WP: (Mideast) Move Could Help Bush Among Jewish Voters

Analysis
Move Could Help Bush Among Jewish Voters

By Dana Milbank and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, April 15, 2004; Page A16


President Bush's embrace yesterday of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to unilaterally disengage from the Palestinians carries potential political benefits for Bush but also potential risk for his foreign policy.

In declaring that Israel should be able to keep some of the occupied territories and block Palestinian refugees from settling in Israel, Bush followed a familiar pattern of finding common cause with Jews and increasingly pro-Israel Christian conservatives. That Bush's move was good politics was evidenced by Democratic rival John F. Kerry's quick move not to let Bush outflank him among pro-Israel voters....

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There is a possibility that the action by Bush could further aggravate the situation in Iraq, just as Israel's killing of a prominent Palestinian militant set off rioting in Iraq several weeks ago. Independent pollster John Zogby, who has surveyed extensively in the Arab world, said: "This is pretty much the final nail in the coffin of the peace process as far as Arabs are concerned." He said his polling indicates the Palestinian cause is among the top three issues for 90 percent of Arabs in all Arab countries he has surveyed. "It's not even a political issue, it's a bloodstream issue," Zogby said.

Domestically, though, the move could enable Bush to chip away a few more of the Jewish voters who have traditionally been loyal to Democrats. And in a tight election, the small minority of Jewish voters -- who tend to have strong turnout levels -- could give Bush an edge in battleground states such as Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12952-2004Apr14.html

* and Sharon have nobody but themselves to blame. And the Jewish voters in the US will see * Peace Process as a failure.

Probably - Abu Dubai's TV news show Al Madar had over 45 minutes of straight coverage of this yesterday.

Obviously I understood none of it, but it seemed much better produced and documented than the shit churned out by the likes of the BBC etc (interviewed 3 Likud politicians, I did understand that bit, showed satellite photos of settlements, interviewed Seeb Ekrat who sounded pissed, etc).

The BBC had a map of Gaza, interviewed Hanan Ashwawi for 5 seconds, and then had some idiot who understands literally zero about the middle east babble on from Washington.

It is Sharon's initiative for a unilateral withdrawal in the face of the unproductive Road Map. By adapting this initiative, incorporating it into the Road Map (which is vague enough but insists on dismantlement of terrorist organizations, not the uniting of Hamas with the PA), Bush gets some credit. The few Jewish voters he swings, will not be as great as the large block he gets as credit for achievemnt in the ME Peace process.

Bush then achieves the momentum on the Peace Process he so wanted as a victory of his own. To continuation of the situation is the continuation of conflict and death on both sides. For G-d's sake, it's hard for some folks to see that.