U.S. and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster

[cal04]

The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.
The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election.

The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement. The officials also argue that a close look at the election results shows that Hamas won a smaller mandate than previously understood. The officials and diplomats, who said this approach was being discussed at the highest levels of the State Department and the Israeli government, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

They say Hamas will be given a choice: recognize Israel's right to exist, forswear violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements — as called for by the United Nations and the West — or face isolation and collapse.

Opinion polls show that Hamas's promise to better the lives of the Palestinian people was the main reason it won. But the United States and Israel say Palestinian life will only get harder if Hamas does not meet those three demands. They say Hamas plans to build up its militias and increase violence and must be starved out of power.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/international/middleeast/14mideast.html?hp&ex=1139893200&en=1f2b1d7d475a81ff&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[wakeme2008]

1. Bush poring gas on a fire

IMHO.

[Journeyman]

2. Ah, yes...democracy in action: extortion, disruption, destabilization...

what Founding Father wouldn't swell with pride? . . .

[Wordie]

3. So much for "bringing democracy to the middle east." eom K&R

[bemildred]

4. Gee, who could have predicted this?

(But, this goes down in the I/P dungeon.)

[0007]

12. Hasn't this been the goal from the start?

[bemildred]

13. Nah, the original goal was Palestinians would evaporate, or move to Jordan

or something like that. This is just a sort of prolonged and vicious stall that we went into when that orignal "plan" didn't work out and nobody could think a new one ...

[Pirate Smile]

5. So now do we like democracy or not? I'm confused.

:crazy:














:eyes:

[leesa]

6. Another government overthrow by the US and Israel...what's new?

[cantstandbush]

7. The US and Israel make a mockery of "freedom and democracy."

Why won't the rest of the world put sanctions on the US and Israel for their occupations and warmongering?

[Roland99]

8. Yet even more intervention. No matter US intervention in the Mideast

is leading to other nations' electing of more radical governments.

[bemildred]

9. Well, it's a stupid plan, sure, and it's what got us here already.

But, hey, it might work this time.
:rofl::rofl:

[Roland99]

10. Well, hey, it didn't work with Vietnam, Afghanistan, Soviet Union, etc.

But I just KNOW it's going to work now!!


:banghead:


^^^ See how much progress we're making???

[BeyondGeography]

11. Hamas' mandate is apparently even smaller than Bush's in 2000

[wookie294]

14. It's ironic that Bush yearns for Yasir Arafat's Fatah group

Bush is an extremist who is going to create even MORE problems in the Middle East with his idiot policies. Fasten your seat belt. Sept. 11 and the bogus Iraq war won't be the ultimate tragedy that occurs under the Failed Presidency of George W. Bush. If you think it's bad now, watch what happens in the next 3 years.

[pinniped]

15. At the same time these turds are telling the people of Haiti....

to accept their (s)election results.

--"Any time there is a hard, contested election ... it's important that once the election results are announced and finalized, that all parties come together and work together, regardless of their political differences, for the better of the country," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at a news briefing.--

[daleo]

16. I think it would only stiffen the Palestinians' resolve

A typically stupid anti-democratic Bush response.

[Mika]

17. That's the plan.

Mission accomplished.

More conflict, more profit$.

[daleo]

18. Thats a good point. n/t

[Mr_Spock]

19. So this is what democracy is all about - manipulation?

Same shit, different decade...

[Czolgosz]

20. Is the nation building in Palestine scheduled before or after Iran?

"If we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road." -- George W. Bush, October 3, 2000

No shit.