The legacy of the six-day war
Why Israel needs a Palestinian state
from The Economist
1967: Six-Day War (第三次中東戦争)
Israel (Jews) beaten Arab armies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_the_Six-Day_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/中東戦争
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/第三次中東戦争
Israel occupied Jerusalem where Palestinians lived.
Israel planted Jewish settlements and denied Palestinians to have their own state.
Israel’s “temporary” occupation has endured for half a century.
Donald Trump visited Jerusalem on May 22nd, during his first foreign trip to secure “the ultimate deal”.
Israeli prime minister: Binyamin Netanyahu
President of Palestinian (National) Authority (PA): Mahmoud Abbas
Mr Trump has urged Israel to curb settlement-building.
Israel wants him to keep his promise to move the American embassy to Jerusalem.
Mr Trump should hold off until he is ready to recognise Palestine and open a second embassy in Jerusalem to talk to it.
The outlines of peace
– Palestinians would accept the Jewish state born from the war of 1947-48
(made up of about three-quarters of the British mandate of Palestine)
– Israel would allow the creation of a Palestinian state in the remaining lands it occupied in 1967
(about one-quarter)
– Palestinian refugees would return to their new state, not Israel.
Since the Six-Day War, Israel has been willing to swap land for peace.
(Israel returned Sinai to Egypt in 1982.)
But the conquests of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were different.
(Early Zionist leaders accepted partition grudgingly)
Zionist: Jewish people who supports the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the historic Land of Israel (Canaan, Palestine).
In 1988 the Palestine Liberation Organisation (パレスチナ解放機構) accepted a state on part of the land, but Israeli leaders resisted the idea until 2000.
(Palestine Liberation Organisation => Palestinian National Authority)
Mr Netanyahu himself spoke of a (limited) Palestinian state only in 2009.
Extremists on both sides set out to destroy the Oslo accords of 1993, the first step to a deal.
Israel
– security has improved
– the economy is booming
– Arab states are courting Israel for intelligence on terrorists and an alliance against Iran.
Palestinians
– weak and divided
– might not be able to make a deal.
Mr Abbas
– moderate
– unpopular
– lost Gaza to his Islamist rivals, Hamas. What if Hamas also takes over the West Bank?
Hamas: a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist organization.
Israel
– cannot hold on to all of the “Land of Israel”, keep its predominantly Jewish identity and remain a proper democracy.
– should give up the occupied lands to save democracy
Israel and Mr Abbas’s Palestinian Authority (PA) should co-operate to maintain security.
Israel should
– let Palestinians move more freely and remove all barriers to their goods
=> a freer market would make Israel richer, too.
– let the PA expand.
– voluntarily halt all settlements, at least beyond its security barrier.
| 2017/05/27
| Politics
|
North Korea
How to deal with the world’s most dangerous regime
from The Economist
Kim Jong Un celebrated grandpa’s birthday on 4/15. The regime threatens enemies by nuclear destruction & is building a missile reaching US
Dealing with bellicose Kim Jong Un will be one of Mr Trump’s trickiest tasks & the first big test of how he handles relations with China
Wanting to do something quickly is emotionally appealing. Yet a pre-emptive strike would be reckless & could turn nuclear & kill millions
Creating the impression Trump might strike first is dangerous. If Kim were to believe, he might attack first. Trump should cool his rhetoric
Mr Kim sees his nuclear arsenal as a guarantee of his survival. Economic sanctions & cyber-attacks are ineffective. US needs China’s help
North Korea is China’s ally. China does not wish North Korea reunite with the South & does not want American troops on its border
To contain North Korea Mr Trump has to learn how to talk to China. His transactional approach is ineffective for diplomacy
America should strengthen the rules-based order and invite China to join it instead of letting China break the rules in exchange for help
He should talk about North Korea itself, not the yuan or US steel jobs, to persuade China that it is in its own interest to curb North Korea
Mr Trump should reassure JP & the South they remain under US’s protection & China his goal is not invasion but detering nuclear threat
If the North were to use its nukes, the regime would be obliterated. In the long run, reunification is inevitable and desirable
| 2017/04/28
| Politics
|
Japanese education
Why bullying in Japanese schools is especially traumatic
from The Economist
A boy from Fukushima was called “germ boy”, stolen his things, punched & kicked & thrown down the stairs by his new classmates in Yokohama
The boy was told to hand over any compensation his family may have received & gave them ¥1.5m which his family borrowed from their relatives
Bullying is intense in Japan. In 1986 a boy killed himself after months of mock funeral. Suicide is the biggest cause of death for teenagers
In Japan bullying is a group phenomenon & involves a big portion of a class inflicting psychological & physical torment on a single victim
Some say: “A characteristic of Japan is that you should not stand out”; “Pupils have to lead a collective life when they are at school”
School activities are organised in groups. Pupils must adhere to rules about uniforms or hairstyles & should “read the vibes,” kuuki wo yomu
OECD’s PISA test suggests that JP students are smart & diligent but don’t enjoy school much. JP schools are like “dysfunctional communities”
Teachers are not trained to spot bullying. There are few incentives to notice or deal with it. 12% of them have taken part in bullying
Local school boards have neglected the problem & even blamed the boy from Fukushima for handing over his family’s savings voluntarily
An anti-bullying law requires schools to report cases of bullying. (224,450 in 2015.) But they might underestimates the scale of the abuse
The law urges teachers to report bullying. But bullies are rarely punished: in 2014 there were 188,057 reported cases & just 2 suspensions
44% of gay teens were bullied last year. Teachers said the sexuality broke the harmony. 1/3 teachers think homosexuality is a mental illness
JP government said it would review its anti-bullying policies. Policymakers & teachers should recognise too much conformity plays a part
| 2017/04/27
| Politics
|
One China, many meanings
Why the absurd one-China policy must be upheld
from The Economist
If US rejects “one-China policy”: riots would erupt in China; China might attack on Taiwan; the global economy would shudder
The policy is in a fragile state. Mr Trump needs to make US’s support for the status quo clearer than ever
The aim of the policy was to flatter Red China, which Nixon wanted as an ally in the cold war against the Soviet Union
They were divided by ideology but united initially by the hatred of the Soviets & later by the pursuit of wealth by trading with each other
“Taiwan Relations Act” hints that US might come to defend Taiwan. China might be building up military power to deter US’s intervention
Last year Taiwanese elected an independence-leaning president & have started to question the idea of “one China”
Most are happy to let the one-China fudge persist. But the Communist Party will never abandon its claim & may be tempted to invade Taiwan
Rather than using Taiwan as a bargaining chip, US should maintain its military support for it’s a token that US has a stake in Taiwan’s fate
| 2017/03/19
| Politics
|
Justice on the border
When do foreigners have rights under America’s constitution?
from The Economist
Fernández v Mesa which revolves around the death of a Mexican teenager on the Mexican border is a hard case and reached the Supreme Court
In 2010, American border-patrol agent Mr Mesa killed 15-year-old Mr Hernández who was just playing with friends as video evidence confirms
Since the act took place on Mexican soil, the constitution does not apply and the parents have no basis for a suit
It’s the same as Iraqi people who had lost a leg or a family member in Obama’s drone strikes cannot bring lawsuits to US’s Supreme Court
Mr Hilliard, the parents’ lawyer, could not find a proper reason to make his client win and exasperated sympathetic Justice Breyer
The liberal-leaning justices did their best and implied that when the border is fuzzy, the border agent is responsible for the shooting
In view of the tensions between Mr Trump and Mexico, Justice Kennedy’s hope for rapport between the two countries may not be realistic
If the justices are split 4-4, they could call for a new hearing with a dilemma: encourage constitutional claims or empower border agents
| 2017/02/25
| Politics
|
