MER reported the following two yeas ago about the y3j24jq
Top Neocon President Bush this week nominated to be Ambassador to the United Nations:
"U.S. Undersec'y of State John Bolton:
Syria and Iran are next he told Israelis on 17 Feb 2003."
MIDDLEEAST.ORG - MER - Washington - 11 March: Last weekend, before the unprecedented
massive anti-U.S. anti-Israeli demonstration in Beirut, before the Egyptian
Foreign Minister lashed out at the Americans, before the former Lebanese Prime
Minister was reappointed, and before the public signs that both the U.S. and
the U.N. are backtracking about Hezbollah, the Israeli Foreign Minster made
a few public comments about his visit to Washington this week.
Silvan Shalom's comments were rather short and succinct as reported briefly
in The Washington Times in the article below. But even so they were quite revealing.
Indeed the Israelis take quite a pride in occassionally telegraphing, albeit
obliquely, what they are doing -- though of course one has to examine and extrapolate
very carefully between-the-lines.
Back more than twenty years ago in fact, when today's Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon first starting talking in public about a Palestinian State, he didn't
have in mind the one most other people did and certainly not one the Palestinians
would find palatable. Rather, even back then, Sharon's goal was always a mini
and everywhere surrounded, controlled and crippled Palestinian Statelet; and
indeed today it appears he and his Foreign Minister have concluded fulfilling
Sharon's Plan with George Bush's assistance is now within grasp.
Current Israei goals, now more in tandem with the Americans than ever as the
'War on Terrorism' keeps expanding and becoming more consuming, can be summarized
as follows:* Pry Syria and Lebanon apart to weaken opposition to Israeli designs
on the northern front;* Weaken and isolate Lebanon's major anti-Israel force,
Hezbollah, in anticipation of possible future attacks;* At the same time isolate
Iran and weaken Iran as well as Iranian links to Syria and Lebanon in anticipation
of strikes against Iran's growing military capabilities;* Push the VIP Palestinians
still in control of the reborn and refunded Palestinian Authority II (but for
how much longer?) to more fully police the Palestinian reservations; and keep
trying to corner them into accepting some kind of 'provisional' Palestinian
State with 'temporary' borders -- even as Israel further consolidates the Apartheid
arrangements long personally championed by Ariel Sharon.
The Israelis have other options as well, strategies that are rarely, even obliquely,
discussed in any public forum; nor is the corporate media going to deal with
such complicated, controversional, and hard to explain and to substantiate matters
of this kind.If the Israelis can't get their way with the Palestinians -- and
to a lesser extent because their capabilities are more limited with the Syrians,
the Lebanese, and the Iranians -- they will push still further policies with
a growing likelihood of bringing about civil wars. Fomenting civil war in Palestine
and Lebanon are policies the Israelis have actually pursued for some time; and
either doing the same in Iran or bringing about some kind of regime-change coup
in Tehran remains a major priority.
Oh by the way, Ambassador John Bolton, the senior neocon the Americans are
sending to the United Nations, an organization he is on record many times wanting
to see either destroyed or disregarded, is also on record telegraphing important
policies. Back in February of 2003 as the U.S. invasion/occupation he and his
Israeli friends had been so helpful in bringing about was beginning, MER reported
the following: "U.S. Undersec'y of State John Bolton: Syria and Iran are
next he told Israelis on 17 Feb 2003."
ISRAELI Foreign Minister To Visit Washington
JERUSALEM - 7 March - Washington Times -- Israel's foreign minister said yesterday
that he would try to rally international support for a full Syrian withdrawal
from Lebanon when he travels to Washington this week.
"The purpose is to act to get Syrian troops out of Lebanon, include Hezbollah
on the list of terror organizations, dismantle their terror infrastructure,"
Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio.
"I think those things could also contribute to another of our objectives
-- progress on the Palestinian front," he said. "If we do both simultaneously,
it would contribute much more to the stability of the Mideast and the possibility
of us conducting a dialogue with many more Arab and Islamic countries."