[Ha'aretz] Aluf Benn - The good news is that for the first time in seven years an Israeli prime minister declares that there are Palestinians to talk to - namely PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayad. The bad news is that the initiatives and plans are based on an imaginary reality and on establishing a make-believe Palestinian state - a PlayStation Palestine. The basic assumption is that Abbas and Fayad are too weak and will not be able to impose security and order in the West Bank. Israel will not tolerate having its population and airport within Palestinian rocket range. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said recently that Israel would not be able to relinquish its security control over the West Bank, at least until it obtains the means of intercepting short-range rockets. Barak has no doubt that it is the IDF's presence on the mountains overlooking Ben-Gurion Airport that is preventing fire on it, rather than any self-restraint on the part of Palestinian terror organizations. In the absence of an effective Palestinian security force and an Israeli rocket interception system, there can be no significant pullout from the West Bank and handing over territory to a Palestinian state.
2007-08-02 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive