From: steve (steve365@btinternet.com)
Date: Sat Apr 06 2002 - 11:41:59 MST
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Lorrey" <mlorrey@datamann.com>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Friday, April 05, 2002 5:00 PM
Subject: Re: POLITICS: Re: grim prospects
> Muslims seem to be culturally required to claim any defeat as a great
> victory. Just look at how Saddam claimed he won the Gulf War.
>
> Yes, I do read what the Palestinians are really saying, not just what
> comes through the European and American media. Most Palestinians will
> not accept just the West Bank and Gaza, they want to drive Israel into
> the sea. They have no intent to recognise Israel as a sovereign nation,
> which is one reason why the Palestinians launched the latest wave of
> suicide attacks, in order to scuttle the Saudi peace proposal (note that
> proposal was actually written by Condoleeza Rice). The other reason they
> scuttled the deal was because the Palestinians receive backing from
> Saddam Hussein, who finances the bounties that the families of suicide
> bombers receive. Saddam doesn't want the Palestinian problem solved
> because then the US would have the liberty to then go after removing his
> regieme.
I broadly agree with this except for the assessment of Saddam's motives. I
think that while he has pragmatic reasons for supporting Hamas et al, like
most Arab leaders he will not accept the right of Israel to exist. This is
true for the Arab population in general including countries like Egypt. They
may accept that Israel exists and they can't do anything about it but they
will never accept that is has a right to exist. The ultimate reason in my
view is that they will not accept a non-muslim state in the Middle East ie
one where believers are ruled by infidels. The question is why are the
Palestinians so hot on this current strategy? You can talk quite correctly
about how pissed they are at Israels settlement policy etc (rightly so I
think) but that doesn't explain why they have resorted to violence of this
kind. The usual answer is "because they are desperate and without hope".
This is bull. They are doing it because they have hope - that it will get
them what they want. People do not take up arms and get themselves killed if
they think they have no chance. Hamas and the others seem to believe they
will break Israel's morale. I think they have actually made a huge mistake,
they have resolidified Jewish support for the entire Zionist ideal. When
they realise this in about six months they will give up - for the time
being. Steve Davies
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