Return-Path: <sentto-279987-2750-1002429658-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Sat, 06 Oct 2001 21:42:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 24764 invoked by uid 510); 7 Oct 2001 04:40:58 -0000 Received: from n22.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.72) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 7 Oct 2001 04:40:58 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-2750-1002429658-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.4.53] by n22.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 07 Oct 2001 04:40:59 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_4_1); 7 Oct 2001 04:40:58 -0000 Received: (qmail 49841 invoked from network); 7 Oct 2001 04:40:55 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by l7.egroups.com with QMQP; 7 Oct 2001 04:40:55 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta2 with SMTP; 7 Oct 2001 04:40:55 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id VAA26256 for iwar@onelist.com; Sat, 6 Oct 2001 21:40:55 -0700 Message-Id: <200110070440.VAA26256@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 21:40:55 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:US.calls.an.end.to.Israel.row] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit US calls an end to Israel row From Phil Reeves in Jerusalem, Independent, 07 October 2001 The United States yesterday called an end to its diplomatic squabble with Israel, hurriedly extinguishing the dispute despite the virulent nature of the remarks by Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister. Just over a day after Mr Sharon's outburst urging the US and its allies not to repeat the mistake of appeasement in 1938 - comments which cast Mr Bush in the role of Neville Chamberlain and Israel as Czechoslovakia - a US official announced the row was over. As he did so, Israeli troops were fortifying their positions after invading Palestinian-run areas in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday in a so-called "incursion" - a practice usually condemned by the US. Mr Sharon has been allowed to escape with a slap on the wrist, although he has repeatedly annoyed Washington since the 11 September atrocities. In the first few days, Israel's army stepped up invasions into Palestinian areas. Then he blocked truce talks and, when they finally happened, undermined the results. The Israeli leader labelled the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "Israel's Bin Laden" and put the attacks on New York in the same bracket as Palestinian attacks against Israelis. On Friday, the White House called Mr Sharon's remarks "unacceptable in the President's opinion", which is a notch above its usual wan response to Israeli transgressions, but not exactly blistering. The standard feeble admonishment used by Washington when Israel misbehaves is "provocative" - a term last deployed just under two weeks ago, when Israel's tanks went on a wrecking raid in Gaza only a few hours after Shimon Peres, Israel's foreign minister, and Mr Arafat had at America's behest agreed the first stages of a truce. Since then several score people have died and the ceasefire has collapsed. Mr Sharon had sought to lessen the damage caused by his "appeasement" remarks which were made a day after scores of Israelis of Russian origin were killed in a Black Sea air crash which at the time was seen as a possible terror attack. He was already needled by Mr Bush's recent references to Palestinian statehood, remarks which were insubstantial but clearly designed to prod Mr Sharon. On Friday Mr Sharon telephoned Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, to patch matters up. An announcement from his office said that he expressed his appreciation for the "special relationship" between the US and Israel. The row would not have lasted very long, as Mr Sharon undoubtedly calculated. President Bush is in a comparable position to his father in 1991, when the United States faced the task of keeping Israel out of the Gulf War, even after Saddam Hussein attacked Tel Aviv with missiles. Bush Senior was fearful that Israeli involvement would increase Arab support for Iraq, fracturing his fragile Middle East coalition. Israel complied, soothed by gifts of aid and Patriot missiles. A decade later, Bush Junior is equally keen to do what he can to persuade Mr Sharon not to damage the support he and his allies are trying to build among Arab and Islamic states. His underlying fear is that the Israeli leader will mount a major assault on the Occupied Territories, inflaming public opinion in the Muslim world. So he is prepared to go to considerable lengths to keep Israel sweet. President Bush may feel that the usual political conditions - such as a president's need to work with a pro-Israeli Congress - have been altered by the 11 September tragedy, and that the mood of national unity has engulfed the tireless American Jewish lobbyists. But he also knows that will not last for ever. Mr Bush has his father's experience in mind. He will remember the politically damaging row started by the pro-Israel lobby when Bush Senior declined to support $10bn in loan guarantees to Israel unless Israel halted illegally building settlements in the Occupied Territories. Some believe the episode cost him the next election. ------------------------ Yahoo! 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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 20:59:54 PST