So, the usually hawkish Israeli PM Ariel Sharon has made a surprising turnaround in his stance, causing no small amount of consternation within his own party. To quote him:
“I think that the idea of keeping 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation is the worst thing for Israel, for the Palestinians and also for the Israeli economy.” (source: BBC)
He used the word ‘occupation’ while referring to the West Bank and Gaza strip, which probably is the equivalent of Michael Jackson admitting he had plastic surgery on his nose.
While I’d like to be optimistic, I’m not surprised the Palestinians think something fishy’s going on. Whatever the case, this joke just came in, so here’s one for his side:
The Prime Minister of Israel sits down with Chairman Arafat at the beginning of negotiations regarding the resolution of the conflict. The Prime Minister requests that he be allowed to begin with a story. Arafat replies, “Of course.”
The Prime Minister begins his story: “Years before the Israelites came to the Promised Land and settled here, Moses led them for 40 years through the desert.
The Israelites began complaining that they were thirsty and, lo and behold, a miracle occurred and a stream appeared before them. They drank their fill and then decided to take advantage of the stream to do some bathing — including Moses. When Moses came out of the water, he found that all his clothing was missing.
“Who took my clothes?” Moses asked those around him.
“It was the Palestinians,” replied the Israelites – ”
“Wait a minute,” objected Arafat immediately, “there were no Palestinians during the time of Moses!”
“All right,” replies the Prime Minister, “Now that we’ve got that settled, let’s begin our negotiations.”
Advanced reading
Proposal for ‘Final and Comprehensive Settlement’ to Middle East Conflict (A four-page document from the New York Times)