Kindgo
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- 17 Heshvan, 5763
US envoy William Burns has arrived in Israel on a new peace mission aimed at ending more than two years of fighting. "There has been far too much suffering and bloodshed on both sides and both sides have an obligation to make it stop," Burns said yesterday during a stop in Damascus. Burns will hold talks today with Israeli officials and tomorrow with Palestinians, though he will not meet Yasser Arafat who has been shunned by the Bush administration.
Burns is carrying an ambitious US peace plan which envisions a final peace agreement by 2005! The first phase would include a cease-fire, an end to violence and terror, and a gradual Israeli pullback to positions held before Arafat launched his terror war in September 2000.
The second phase calls for the creation of a “provisional” Palestinian state with temporary borders by the end of next year. After that, the parties would tackle thorny final status issues including Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and permanent borders. Those very issues led to the collapse of the Camp David Summit in the summer of 2000.
Israel has reacted positively to the plan, provided that there is an end to Palestinian terror. "We have accepted President Bush`s vision,” said Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. “What I can say is that the road map given to us can be considered a draft, and they expect us to respond by December." Nevertheless, Burns mission appears doomed to failure. Palestinian terrorist groups are intent on carrying out more suicide attacks, and the Palestinian Authority is either unwilling or unable to stop them.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer says the government has nearly completed plans for a fence separating Israel proper from Judea and Samaria. In an Israel TV interview, Ben-Eliezer said that work is underway on 100 kilometers (60 miles) of fence, and he would approve plans for the other 300 kilometers (180 miles) this week.
The fence system, which includes walls, obstacles and trenches, is aimed at keeping suicide bombers out of Israel. Critics have charged that the work is proceeding too slowly.
In a further attempt to deter terrorists, Israel is continuing to destroy their family homes. Today, two homes belonging to Palestinians involved in shooting attacks were demolished. One house was in the Al Ain refugee camp in Samaria and the other in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Infrastructure Minister Effie Eitam has demanded that Palestinians stop all water drilling in Judea and Samaria. Eitam, a former general who heads the National Religious Party, said the Palestinians have been pumping illegally from hundreds of wells, further depleting supplies that are already dangerously low.
Nearly all of the drilling violates interim agreements with Israel. Palestinian water commissioner Fadal Kawash said his people were forced to drill because Israel is not supplying enough water.
"We couldn`t stop them,” Kawash said, “because we have no alternative way of providing them with water."
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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