By Stan Goodenough
Jan 03, 2008
Six days before George W. Bush is scheduled to arrive in Israel on his first presidential visit, officials in Jerusalem are giving glimpses of how they expect security to be maintained in a future Palestinian state.
According to a report Thursday in the leftist daily Ha'aretz, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will look for American approval for the Israel Defense Forces to continue operating against terrorists in Samaria and Judea (what Israel's enemies call the "West Bank") after the Palestinian Arabs have been given those parts of Israel's historical homeland.
Israel will want to keep a "tripwire" military force in the Jordan Valley to act as a deterrent against Arab aggression.
The new Palestinian state must be demilitarized, and Israel must have the right to fly over its airspace and to monitor who moves in and out of its territory.
Israel reportedly feels that it is being asked to give up tangible things while all the "Palestinians" have to do is promise to go along with these security demands.
From the Arab perspective, Olmert and his government are living "on another planet."
This was the response of a senior Palestinian Authority terrorist earlier this week after the Israeli premier said that his view of a Palestinian state has some of the largest Jewish communities in Samaria and Judea remaining under Israeli sovereignty.
"Peace and settlements don't go together. If this is his policy, he can forget about finding a partner on the Palestinian side," the unnamed official said.