Tuesday, September 10, 2002

Within a year, aircraft that fly in Israel will have equipment to enable them to dodge shoulder-fired missiles (report).

Masters of the Obvious Evelyn Gordon concludes that there's no serious argument to be made that international law prevents Israel from relocating Kifah and Intisar Ajouri from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. She regards as hypocritical the remarks by Amnesty International (that the pair's "fundamental rights" were violated because their trial was not open) and the US State Dept. (who termed the expulsions as "punishing the innocent" despite the relocatees having behaved as accessories to murder).

A bureau of the Israeli defense ministry has issued advice to travelers that includes things like keeping hotel doors locked at all times and not flashing Israeli passports.

So ... concern about food poisonings, rocketing civilian aircraft, travelling abroad.... The dominant Israeli (and probably American) attitude is: take preventative measures, including pre-emptive measures. Terrorist failures, punitive measures, and eradicating incitement will eventually discourage these kinds of attacks.

The [smug?] European response is probably: Israel eradicated Hamas and Fatah in the West Bank/Gaza, so they're switching tracks and using Jerusalem Arabs and trying to attack Israelis and Jews abroad. This shows that force doesn't solve anything. Hence partial capitulation is the only solution even though all significant Palestinian factions (eg. Arafat, Fatah, and the PA; though possibly not Sari Nusseibeh) insist that the West Bank/Gaza is not enough for them to give up their struggle.

No comments: