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Is There a Place for Outside Intervention in the Palestinian Civil War?

[Jerusalem Post] Ira Sharkansky - Currently there is a civil war among Palestinian religious and political movements, along with bloody feuds between extended families and criminal gangs. Outsiders are not good in solving the problems that cause the civil war and enforcing peace among the fighters. Egypt and Jordan might be able to use their own violence to repress violence among the Palestinians, but there is no sign that they want to threaten their own regimes with what is likely to come from the effort. They would be inviting rebellion from their own restive populations. Israel may be able to do nothing more than minimize the Palestinian violence that spills over to its people. That means controlling the movement of Palestinians that threaten Israelis, operating intelligence networks, and entering Palestinian areas in order to neutralize whatever is being planned against Israelis. Until they can solve their own problems and demonstrate a capacity to control violence, neither Israel, Jordan, Egypt, nor other well meaning outsiders can make Palestine a better place. The writer is professor emeritus of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
2007-01-31 01:00:00
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