Israel: what next?

[seeker]

Even if Sharon pulls back as Bush and Blair say he should, what could be a fair next step?

[incitatus]

Somehow I always get into trouble answering these! Israel and the palestinians should comply with the UN resolutions, particularly 242 (think the number is right). The Israeli army should pull out, the palestinian attrocities should stop and they should all TALK TO EACH OTHER. Unnfortunately with Sharon in charge it is very unlikely to happen. His track record spekas for itself: he will use the runup to any ceasefire to gain maximum advantage, then renege on it at the first excuse. Military solutions to this sort of problem do not work at all well, as we found in ulster.

[napka]

It all depends on the Palestinians. If they will stop terrorism, Israel would stop trying to stop terrorism, and everything will be quiet. Israel is not at all there for war. It is just there because it was attacked by terrorists everyday for a period of time, so they went out to protect themselves (and they did; for the last two weeks there was not one terrorist attack). Israel killed 48 men, 45 of which were in an army uniform. I feel bad for Israel; a poor little country struggling to survive all that hate.