Three State Solution

June 14, 2007 6:26 PM

The Hamas-Fatah civil war seems to be winding down in Gaza. Meanwhile, Palestinian and Israeli bloggers discuss the idea that the West Bank will go into confederation with Jordan; leaving Gaza to the Egyptians.
posted by humanfont (30 comments total)

...And Disneyland will go to Narnia!
posted by ori at 6:30 PM on June 14, 2007

Winding *down*?
posted by Krrrlson at 6:31 PM on June 14, 2007

It's a good time to be an arms dealer.
posted by four panels at 6:40 PM on June 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

I really wish I could be so optimistic. The Hamas-Fatah civil war will die down when either Hamas or Fatah agrees to allow Fatah or Hamas to run the country, and give up wanting to kill all the Israelis or pretending they can stop Hamas from wanting to kill all the Israelis. Meanwhile, the Palestinians that don't get killed in the war can just continue to outpace Israel in population growth until Israel has to commit massive explusion atrocities in about 2030 or so to maintain their own state because out of four or five races and two or three different religions there's not a single motherfucker over there who wants to give up anything.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 6:46 PM on June 14, 2007 [5 favorites]

So much for this episode of Hatamas. (sigh)
posted by lampshade at 7:16 PM on June 14, 2007

In 5 or 10 centuries we will look back upon this and laugh.
posted by parallax7d at 7:51 PM on June 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

You mean the intelligent robotically-augmented cockroach overlords will laugh.
posted by Krrrlson at 7:53 PM on June 14, 2007

Worth noting: Both the experts on last night's News Hour with Jim Lehrer cited American funding and arming of an anti-Hamas elements of Fatah as a major factor in the unrest. (related link)

Of course it was Hamas that won the Palestinian election; however apparently the US turned out to regret the actual exercise of that whole "democracy" thing they'd been talking about.
posted by washburn at 7:55 PM on June 14, 2007

I enjoyed reading through the links--well, so far just the olehgirl blog so far...
It's weird**--all Israeli blogs I've read recently would in America or Canada would be considered rightwing*


*i.e. blogroll links to LGF, Drudge, Michelle Malkin, Pajamas Media et.al.

**Olehgirl ="socialist zionist"
posted by acro at 7:59 PM on June 14, 2007

So far? So far.
posted by acro at 8:00 PM on June 14, 2007

I meant to add a link to Common Ground News service. (Where there's no mention of the Egyptian-Jordanian takeover--as the fpp suggests).
posted by acro at 8:06 PM on June 14, 2007

Winding down in the sense that Fatah will have one half, Hamas will have the other, and Israel is in the middle keeping them apart. Woo!
posted by smackfu at 8:36 PM on June 14, 2007

I still think the U.S./NATO should turn the entire "Middle East" into a parking lot.
posted by davy at 8:47 PM on June 14, 2007

Deliberately initiating a proxy war and then having your proxy lose is really just incredibly shoddy.

--Matthew Yglesias
posted by delmoi at 9:25 PM on June 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

I still think the U.S./NATO should turn the entire "Middle East" into a parking lot.

Yes, it's sad when people kill each other, so it would be best if we just kill all of them ourselves. Just like ending a relationship, or pulling off a band-aid. Do it quick, get it over with. I'm sure the people of France, the Netherlands and Turkey feel the same way about those murslims.

(that's sarcasm, by the way)
posted by delmoi at 9:29 PM on June 14, 2007

YeeHaaw!
posted by taosbat at 9:35 PM on June 14, 2007

The idea of a "three state solution" is a great one -- except that it's a lousy idea for the Egyptians and Jordanians. I suspect you're going to find that neither nation wants anything to do with the Palestinians.

Why would either nation want that territory back, and the headaches that would come with it?
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:17 PM on June 14, 2007

The most affecting picture I've seen from this conflict.
posted by gsteff at 10:46 PM on June 14, 2007

In 5 or 10 centuries we will look back upon this and laugh.

You are an incurable optimist, parallax7d
posted by Joeforking at 2:21 AM on June 15, 2007

Oh well, at least they're trying something different.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 4:54 AM on June 15, 2007

I like the idea. Egypt and Jordan can manage these territories with more authority. And Irael will have less power to intervene militarily.
posted by jeffburdges at 5:10 AM on June 15, 2007

I like the idea. Egypt and Jordan can manage these territories with more authority.

Agreed. They will lob shells into the refugee camps and cities of the West Bank and Gaza with impunity, not like those namby-pamby Israelis with their directed strikes. And the Arab League will complement them on their decisive actions against terrorists. With Egypt and Jordan running the show, the end would certainly be near for the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Mostly because there would be no more Palestinians.
posted by loquax at 5:43 AM on June 15, 2007

Jordan and Egypt were more than happy to cede Gaza/West Bank to Israel after '67 purely so they wouldn't have to deal with Palestinian militant groups. There's no chance they'll ever take them back. And I don't think the Palestinians would want to go back, Black September and all that...
posted by PenDevil at 6:11 AM on June 15, 2007

washburn For the record: Hamas won the election and refused to recognize Israel. It was the second, not the first action that prompted the US and EU to stop all aid to the Palestinian goverment. All those rich Arab states so preocupied with the Palestinians did NOT exactly trip over themselves to fill the void.

While I believe that the US is far from playing fair in the region, there is no way in hell you can paint Hamas as any kind of unfairly treated party. They have demonstrated time and again what a bunch of scumbags they truly are.

Neither Egypt nor Jordan want anything to do with the Palestinians. They're just a nice and handy poster child. Just like they are for hamas too.
posted by magullo at 6:22 AM on June 15, 2007

To be fair, Jordan & Egypt probably would be willing to take the territories. After they'd burned them down to bare rock.
posted by aramaic at 6:48 AM on June 15, 2007

LOLHamas!
posted by empath at 11:57 AM on June 15, 2007

"You mean the intelligent robotically-augmented cockroach overlords will laugh."


Oh, I don't think the GOP will last that long...
posted by stenseng at 3:52 PM on June 15, 2007

Jordan & Egypt probably would be willing to take the territories.

They took them before. Jordan occupied the West Bank and Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip after the 1948 war, instead of letting those territories be Palestine according to the 1947 UN Partition Plan.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:04 PM on June 15, 2007

In 5 or 10 centuries we will look back upon this and laugh.

I am afraid that we might not even remember this incident at that time. History so far has told us that the region is a place of slaughter, the one way or the other.

Every time I hear or read something about the Middle-East, I have a feeling that the strange macho-culture there that demands tooth-for-tooth etc. haunts the region and prevents it from becoming a civilized place where all people could become richer and have better lives by spending their energy on earning money, not on killing eachother and worrying about "the family's honour" etc.

If there was a way to change the way they think towards peace and prosperity instead of honour and fight, I guess that would be fruitful. (and a good thing for their neighbors too...)
posted by KimG at 3:44 PM on June 17, 2007

I just wish I lived in a country where the machine-gunning authorities wear black masks so I could proselytize the lifestyle of civilized folk. Maybe I should go on a mission?
posted by taosbat at 10:19 PM on June 17, 2007