U.S. Urges Israel to Focus on Withdrawal- Ignore Terror

I just finished reading the following AP article and cannot help but shake my head about a few things.

"WASHINGTON - The Bush administration, condemning Tuesday's deadly bombing in Israel urged Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to "move ahead" toward establishing a Palestinian state despite the violence.

The immediate focus should be withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank, as Sharon has pledged to do later this summer, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said."

Ok, let me see if I understand. Ignore the violence and push ahead with diplomacy because that will be helpful. Of course if you are named Dubya there are no restrictions on what you do because why, well just because.

"Evidently concerned that Sharon might stop at that point because Palestinian leaders have not dismantled terror groups, Casey said the planned pullout was a "genuine opportunity" to move forward on a blueprint for Palestinian statehood."

Did everyone see that? The important line is that there is concern that the withdrawal will not happen because "Palestinian leaders have not dismantled terror groups." Am I the only one who thinks that this is ridiculous. What is the point of negotiating an agreement if no one cares if it is upheld.

"Obviously, that progress would have to continue, and ultimately we want to see the president's (Bush's) vision of two states living side by side in peace achieved," Casey said.

Side by side in peace would be nice, but there is that pesky little problem called a failure to uphold their end of the bargain.

"The blueprint, or road map toward peace, calls in its first stage for Palestinian leaders to dismantle terror groups.

"The Palestinian Authority needs to act to dismantle terrorist organizations and to stop attacks from happening in the first place," McClellan said.

Casey, while affirming Israel's right to self-defense, appeared to caution Israel about any retaliation. "We ask them to consider the consequences of any actions they might take," he said."

The hypocrisy of this just irks the hell out of me. Condemn the bombing, acknowledge that the PA is not doing their part and then caution Israel not to do anything that might cause problems. This is beyond stupid and beyond obnoxious, as I said I cannot help but shake my head.