Thursday, May 22, 2008

Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and the death of Bush's Middle East policy

Hardly 10 days ago in the Beit Knesset US president Herr Bush was greated as though he were Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, with flowers and flowery speech and much fanfare as Israel's best friend. But that was before the Arab league brokered and deal in Lebanon which allowed a new formula for sharing power among Beirut's religious groups. And thus Hezbollah Israel's bete noire to take its rightful seat at the table. Unlike Herr Bush & his useless lot in State and Defence, Israel's Kadmina led government are realists. And so acting on the newer realities in the Middle East they're ready to make peace with Syria and return the Golan Heights which for almost 20 years now the Israeli military establishment have been saying they weren't necessary for Israel's defences. No matter. By allowing Hezbollah a say in governing Lebanon and coming to peace with Syria, Jerusalem bargains that it will wean the Arabs from Iran and thereby reduce its arch enemy's hold on the region which wouldn't have happened were it not for Herr Bush's stupidity by waging war in Iraq. Israel's 'peace overtures' through friendly Turkey already shows that the kaleiscopic designs of power are reshaping not so much to Israel disadvantage but towards ending Israel's hold on territy it has held on to for far too long since the 6 day war. Agreement with Syria means lessening of tensions with Lebanon and most of all allowing for the firm establishment of a Palestinian state and it is hoped the uprooting of Jewish settlers in the west bank. Israel will go through turmoil internally because most of the settlers are rabid millenianists, so in a way Israel is reaping the whirlwind it has sown. And what's more Israel will be more secure as a state because one way or the other all the Arab states will recognise its legitimacy. And Iran who always had back door dealing with Israel since the fall of the Shah, will breathe more easily and look towards better relations with it. And so Herr Bush's road map is in tatters and it is another black mark in Herr Bush's lunatic foreign policy.

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