Quote:
Originally Posted by AltaGuy
This. One thing that irks me about this current situation is that Israel has done nothing constructive with five years of relative peace from the West Bank (some people have even deemed it an "historic" peace). At this moment in time, the West Bank and Gaza are in tremendously different situations.
Gaza, being the tiny, open-air prison camp that it is, is far more volatile and poor than the WB, and as such is much more inclined to have Hamas and extremist elements do stupid things like fire rockets at Tel Aviv.
But the problem is, the last five years of peace from the WB has produced nothing but losses for the Palestinians in the WB. More settlements have been constructed (quite a few more, actually), Israel has continued to expand new neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem, and has continued to divert water away from the WB for large agricultural projects.
So Abbas has reigned in the militants in the WB for the time-being, and seems like a relatively good partner with which to do something constructive. Problem is, all he has to show to the WB populace for their relative calm are more settlements and a weaker position in the WB.
To defeat Hamas' support in Gaza, the PA must be able to point to some kind of success that comes from restraint and peace. Unfortunately, what they have to point to in the WB is quite depressing.
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Could you quantify some of this? How many more settlements have been constructed? How much water has been diverted?
I know it's impossible but how do you quantify the amount of life that has been saved during peace time Or further how can anyone guarantee that any of the above settlements wouldn't have happened during war time?
I think it's really sad that people can honestly argue supporting terrorism and perpetual war is a better option than political wrangling over border issues or water use. That happens in much of the world everyday but you don't see such broad support for attacking civilians.