| Thursday,
May 9, 2002 Begin with another nag
for new subscriptions and renewals of old, given the expenses of
keeping this place going. Think of this like public radio. If you like
being here, you can help keep it open...
We were scheduled to have lunch with the retired Bishop of Jerusalem,
but he had a stroke. I had hoped for new insights into the situation over
there.
If Arafat is in fact serious about ending suicide bombings, you will
begin to see results: bodies of Hamas officials turning up in the streets.
I don't really expect that to happen, but it may be. I point out
that the Turks, who were not loved by the Arabs and Palestinians, ruled
that area for a long time, and few plotted violence against them because
it was clear that an uprising, or an individual act of terror, would be
rewarded with really horrendous reprisals. It caused a real attitude
adjustment. Ask the Agha Khan, who leads among other things a pacifist
sect that was once known as the Assassins.
I have not changed my views: there needs to be a wall. The Israelis are
reluctant to build that wall because that would give de facto control of
the area outside the wall to the Palestinians, and there are significant
political factions in Israel who want nothing short of the entire area
from the sea to the Jordan: expelling that many Palestinians would be an
act of ethnic cleansing that I think no nation could ignore, even if there
were compensation paid.
Consequently the strategy is the salami slice, with settlements. This
combines maximum irritation of the Palestinians with minimum security for
the settlers, a very dangerous combination; but so far few Israeli
politicians have the courage to say either "We will take all of the
old Palestinian Mandate plus the Golan Heights, and we will expel most of
those who used to live there," or "We will build our wall at a
defensible place and all settlers outside that wall will have to come
inside." The result is what you see, and it will continue.
Palestine needs to understand what can and cannot be accomplished, and
live with that. Palestine could become another Hong Kong. It won't,
though, so long as irredentism continues to govern the Palestinian policy
machinery. Given rule of law and some security of property and government
that is only normally corrupt and which discourages wasting talent and
resources on impossible tasks like pushing the Jews into the sea,
Palestine could become a viable and even wealthy nation. But if we had
some ham we could have some ham and eggs if we had some eggs.
Niven will be over later, and we'll get to working on BURNING TOWER.
And I am still cleaning up from the column.
And I have posted part of the ROMAN
TRIP. (The first has links to the next two.)
When You Go By the Via Flaminia
The Knights of Malta
The Paths of Glory
These photo essays have been available to subscribers
for about a week. There is another I am finishing that will go to
subscribers first, then be available for the general readership later.
You are reminded that last year's PARIS trip reports are available.
There are three, Paris 1,
Paris 2, and Paris
3. They've been up for some time now.
These trip reports tend to be part photojournalism, part travelogue,
and part essay on social criticism.
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