction) and more incursions," Erekat said.
'Frank exchange'
Israel's Defense Ministry released no official statement after the meeting. The U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem said the sides had discussed "where the parties are not meeting their commitments and the reasons why," and said the meeting included "a cordial but frank exchange of views."
Before the meeting began, Gilad described it only in general terms, telling Israel Radio that it was "part of the general dialogue between us and the Palestinians and us and the Americans" and part of an effort to "make progress in the peace process."
At the Annapolis summit, the sides agreed that the U.S. would monitor implementation, and Fraser, an air force general, was given the job.
The meeting was the first time Fraser has met with both sides and the first time Israeli and Palestinian teams have met since the most recent spike in violence began in late February.
The bloodshed saw an upsurge in Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza and an Israeli air and ground operation in the northern part of the territory in which more than 120 people were killed, including many civilians. In Jerusalem, a Palestinian gunmen killed eight Jewish students at a rabbinical seminary, and Israeli raids in the West Bank this week killed five militants, including one from a violent offshoot of Abbas' Fatah movement.
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Not simply many civilians, the vast majority of these were civilians. Yet another problem is that the U.S. is playing the moderator between the two, when clearly the U.S. is blatantly biased. A good first step would be to ban U.S. intervention of any form [especially the arm sales variety] and look for an objective moderator.
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Before Annapolis, Israeli-Palestinian peace talks had been frozen during seven years of violence. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged to try to reach a peace agreement by the end of this year.
On Friday, Palestinians launched another four rockets from Gaza into Israel, causing no injuries, the Israeli military said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
The “Palestinians” are now offended, that Israel is apparently starting to take these talks as serious as they do!!!
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You misread the article. It's clear Israel's government does not take them seriously and makes every effort to backhand the Palestinians while blaming them for standing clsoe enough to be backhanded.
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. . . the Palestinians were to dismantle armed groups. . . .
Yet rockets, and motor shells fall on Israel every day!!!
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It's not everyday. And as explained it's physically impossible for the Palestinian government to reduce any violence at all. They're simply under equipped and under trained for the job. That can't be resolved without funds, which the Israel government controls. So it's still in the government of Israel's power alone to change anything.
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In Jerusalem, a Palestinian gunmen killed eight Jewish students at a rabbinical seminary classroom.
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Maybe if the IDF would set a better example. In all the killing of innocent civilians the vast majority are Palestinian killed by Israel's military. That's an injustice that hasn't been discussed much less resolved in decades.
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“. . . Israel recently announced several new building projects in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, areas the Palestinians want for their future state. The Israeli moves angered the Palestinians and were criticized by the U.S. and the international community, and Israeli defense officials said they were concerned Fraser might reprimand Israel at Friday's meeting. . . . “
The peace process hits a cross-road of sorts.
The Israeli people are getting tired of always being the only ones to comply with agreements. While the world continues to make up excuses why the “Palestinians” should not be required to hold up their end of any agreements, all the while they continue to criticize Israel for not holding up their end.
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Except the Israeli government rarely holds up their end of the deal. They're just as quick to refuse compliance and even outright violate agreements in order to snatch as much more of Palestinian as they can. Even Israel's own citizens have openly protested against this aggresive expansionism and government sanctioned violence, yet their government continues to flout the public will.
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Because of this double standard, a growing number of Israelis are feeling that the entire ‘peace process’ has become a total waste of time.
Who are you trying to kid???
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I think you should ask who does the Israeli government think they're trying to kid. You're barely getting half the picture here.