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June 7, 2007: L-F-P

L-F-P is the acronym that Yoram Ettinger — former Israeli consul and consultant to governments — uses for "Land for Peace." The notion that if Israel will surrender land, she will get peace from the Arabs.

This is what he says: "Israel constitutes 0.2% (11,000 sqm) of the Arab League members (5.56MN sqm), which are 150% and 130% larger than the US and Europe respectively (and that does not include the 643,800 sqm of Iran). The L-F-P formula assumes that Israel should concede its scarcest asset – territory – while the Arabs are expected to accord Israel that which they have not shared with one another since the 7th century – compliance and peaceful co-existence."

Hmm… A useful statistic this: Israel’s land constitutes 0.2% of the collective land of the members of the Arab League. And to give some sense of the size of the Arab League land: it’s 150% larger than the US.

Gives pause, does it not, when you think about demands that Israel surrender land?

Ettinger says more: "L-F-P assumes that Israel – while located in the most conflict-ridden, violent, unpredictable region of the world – should cede its most security-significant real estate to its sworn enemies, who have yet to establish inter-Arab comprehensive peace and compliance with agreements."

http://yoramettinger.newsnet.co.il/Front/NewsNet/reports.asp?reportId=37068

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This is really really dumb . This is breathtakingly stupid. The plan of Gen. Keith Dayton, US security coordinator to Israel and the Gaza Strip, includes supplying "Fatah forces loyal to Abbas" with more weapons so that they can fight Hamas. It conveniently leaves out such factors as the unwillingness of some factions of Fatah to fight Hamas, which is not a matter of lack of weapons at all, and the likelihood that such weapons will end up in the wrong hands and be turned against Israel (as has been the case in the past). In the violent world of the PA, there’s no telling where weapons will end up or who is loyal to whom.

Seems the security officials in Abbas’s office passed Dayton a "weapons shopping list" and Dayton has approved it in principle: Thousands of Kalashnikov rifles, thousands of rifle magazines, hand grenades, and millions of bullets. Can you believe it? With what’s going on in Gaza now — with the wholesale killing, it’s being deemed a smart idea to send in thousands more rifles and millions of bullets? Will they guarantee that not a single one of those bullets will end up aimed at a Jew?

But there’s more. Dayton passed the list on to the Egyptians, who would actually supply the weapons, and to Israel, which would have to approve the bringing in of more weapons. And the Olmert gov’t is "considering" the authorization of this transfer. Under duress, subtle or overt, you can be sure.

This doesn’t mean that everyone in the Israeli gov’t is on board with this. Some are convinced the weapons would eventually find their way to Hamas. (They would.) And one official closely involved (but unnamed) was quoted as saying "The last thing needed are more weapons in the Gaza Strip."

Truer words were never spoken , so some people are thinking clearly. I suppose there’s hope this won’t happen.

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Fact is, the Israeli government is currently very uneasy that Abbas is too weak to make good on any commitment. Which would maker it dumber than dumb to allow more weapons in ostensibly to support Abbas. Olmert intends to discuss his concern about Abbas’s weakness with Bush when he visits Washington soon.

Earlier in the year Olmert approved the release of some frozen tax funds to Abbas, but ended up not satisfied with the mechanism put in place to assure none of it got to Hamas. "Not satisfied with the mechanism" means some money passed by Israel ended up with Hamas. Surely Olmert knows it would happen with the rifles too?

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Meanwhile the off-again, on-again civil war in the PA is heating up once more: One man was killed in the last day, and 17 have been wounded as the result of shoot-outs — and propelling of grenades and lobbing of rockets — near Rafah.

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MK Aryeh Eldad (NU) is proposing legislation to revoke certain parts of the "disengagement," and permit settlement again in the northern Shomron. Four communities there were dismantled at the same time as those of Gush Katif, but the difference is that the army still maintains a presence in Shomron so that civilian residents could be allowed back in. It is this goal that demonstrators have had in mind of late with regard to Homesh, which was one of the communities evacuated.

Quite frankly, if were possible, I would like to see the same thing happen in Gush Katif. Not quite the time.

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Israel is growing increasingly frustrated by Egypt’s unwillingness to stop the smuggling of weapons from the Sinai into Gaza. There are 750 Egyptian police stationed there, charged with just this task, and yet the smuggling goes on.

Said one Israeli involved in talks with Egypt on the subject: "If the Egyptians wanted to they could already a long time ago have stopped the smuggling. It could be that they just want to see Israeli blood spilt."

He just figured this out?

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