=jplt21 The Sharon administration, insofar as it exists, has handled quite badly the matter of the Palestinian insurrection's appeal for protection to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). I have yet to see, beside the usual claque, much serious discussion of the ICJ decision in the Post. Israel should have accepted the ICJ's jurisdiction in this matter, if only because of the precedent at risk. Surely a people under military occuptrion has the right of appeal to the ICJ. It will not do to say that this is a bilateral matter to be negotiated between Occupier and Occupied. The point of a judical system is to give a voice to the unempowered and disempowered. The ICJ may be merely a politically biased pseudo-judiciary forum (rather like the U.S. Supreme Court under a Republican-appointed majority). But if so, that needs to be addressed directly (and redressed quickly). I have not read even a summary the ICJ's rationale for its decision. If the rationale was merely that an occupying power has no right to annex land nor impede the movement of persons in an occupied area, this reasoning should be addressed. ================================================================= (Sent JP 16 July; printed 18? July) UNLESS OF COURSE WE COULD QUIETLY ANNEX IT Israel should offer New Zeland the fullest possible apologies, if only for the stupidity of some of its citizens. There are few enough truly neutral countries in the world, and very few with unspoiled ecology; their integrity should be respected. =============================================================== Sent JP 20? July Would it help if we offered to host the Olympic handball competition at the Seurity Wall? ================================================================ I am prepared to relocate, given suitable alternative accomodation. What I have in a find is a few dozen acres on a lake (I mean a real lake, with trees etc., not an anomaly on a fault-line.) Bertrand Russell once asked an attractive matron if she would consider adultery for a million pounds. She blushed, and indicated acquiescence. He then asked her if she would do it for a ha'penny. She replied indignantly, 'Sir, what do you think I am.' He responded, 'Madam, we have already established what you are; we are merely dickering over the price.' I realize that Moshav Mevo Modi'in is not presently included in Sharon's unilateral (or rather, personal) disengagement plan, but the principle has been set, and one must think ahead. It's a long backstroke to Cyprus, but Sharon at least does not lack for bouyancy. ================================================================ SAVE IT FOR THE COMIC BOOKS The Minister of Security says that `They' may zap Fatso, or crash a Boeing into the Golden Dome. In Israel as the USA, our fearless leaders, having usurped power, are quick to find plots from which to defend us. ================================================================