George, We Need To Talk

George, We Need To Talk

George, I think we need to talk. I've just seen Ariel Sharon off at the airport and he's happier than a pig in the proverbial. Well, yes I know, probably not the best metaphor to use given that he's Jewish, but he had the best spring in his step that I've ever seen in a guy his age.

What's the problem? Well George, I think you've just hacked off Yasir Arafat, Hamas and the whole Palestinian nation, not to mention Hosni Mubarak. Why is that? Well okay, take a seat and I'll explain a couple of things.

First off, back in May '48 David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel's independence and we immediately recognised the new State. Unfortunately that recognition started a war with Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq which ended up with a bunch of Palestinians being exiled from their country when Israel won the conflict and took over the territory.

Now that a Palestinian state is in the offing again those exiles and their families would like to return to their homeland, not forgetting that their ancestors have been living there for the past couple of thousand years. Yes George, they could go back to Gaza or the small piece of the West Bank that's going to be left to them, but it wouldn't be the same.

Look at it this way George. How would your family have felt if the damned Yankees had run you guys off your land after the Civil War and then said that you could go back, but only as far as Louisiana? Calm down George, put your gun away, Kerry's good but he's not that good. I'm talking hypothetically now - that means in a 'just suppose' way of talking - I bet your great grand daddy would have been really upset with that news.

So here you are, going along with the notion that the exiled Palestinians can't return to their ancestral homelands. Letting Sharon pretend he's going to pull out of Gaza when he's still going to be controlling the air and sea ports. And on top of that you've agreed to allow a whole bunch of Israeli settlers to remain in the West Bank which means the Palestinians will never have any kind of home they can call their own.

Sure George, it does kind of go along with your road map, but that map says the Palestinians would be involved with every decision made that affected them. And here you are having a cosy chat with Sharon behind their backs, and letting the Israelis make decisions in isolation. Okay George, I know you think that Arafat is a tea towel toting waste of time, but he's an Arab, and those guys stick together. If you upset him then you upset all the others - look what happened in '48 - and right now you need all the friends you can get; June 30th isn't going to happen all on its own George.

So what's with the Mubarak thing? Well George, just a couple of days ago you told him that you wouldn't allow Israel to make a unilateral decision about its settlements in the West Bank side of its security barrier. Yes George - oops. That's one more Christmas card you won't be getting this year. No, I don't think sending him another autographed picture of your horse will do it; we're talking serious humble pie this time.

Oh, and on the subject of barriers, you know you told Israel that they shouldn't build their 680km fence through the middle of Palestinian communities? Well you'd better make damn sure they abide by that because a couple of days ago they bulldozed through the middle of some old man's olive grove that he'd been working for twenty years. An olive is a fruit George, grows on a tree, makes oil. Either way, 180 trees went west and 15 of the locals got hurt in the process, so you'll need to keep a close eye on that one from here on in.

Well, that's about it for now George. Maybe you'd better chew over what I've said and get the PR guys working on how to make a U-turn look a minor lane change. In the meantime I'm going to tune into CNN and see what's happening in the world - sure is a lot faster than asking the CIA.



	George, I think we need to talk. I've just seen Ariel Sharon off at the airport and he's happier than a pig in the proverbial. Well, yes I know, probably not the best metaphor to use given that he's Jewish, but he had the best spring in his step that I've ever seen in a guy his age. What's the problem? Well George, I think you've just hacked off Yasir Arafat, Hamas and the whole Palestinian nation, not to mention Hosni Mubarak. Why is that? Well okay, take a seat and I'll explain a couple of things. First off, back in May '48 David Ben-Gurion proclaimed Israel's independence and we immediately recognised the new State. Unfortunately that recognition started a war with Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq which ended up with a bunch of Palestinians being exiled from their country when Israel won the conflict and took over the territory. Now that a Palestinian state is in the offing again those exiles and their families would like to return to their homeland, not forgetting that their ancestors have been living there for the past couple of thousand years. Yes George, they could go back to Gaza or the small piece of the West Bank that's going to be left to them, but it wouldn't be the same. Look at it this way George. How would your family have felt if the damned Yankees had run you guys off your land after the Civil War and then said that you could go back, but only as far as Louisiana? Calm down George, put your gun away, Kerry's good but he's not that good. I'm talking hypothetically now - that means in a 'just suppose' way of talking - I bet your great grand daddy would have been really upset with that news. So here you are, going along with the notion that the exiled Palestinians can't return to their ancestral homelands. Letting Sharon pretend he's going to pull out of Gaza when he's still going to be controlling the air and sea ports. And on top of that you've agreed to allow a whole bunch of Israeli settlers to remain in the West Bank which means the Palestinians will never have any kind of home they can call their own. Sure George, it does kind of go along with your road map, but that map says the Palestinians would be involved with every decision made that affected them. And here you are having a cosy chat with Sharon behind their backs, and letting the Israelis make decisions in isolation. Okay George, I know you think that Arafat is a tea towel toting waste of time, but he's an Arab, and those guys stick together. If you upset him then you upset all the others - look what happened in '48 - and right now you need all the friends you can get; June 30th isn't going to happen all on its own George. So what's with the Mubarak thing? Well George, just a couple of days ago you told him that you wouldn't allow Israel to make a unilateral decision about its settlements in the West Bank side of its security barrier. Yes George - oops. That's one more Christmas card you won't be getting this year. No, I don't think sending him another autographed picture of your horse will do it; we're talking serious humble pie this time. Oh, and on the subject of barriers, you know you told Israel that they shouldn't build their 680km fence through the middle of Palestinian communities? Well you'd better make damn sure they abide by that because a couple of days ago they bulldozed through the middle of some old man's olive grove that he'd been working for twenty years. An olive is a fruit George, grows on a tree, makes oil. Either way, 180 trees went west and 15 of the locals got hurt in the process, so you'll need to keep a close eye on that one from here on in. Well, that's about it for now George. Maybe you'd better chew over what I've said and get the PR guys working on how to make a U-turn look a minor lane change. In the meantime I'm going to tune into CNN and see what's happening in the world - sure is a lot faster than asking the CIA.