Bill Sykes' - In Retrospect
X.
(February 2008)
Bill Sykes
looks back in retrospect at material which has been published
in previous editions of "View from America",
in an attempt to determine whether the subject matter
written then is still applicable in today’s world.
Article #10A.
Extracted from the November
2003 Edition of "View from America".
Israeli expansion of the "West Bank" wall.
Fortified walls, such as the Great Wall of China, (built
to keep out the Mongolian hordes), Adrian’s Wall
between England and Scotland, (built by the Romans
to hold back the Scots), the Berlin Wall, (that separated
Russian East Germany and West Germany), the Maginot
Line and the Ziegfried Line, (less said about those
two walls the better), the Palestinian Walled
City of Jericho, (sacked and destroyed by the early
Hebrews), all served their initial purpose for a time,
(with the exception of the Maginot and Zeigfried lines
that really served no purpose at all), but eventually
"all the walls came tumbling down".
America’s previous high profile road map for
peace in Israel, as to be expected has gone out the door
and would now appear to be of a low priority on the United
States agenda. The Israeli government of Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon, (remember the
date of this edition) is planning to extend the
current 250 mile fence, (which would appear to me to
be more of a fortified wall than a fence), by the encroachment
of as much as another 17 miles inside the West Bank Palestinian
territory in order, (as a spokesperson for the Israeli
government said), to protect Jewish settlements, which
incidentally were built upon Palestinian Arab land, which
Jewish settlers have been said to have appropriated,
(stolen), key water wells and rich farmland, belonging
to Palestinian Arabs, to build their settlements.
I see in recent news reports that the Israeli government
has authorized the building of more settlements.
About half of the intended 400 mile long fence, (which
I will call, "The West Bank Wall"), has been
completed or is under construction and it would appear
that eventually at least $1B dollars will be expended
in order to complete the encirclement of what the Israelis
consider to be their "Promised Land", much
of the money coming from, guess where, United States
Loan Guarantees of course, which in many instances have
been forgiven when the guarantees come due.
Although half-heartedly decrying and criticizing the
building of the wall, the United States apparently provides
clandestine financing of the project. At a recent high
level meeting held by the foreign ministers of the United
States, Russia, Italy, the Secretary General of the United
Nations, and the European Union Foreign Policy Chief,
the question of whether to provide a multi-national
buffer or monitoring force, (which Ariel Sharon strongly
opposes), was discussed.
Russian Foreign Secretary Igor
S. Ivanhof was reported to have said that apparently
Ariel Sharon does not want any process aimed at creating
a permanent Palestinian state. Perhaps history will show
that what comes around goes around and maybe history
will repeat itself, and this time it will be the Palestinian
Arab’s, (supported by surrounding Muslim countries),
turn to create a situation were the Jewish "West
Bank Wall" comes tumbling down. Unfortunately I
do not see this happening in my lifetime, unless some
extraordinary fire and brimstone event intervenes in
the current stalemate.
Disclaimer.
Some of the information gathered for this news letter
has been gleaned from American and International media
sources, (including the Internet), and as such is quoted
as accurately as possible. I try to obtain confirmation
from several outlets, so the text is a mixture of composite
news items and personal comments and therefore the
reader must make his/her own judgement as to the reliability
and degree of accuracy of the subjects discussed.
We
welcome feedback about any of the contents of these articles.
Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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