Word: gaza
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There's no surprise about the Bush administration's support for the principle of a Palestinian state. The idea is no longer particularly controversial, even in Israel. But the latest outbreak of violence, sparked by a Hamas raid on an Israeli settlement in the Gaza strip, highlights the uphill battle this administration faces in its increasingly urgent efforts to restart the peace process that would achieve such statehood...
...people have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian clashes in different parts of the West Bank and Gaza since Tuesday, when Hamas gunmen entered entered an Israeli settlement in Gaza and killed two teenagers. The latest upsurge in violence despite renewed cease-fire commitments by both sides will be deeply troubling to the Bush administration. Because Israeli-Palestinian violence typically translates into strong anti-American feelings on the streets of Arab capitals whose support for the anti-terrorism coalition is vital...
...fact that it happened at all. Although the meeting was arranged before the September 11 attacks, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had immediately afterward ordered his foreign minister to cancel the talks. Sharon branded Arafat "our Bin Laden" and ratcheted up Israeli military activity in the West Bank and Gaza, mounting 16 incursions into Palestinian Authority-controlled areas in the week following the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. Sharon's change of heart - allowing the meeting to go ahead and avoiding Israeli-initiated military action against the Palestinians - came after a constant stream of phone calls from the Bush administration...
...favor continuing the intifada. Plainly, renewed moves towards peace will be a tough sell for Arafat - indeed, while his men have begun acting to stop suicide bombers entering Israel, Palestinian officials say they have not undertaken to stop attacks on Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza. But failure to restore political dialogue leaves the aging Arafat to simply see out his days as an increasingly titular leader of a people whose destiny he has little hand in shaping...
...intelligence believes he has already sent that signal to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and that for the most part right now, they're observing it. The message will be interpreted as no attacks over the Green Line (inside Israel proper), but business as usual in the West Bank and Gaza. Arafat expects that the international community will see attacks in the West Bank and Gaza in a different light to attacks inside Israel. And, of course, the body count is always much lower in such attacks in the West Bank and Gaza, and the attacks don't exactly make headlines...