Monday, July 17, 2006
The Plan: in a twist, it's not all Israel's fault
Leaders Work Out Plan For End to Mideast Crisis. They do? Reading the article, it seemed the G8 leaders had concocted a Plan worthy of the United Nations for its innovations and creativity; the article seemingly summarizing the Plan thusly: Everything goes back to the way it was a month ago.
Well, I didn’t just want to take the Post’s word for it so I read the Plan myself. Guess what? That’s the Plan! (go ahead – it’s a one-pager: Official Website of the G8 presidency of the Russian Federation in 2006: Mideast).
I think most of us recognize that a reasonably-informed 7th grade social studies class could have come with something similar but without a hint of irony, the Plan ends on a self-congratulatory note:
“These proposals are our contribution to the international effort underway to restore calm to the Middle East and provide a basis for progress towards a sustainable peace, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions. “
Cynicism aside though, the Plan is significant for what it doesn’t do: It doesn’t put the blame squarely or even primarily on Israel.
For an immediate resolution, the Plan begins with a call for:
“- The return of the Israeli soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon unharmed;
- An end to the shelling of Israeli territory; …”
It goes on to reasonably urge that Lebanon, not Hezbollah, run southern Lebanon and that there be some sort of Hezbollah disarmament. In Gaza, it recognized that Israel had previously disengaged from there and that the Palestinians simply have to accept the reality that is Israel. All very reasonable but probably not too persuasive to the terrorist instigators involved. Accordingly, I’m not going to burden myself with any expectations from this.
With the end of the G8 conference, the various member nations will no doubt resume their normal independent ways meaning the return of anti-Israeli rhetoric by some. So, despite it being little more than an impractical statement of the obvious, I’m going to savor the Plan as a rare moment of lucidity and civility by some nations not normally known for either.
Well, I didn’t just want to take the Post’s word for it so I read the Plan myself. Guess what? That’s the Plan! (go ahead – it’s a one-pager: Official Website of the G8 presidency of the Russian Federation in 2006: Mideast).
I think most of us recognize that a reasonably-informed 7th grade social studies class could have come with something similar but without a hint of irony, the Plan ends on a self-congratulatory note:
“These proposals are our contribution to the international effort underway to restore calm to the Middle East and provide a basis for progress towards a sustainable peace, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions. “
Cynicism aside though, the Plan is significant for what it doesn’t do: It doesn’t put the blame squarely or even primarily on Israel.
For an immediate resolution, the Plan begins with a call for:
“- The return of the Israeli soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon unharmed;
- An end to the shelling of Israeli territory; …”
It goes on to reasonably urge that Lebanon, not Hezbollah, run southern Lebanon and that there be some sort of Hezbollah disarmament. In Gaza, it recognized that Israel had previously disengaged from there and that the Palestinians simply have to accept the reality that is Israel. All very reasonable but probably not too persuasive to the terrorist instigators involved. Accordingly, I’m not going to burden myself with any expectations from this.
With the end of the G8 conference, the various member nations will no doubt resume their normal independent ways meaning the return of anti-Israeli rhetoric by some. So, despite it being little more than an impractical statement of the obvious, I’m going to savor the Plan as a rare moment of lucidity and civility by some nations not normally known for either.
