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Special Report
Building ‘Frankenstein’ in the Middle East?
U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority trains security forces who torture other Palestinians in the West Bank.
(Page 2 of 2)
This is a trained force, better equipped by an American mentor, and the upshot is that at the beginning of combat, the price we pay will be higher. Such a force can close down a built-up area with four snipers, it’s deadly…. It is an infantry force standing in front of us and we must take that into consideration.
The U.S. has already gone far down the road of nurturing the Palestinians, and it is not easy to turn back. But with the U.S. slated to spend another $150 million on the Palestinian security services in 2011, it is not too late to consider whether building up both internal repression and a threat to Israel is a rational course to take.
Or, if too late, perhaps not by 2012.
About the Author
P. David Hornik is a writer and translator in Beersheva, Israel, blogging at PDavidHornik.typepad.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (28) | Leave a comment
More Articles by P. David Hornik
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Ken (Old Texican)| 11.29.10 @ 7:32AM
David,
Tighten up your cinch over there, and pull your hats down tight.
Our current President is too busy trying to dismantle America these days.
He will fail, but you allies are in for a wild ride it seems to me.
I'm sorry.
Post American| 11.29.10 @ 9:01AM
LOLZ Didn't Israel create Hamas in the First place to counter the PLO? Didn't the USA prop and support the secular Saddam in Iraq and the loons in Al Qaeda in Afghanistan? Blowback is a B!
loulou| 11.29.10 @ 11:03AM
What planet are you living on?
Israel did not create Hamas.
Are you a mentally deficient individual?
RCV| 11.29.10 @ 3:21PM
Pure nonsense. The origins of Hamas are well-documented and they have nothing to do with Israel.
As for the PLO, here is the stark reality: Israel must survive as a Jewish state, which is its purpose for being. Demographically, it cannot survive both as a Jewish and as a Democratic state, and at the same time retain the West Bank. (Sealing off Gaza and letting it fall into the sea, is an option on the other hand.) The best solution, in retrospect, would have been to return most of it (sans Jerusalem and certain other key parts) to Jordan after the '67 war, but that's no longer an option. The only remaining viable alternative is to deal with the Palestinian Authority as Israel is doing - from a position of strength and on its own timetable. But a non-Israeli entity on the West Bank is inevitable, and Israel knows that. The PA is the only present alternative available for Israel and for the US.
Alan Brooks| 11.29.10 @ 6:03PM
"But a non-Israeli entity on the West Bank is inevitable"
In other words, the wars go on for decades (you don't have to mince words at AS).
RCV| 11.29.10 @ 6:45PM
No question. If I knew how to end them, I'da won the Nobel.
BTW, did you see the wikileak about the Saudis pressing for military attacks on Iran? Surprise, surprise!
Alan Brooks| 11.29.10 @ 8:19PM
Right, Saudis don't want their oilfields WMD'd.
How many A-bombs (or even merely dirty bombs) do you think it would take to spread enough nuclear fallout in the oilfields to cripple production?
Not all that many.
Clint| 11.29.10 @ 8:34PM
This part is old new . It's about stability in the region regarding Sunnis and Shiites.
The question is who is getting advantage from the Wikileakage. Not The Saudis, Not Iran, Not The United States.
We shall see.
Alan Brooks| 11.29.10 @ 9:30PM
"Not The Saudis, Not Iran, Not The United States."
Yo meen, dem Jews in dat dere Israel are de onez who am takin' avdantige of de sit-jew-ashun? it's dat Mossad, eh?
Clint| 11.29.10 @ 10:15PM
Interesting, that you even went there.
Why not others ?
Joel| 11.29.10 @ 9:17AM
To Post American, Israel did not create Hamas--this is merely a myth. Details here
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrar.....ar.html#p4
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.29.10 @ 10:34AM
Joel,
No need for a link. PostAmerican's screen name says it all.
He is just another communist, (pardon the shorthand), either wearing Muslim robes or not.
jems | 11.29.10 @ 12:02PM
What is the bottom line?
again and again
Intelligent Design| 11.29.10 @ 1:32PM
Obama has pledged hundreds of millions of our tax dollars (and our Debt) to the "Palestinians". This is the same as giving aid and comfort to the enemy, both ours and Israel's. The new House of Representatives should defund this aid, as well as any aid going to North Korea. It should also impeach Obama.
Christopher Holland| 11.29.10 @ 6:25PM
You can not impeach Obama because he is a dickhead. Being stupid is not against the law, you can not legislate to make people be smart. Obama is part of the price everybody pays for living in a free, democractic country. I can't stand the bloody idiot either, but we have to wait until 2012 and then vote him out of office. That is the best system anybody has ever been able to come up with. Like Winston Churchill said, democracy is a terrible system, but the alternatives are much worse.
Anthony| 11.29.10 @ 8:53PM
What about a democracy where only male landowners who can read and write are allowed to vote? That worked for a while.
David Wrights | 11.29.10 @ 1:47PM
I think everyone knows that Obama will be impeached in the House soon. I see some heads shaking, but trust me on this. There will be a vote to impeach Obama in the House.
Steve A| 11.29.10 @ 2:18PM
David, For what? This would be an idiotic political move. I'm all about getting this guy out of office asap but come on man.
RCV| 11.29.10 @ 3:15PM
No, there will not, and if you think so you are just deluding yourself.
Dan| 11.29.10 @ 4:31PM
This is what happens when the only reason for a people's being is to destroy Israel. If Israel did not exist, Hezbollah, Hamas and the PA would have to invent another bogeyman to keep power.
Alan Brooks| 11.29.10 @ 6:05PM
Yes, this is probably the main point of all the countless points in the region.
Israel is the Other.
Alan Brooks| 11.29.10 @ 9:25PM
[so Toddard can grasp it] the "Other" being the #1 Enemy, an enemy to unite erstwhile enemies against.
Joel| 11.29.10 @ 5:12PM
Reply to RCV--the Palestinians in the West Bank already live under their own jurisdiction and are not part of Israel. They are not Israelis, not counted in its census, not relevant to its demography. They already have a level of autonomy just short of statehood, with all the problems that entails, some of them noted in Hornik's article. Promoting this entity to full sovereignty solves no problems for Israel and only creates worse problems of security. If Israel has demographic issues they concern Israel within the '67 borders and people who are citizens of people and part of it, not people who part of an autonomous Arab entity that is not Israel.
Christopher Holland| 11.29.10 @ 6:19PM
The only demographic issue for Israelis is that the Palestinians want to kill them all.
RCV| 11.29.10 @ 6:42PM
Of course, to everything you say. I was only speaking to the non-viability of the so-called "single-state solution", or of not dealing with the PA, which controls the entity of which you speak.
Christopher Holland| 11.29.10 @ 6:16PM
I am shocked - shocked - that there are terrorists in the PA. How did this happen?