Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(November 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Israeli expansion of the "West Bank" Wall.
Fortified walls, such as the Great Wall of China,
(built to keep out the Mongolian Hordes), Hadrian'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 of 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 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, where 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, 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, Secretary General of the United
Nations, and the European Union Foreign Policy Chief,
the question of whether to provide a multi-International
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 time will show that what goes
around comes 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.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these newsletters. Please send all correspondence to
bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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