Word: intifadas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...supply in the politically precarious Gulf region. Right now, anti-American sentiment is running at what may be an all-time high, precisely because of a perception that the U.S. is unconditionally supporting Israel in its battle with the Palestinians. On Arab streets, the rage stoked by the intifada has put tremendous pressure on Arab governments traditionally allied with the U.S., weakening their already tenuous domestic political standing in the face of a mounting challenge from radical Islamists. It has become virtually impossible for those governments to support Washington's campaign to maintain pressure on Iraq, for example...
...limited way, the tactics of the Lebanon war, as Oslo appears to slip further and further into history. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon appears to believe that Israel can tough it out, systematically raising the ante of military pressure and exhausting the Palestinians' will to sustain their intifada. He has repeatedly stressed that a political deal of the type discussed at Camp David is out of the question, and speaks instead of some kind of long-term cease-fire. And while Sharon allows his foreign minister, Shimon Peres, to hold talks with Arafat, he stresses at the same time that...
...occupation that paradoxically saved the PLO. While Israeli military actions had driven the leadership from Lebanon to Tunisia and roundly defeated its terrorism and guerrilla campaigns launched abroad, the Palestinians under occupation were a fount of renewal for the nationalist movement. The four-year intifada waged in the West Bank and Gaza ultimately forced Israel to a political reckoning with Arafat, and the Oslo accords. And despite its near-total collapse, the Oslo peace process has profoundly altered the terms of battle over the West Bank and Gaza...
...West Bank. Moreover, unlike in Lebanon, the Israelis have no local proxy forces to undertake garrison duties - it was Arafat's PA that was to have policed the territories, and had indeed been certified by the CIA to have been reining in the Islamists before the current intifada, which has buried many of the differences between the rival Palestinian factions. The network of settlements and army positions may make a fine Maginot Line against a conventional invasion from the east, but they leave Israeli forces far more vulnerable to close quarters attack than they had been in Lebanon...
...Arabs have all but given up interest in sanctions. As long as the intifada rages and there is an Arab perception that America is on Israel's side, it is hard for any Arab government to wave the U.S. flag on Iraq. Not while their citizens charge every day that America is aiding the killing of Palestinians. Secretary of State Colin Powell was given a good hearing when he toured the region promoting "smart sanctions," but as long as the intifada continues it's hard for any government in the region to stick their necks...