Facing Reality

We need a fence. Israel is already completing one. And it's creating certain realities:

JERUSALEM - Israel's border with a future Palestinian state will roughly follow the route of the contentious barrier Israel is building along and inside the West Bank, a top ally of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quoted Thursday as saying.

HA-ha!

"This is a very dangerous development and undermines the chances of permanent state negotiations," Erekat said. "This just proves that Israel wants to dictate and not negotiate."

Yes, the Palestinian side has just been SO open to peaceful negotiation...

Final borders and the fate of Jewish settlements in the West Bank are among the most contentious issues in negotiations. The barrier, when completed, would place 8 percent of the West Bank on the "Israeli" side by encompassing the major Jewish settlement blocs.

A mere 8 percent? They're lucky the Israelis don't just expel them and take it all -- they captured it by right of conquest and annexation of any or all of the West Bank would be perfectly within historical precedent; forcing border populations to move when lines are redrawn is something the Europeans of the 20th century are quite familiar with.

Livni's remarks are the latest by politicians who have joined forces with Sharon after he left his Likud Party last month to form a new, centrist movement in an effort to gain a free hand in negotiations with the Palestinians.

This maneuver by Sharon could be just what it takes to impose -- finally -- a settlement on the Palestinians, who never were honest negotiators and only wanted to establish Palestine in place of, rather than beside, Israel.

It's funny to see them squirm when they have to reject actual peace settlements!

The route of the barrier "also makes Jerusalem more Jewish," Ramon said. "The safer and more Jewish Jerusalem will be, it can serve as a true capital of the state of Israel."

Israel captured east Jerusalem along with the West Bank in 1967, but though Israel has always controlled west Jerusalem, most nations, including the United States, have their embassies in Tel Aviv.

Ah, this is the stuff that makes End-Timers salivate!

It's truly reprehensible we do not have our embassy in Jerusalem. What other country in the world is not allowed to name its own capital? I believe Congress has even passed resolutions to that end, but the State Department won't budge.

Someday soon, they're going to have to face reality at State, just like in Palestine.