Black Box Recorder

Ministers with nothing to minister

Two Ha'aretz columns on the Israeli occupation: the first looks at why there is no Palestinian "partner" for the Israeli government's "peace" plans:

More moderate rightists, such as Ehud Olmert, propose that the Jews [sic; i.e., the Israelis] relinquish a small portion of the lands of Judea and Samaria [i.e., the West Bank], based on a formula of "maximum land, minimum Arabs." As far as they are concerned, the Palestinians can term the enclaves that remain under their control "a state." They will be first in line to recognize it.
...

Olmert, like Sharon before him, proposes a 25-year life span for the temporary state, with the final-status agreement to be based solely on UN Resolution 242. Olmert is correct in saying there is no Palestinian partner for an agreement with Israel - if he means an agreement for the establishment of "a temporary state" that would leave Israel in control of some 42 percent of the West Bank. This is the extent of the Palestinian territory that, in accordance with the Likud's plan, will remain outside of the separation fence on completion of the project... .

The second concerns the farce that is the Palestinian Authority:

If the leaders of the Palestinian Authority had been blessed with a greater measure of self-respect, readiness for personal sacrifice and political audacity, they would have long since declared the PA liquidated and left all the responsibility solely in Israel's hands.
...

Is the Palestinian minister of internal security capable of seeing to the security of even one Palestinian in the face of the assassinations, the helicopters, the soldiers and the troops who burst into homes in the middle of the night? Is the health minister capable of seeing to the health of his nationals, when every soldier at every checkpoint can delay ambulances and patients and when the cities and villages are under lengthy curfew? And what can the agriculture minister do when settlers cut down and uproot hundreds of olive trees without interference or prevent the harvesting of the olives, and when the Israeli army defoliates thousands of dunams of fields and vineyards? And how will the minister of labor ensure jobs for the people, when they cannot even leave their places of residence? What can the transportation minister do when his country is strewn with checkpoints and the Israel Defense [sic]Forces is the exclusive sovereign that decides which roads are for Jews only and which Palestinian bus lines will be allowed to operate? The list goes on and on.

This supports my argument that the best political strategy for the Palestinians to adopt at this point is to drop the demand for a separate state and ask for the vote.

(Second link via Antiwar.com)