Here’s the latest South African media summary. I haven’t posted a media summary in quite a while (I don't actually write these summaries) so this one is quite lengthy and is divided into three separate posts, all located below this post.
The Sunday Independent
The Sunday Independent highlighted the sad, but valuable knowledge Israeli security experts have chosen to share with their anti-terror counterparts in the USA. "Israel is the Harvard of anti-terrorism", said US Capitol police chief Terrance Gainer. No experience in my life has had more of an impact on doing my job than going to Israel."
The most valuable and insightful lesson learned by the Americans is "the speed and efficiency with which Israeli police notified the public, assisted the victims, rushed them to hospitals and cleaned the blood-spattered bombing scene."
An article by Madeleine Albright and Vin Weber entitled, "Evolution best for Arab democracies," states that while it is necessary to support democratic processes, it is also necessary to understand the complexities of the Arab world.
Sudden traumatic change is not desirable and democracy should be encouraged through evolution and not revolution. According to the authors, a country-by-country approach is required that is based in every case on support for human rights and the fundamentals of representative government.
A misguided and uninformed article by Virginia Tilley states, "SA's co-operation with Israel will increase Palestinian woes." This article states that Israel is afraid of "ethnic mixture"- the erosion of the Jewishness of the Jewish state, that the two-state solution promises the Palestinians "frustration, despair and extremism." Ms. Tilley is actually calling for the destruction of the state of Israel through her naïve "South African experience" paradigm of a "shared national life."
Her lack of knowledge regarding Israel's security barrier is appalling to say the least especially as she is the associate professor of political science and a director of international relations at Hobart and William Smith Colleges-Geneva and New York. She is also a senior visiting fellow at the Center for Policy Studies in Jo-burg. She also seems to have an incorrect Palestinian map of the Camp David accords describing the West Bank as having been carved up into three separate blocs of "dramatically uneven shape" and calling them "gerrymandered Bantustans." View the correct maps here.
Ken Ellingwood describes in another article the despair and helplessness felt by those Jews being forced to evacuate their homes in Gaza. The indecision and deliberations about razing the Jewish homes in Gaza were also aired in this article with a concern for the environment and the sensitivities of those involved in disengagement.
The Sunday Times
Barry Ronge in "Spit 'N Polish" responded to the angry responses he received for having compared the Holocaust and Germany's subsequent good relationship with Israel and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that involves, according to him, "a few suicide bombers and that verkakte wall that Sharon built." Barry Ronge of course, lacking in insight, missed the point in both instances.
An article from The Telegraph described the "shoots of democracy that seem to be sprouting" across the Middle East. However the impetus for this pointed towards internal factors rather than US efforts. In Lebanon, the murder of Rafik Hariri forced the Syrians to leave as a result of internal fury and pressure. The death of Yasser Arafat created a breathing space between the Israelis and Palestinians. In Iraq according to this article, the Shia spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Sistani forced the US into elections and the outcome of Iraq's new political freedom remains unclear. Hamas and Hizbollah have also used elections to gain major political influence. This article reiterates the fact that anti-US Islamic groups are proving to be the most hostile to existing regimes.
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