[lbo-talk] RE: One in three Israelis wants Arafat dead Poll

[N P Childs]

This would explain the apparent ease with which this option is being 
discussed in the Israeli media. There obviously is a domestic audience for 
this stuff, and as noted I think this number is low, I suspect there's a 
sizeable contingent of the population who are reluctant to answer yes to a 
pollsters questions that involve killing specific people.

I'd like to offer a competing hypothesis for what Israel's plans are. I 
think the consequences of assassinating Arafat are so broad and so 
unknowable in their consequence that they even scare the shit out of goons 
like Sharon and his cabinet. My suspicion is they're laying the  PR ground 
work for a massive operation in Gaza, probably even involving expulsions 
and  more selective assassination of Hamas, or whoever else they want. That 
is, mayhem and violence with consequences they feel they can control. They 
can label it as 'combatting terrorism' and earn only mild opprobrium from 
the rest of the world.

Or, metaphorically, if I spend a couple of days saying I'm coming over to 
shoot you, your family and your pets then turn up and shoot out your porch 
lights and burn down your shed, you feel pretty lucky and there's less hell 
to pay for me in the neighborhood.

PC


>Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2003 05:52:43 +0530 (IST)
>Subject: [lbo-talk] One in three Israelis wants Arafat dead Poll
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>
>HindustanTimes.com
>
>Saturday, September 13, 2003
>
>One in three Israelis wants Arafat dead: Poll

N Paul Childs
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