Do we need to wonder about "identity" -- isn't it just a matter of political purpose? Greater Israel has been part of the program from the git-go. They might reconsider if they ever had any real reason to do so, but they don't -- they know perfectly well they could sweep the West Bank clean and deport all the Green Line Arabs into the bargain, and the worst they'd have to face would be a week of indignant headlines. I suspect that the only reason they haven't done it already -- the reason they're going for the salami tactics instead -- is that other things being equal, they'd rather come out of it smelling like a rose. Make it look like the Palestinians' own fault, and give their imperial sponsor a little tiny moral figleaf to cover his unlovely nakedness.
-- --Michael J. Smith --mjs at smithbowen.net
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