Sunday, November 07, 2004
The Coming Trouble.......
allow me to tell the next major flash point between israel and the palestinians - the burial place of arafat........already it is easy to see that the crapoola will hit the fan because of this. the entire matter has the possibility of becoming quite internationalized.
arafat and the palestinians no doubt want him buried in jerusalem. the israelis, particularly sharon is dead set against this..............i believe arafat wants to be buried close by or within al aqsa mosque which is near the dome of the rock (temple mount). watch carefully, because there will be a political earthquake over this...........
arafat being buried at al asqa will not only need israeli permission but to the best of my knowledge it would need permission from jordan - perhaps king abdullah himself. why? because jordan to the best of my knowledge is still considered a guardian of the dome of the rock and its immeadiate area by islamic authoritites and israel.
sharon and many within the israeli govt seem to think gaza is the only place arafat should be buried, but how much pressure will israel face from the united states and others over this? the political ramifactions are huge because it allows for myths and legends which will effectively become the foundations of nation building. sharon and israel are well aware of this. the place that arafat gets buried will become a focal point of arafat's de-facto victory or his defeat.
what happens after arafat passes away or has his powers transferred to others? if the palestinians can put forth a leadership that is cognizent of certain political realities it will make it much easier for israelis to contemplate a negotiation over final status. it will also clearly put much more pressure on israel from abroad particularly from the united states if a palestinian leadership is functioning properly and shows that it is ready to go forward. the sooner the palestinians are able to do this the sooner the israeli public will put an immense amount of pressure on its leaders to do the same. as i have said before the majority of people on both sides are sick and tired of the chaos and want to get on with their lives. we must see if the palestinians can transfer power without a quagmire and civil war erupting within their population.
israel cannot pick the next palestinian leader, we would like to but there is no way it is about to happen, nor should. certainly we would like to see a moderate leadership. i think most israelis understand the notion that the palestinians want a country for themselves and should have one.
it would be a huge mistake on israels part to get to involved in trying to pick a palestinian leader. we must let the palestinians decide for themselves. both the palestinians and israelis will deal with the consequenses for good or bad in short order. i remember when the this intifada broke out, i was on a biz trip in italy. though i was only gone for about five days i returned home to a completely different country, one in which much of the hope we had built up for peace started disappearing before our eyes.
the palestinians will have their funeral procession when it is time and i hope for the sake of our two peoples that within a month or so that we will once again have some reason to hope for better days.
the death of yassir arafat and his burial when that time comes will tell us a lot on how israel and the palestinians will function with one another. will there be some type of compromise, some type of coordination, or will bedlam rule the day?
arafat and the palestinians no doubt want him buried in jerusalem. the israelis, particularly sharon is dead set against this..............i believe arafat wants to be buried close by or within al aqsa mosque which is near the dome of the rock (temple mount). watch carefully, because there will be a political earthquake over this...........
arafat being buried at al asqa will not only need israeli permission but to the best of my knowledge it would need permission from jordan - perhaps king abdullah himself. why? because jordan to the best of my knowledge is still considered a guardian of the dome of the rock and its immeadiate area by islamic authoritites and israel.
sharon and many within the israeli govt seem to think gaza is the only place arafat should be buried, but how much pressure will israel face from the united states and others over this? the political ramifactions are huge because it allows for myths and legends which will effectively become the foundations of nation building. sharon and israel are well aware of this. the place that arafat gets buried will become a focal point of arafat's de-facto victory or his defeat.
what happens after arafat passes away or has his powers transferred to others? if the palestinians can put forth a leadership that is cognizent of certain political realities it will make it much easier for israelis to contemplate a negotiation over final status. it will also clearly put much more pressure on israel from abroad particularly from the united states if a palestinian leadership is functioning properly and shows that it is ready to go forward. the sooner the palestinians are able to do this the sooner the israeli public will put an immense amount of pressure on its leaders to do the same. as i have said before the majority of people on both sides are sick and tired of the chaos and want to get on with their lives. we must see if the palestinians can transfer power without a quagmire and civil war erupting within their population.
israel cannot pick the next palestinian leader, we would like to but there is no way it is about to happen, nor should. certainly we would like to see a moderate leadership. i think most israelis understand the notion that the palestinians want a country for themselves and should have one.
it would be a huge mistake on israels part to get to involved in trying to pick a palestinian leader. we must let the palestinians decide for themselves. both the palestinians and israelis will deal with the consequenses for good or bad in short order. i remember when the this intifada broke out, i was on a biz trip in italy. though i was only gone for about five days i returned home to a completely different country, one in which much of the hope we had built up for peace started disappearing before our eyes.
the palestinians will have their funeral procession when it is time and i hope for the sake of our two peoples that within a month or so that we will once again have some reason to hope for better days.
the death of yassir arafat and his burial when that time comes will tell us a lot on how israel and the palestinians will function with one another. will there be some type of compromise, some type of coordination, or will bedlam rule the day?
// posted by Zevchi @ 3:22 PM 
