August 02, 2007 ... Sanguine in Jerusalem.

With the Palestinian territories split into two distinct camps between the Gaza strip’s Hamas and the West bank’s Fatah, and with Iraq a hotbed of intertribal killings backed by Iran and Syria, now is obviously the right time to get the other Arabia-Islamist states tooled up as a proper counter force.

Germany doesn't see this as a good idea, citing some obvious shortcomings for this policy. Then again, the late military historical revisionist Alan Clark pointed out that selling armaments to Africa was a pretty harmless enterprise, since they would most likely be insufficiently competent in the use of such armaments, and would thus be little threat to anyone else as they shot their own feet off. In vino veritas perhaps, and such may apply to the other Arabia-Isalmist states, but it cannot be left unsaid that a more proper strategy would be to attend to the problem of Iran in the lexicon of direct action it understands.

History has shown Israel that diplomacy will not work. The withdrawal from Lebanon simply encouraged persistent attacks and kidnappings by Hezbollah. Withdrawal from the Gaza strip simply encouraged attacks by both Fatah and Hamas. The camp David negotiations with Ehud Barak and Bill Clinton were ultimately a failure because of Yasser Arafat’s total lack of leadership and duplicity. Why negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas should deliver a better outcome is difficult to fathom. Bit of a stuck record this, it has to be admitted, yet it must also be recognised that the Islamists have no intention of budging one inch in their goal to assimilate Israeli territory back into their hands. This is because they have self-sacrifice and time on their side, which neither Israel nor the US has because of its democratic responsibilities in support of freedom and self-interest.

Miri Eisin said, in response to the proposed armaments deals: ‘We have no doubt that the United States would not do anything that could endanger the security of Israel.’ Whilst this is directly true, it doesn't necessarily follow that their policy will not endanger the security of the United States, Israel and other western democracies, collectively. And sanguine doesn't simply mean cheerfully confident, either.