[Cyrus]

Excellent post, Chris Alger. Some remarks :

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Whether Israel sought to deter "terrorism" from those who weren't involved with terror rather than political activism by those who were politically active remains an open question.

[/ QUOTE ] I beg to differ. In light of subsequent Israeli actions, this is an open and shut case, IMHO.

Every time the radical Palestinian factions were nearing a cease fire decision or actually declaring a provisional and unilateral cease fire, Israel assassinated a Palestinian leader (usually with lots of "collateral damage" but this is besides the point). And every time, the immediate consequence of such an action was, of course, the resumption of the terrorist and other attacks by enraged Palestinians against Israel -- and then the shelving of whatever progress towards peace was been attempted.

The reason is quite obvious. The strategy of Israel has remained constant throughout six decades. Israel strongly prefers to deal with radical rather than moderate Palestinians. When Israel's opponents are radicals (i.e. "terrorists", "animals", "brutes"), there is less pressure for peace and accomodation with the natives. (Not that there is a significant pressure on Israel in any case!) But when the opponents are moderates, Israel cannot provided justification for its continued obstinacy.

This is why, for the last thirty years, the PLO keeps making steps towards whatever Israel demands (recognition of Israel; guarantees of its security; etc) and Israel keeps demanding more. The objective is to discredit the moderates, in the eyes of Palestinians, and bolster the extremists, such as Hezbollah.

Moderate Palestinian negotiators means only one thing : potential loss of land for Israel. Radical Palestinian extremists means holding on to and "cleansing" the West Bank.

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Like the movie, it's basically a LeCarré tale "inspired" (as the movie puts it) by other facts.

[/ QUOTE ] I haven't yet seen the movie but I get the impression that it should be compared more with Arnaud de Borchgrave pap. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]