Same Old, Same Old
I'm back from a family holiday in Holland, a beautiful country where the people are Very Very Tall and the land is Very Very Green and everyone is Very Very Polite. We had a wonderful time -- idyllic, really, even with the rain. I knew I was on my way home when the Israeli steward on the charter told me, when I asked for orange juice mixed with soda water, that he wouldn't give it to me because it sounded nasty. "Here, have apple juice with soda instead," he said, handing it to me and waiting for my opinion. (He was right -- it was better.)
I landed in Israel to the news that Hamas men had murdered four Israeli civilians in an attack staged deliberately from within Palestinian Authority territory in order to demonstrate the PA's lack of control. Abbas responded forcefully, giving the go-ahead to a broad police crackdown on Hamas inside the West Bank. Hamas, naturally, calls the attempt to limit their ability to conduct multiple homicides from within PA territory "treason" and has already struck again.
There is, alas, little new to observe here: whenever rapprochement between Israel and the Palestinians becomes a genuine possibility, maximalist Palestinians start killing people. I'll just note the general lack of international outrage over the specifics of the first assault, in which the attackers strafed a car containing four civilians -- one of them a pregnant mother of six -- with bullet fire and then approached the car to finish them off at close range. Presumably the lack of indignation results from the victims' having been settlers. And as we all know, it's the settlers' fault that peace talks are so difficult.
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Re: Same Old, Same Old
Welcome back, Judith! I know it's not the NYTimes or whatever, but the NY Post, my paper of record and my former employer, had the Hamas attack as its entire front page yesterday. It sure got my attention, but I agree, I didn't see it anywhere else in my (very brief) travels around the Internet. Anyway, my husband and I were wondering this last night: Do you feel, in your heart of hearts, that there is "genuine possibility" for rapprochement now? If so, why, and why now, specifically? I have no sense of it at all, so I'm curious how you feel. Sorry if you've answered this already. I'm in my early morning fog...
Aug '10
Re: Same Old, Same Old
Once again the 'Palestinians' (definition: a phony group the world propped up to help destroy Israel) shows their true colors.
The crooked and transparent farce of a 'Mid-east peace process' insults the intelligence of all of us. Does anybody remember the Camp David Summit of 2000 when Clinton, Barack of Israel, and Arafat of the so-called Palestinians hammered out an agreement? Clinton begged and pleaded with Arafat to sign. The Israelis gave Arafat 95% of everything he and his people ever asked for, but Arafat rejected it.
He and the Palestinians have a fabulous cash cow and world sympathy racket going, and they'll lose it if tensions end. We spend almost a billion dollars a year on them, and the world pours in even more. Arafat had well over a billion dollars in a Swiss bank account when he died.
Arafat knew that the minute he signed such an agreement he would be a dead man. His fellow Arabs would assassinate him just as they did Anwar Sadat of Egypt after he signed the peace agreement with Israel. The Palestinian
Jun '10
Re: Same Old, Same Old
Unfortunately we can now sympathize with those murdered Israelis and, oh my God, that pregnant mother of 6. Yes, we can sympathize now because they are dead. Dead Jews are the only Jews that this world even slightly appreciates. I know, I am painting with too broad a stroke. Sometimes I just can't help myself.
Jul '10
Re: Same Old, Same Old
I usually drink orange juice with soda water, but will try apple juice now. Thanks for the heads up!
And the Middle East horror marches on. Yet. It seems that Israelis are among the most contented people on this earth. This is the best revenge.
Re: Same Old, Same Old
Ursula, I do think there's a real chance of something happening now, primarily because Hamas is locked out of the process. This gives Abbas some freedom to maneuver and lends credibility to any agreement that might be reached. Oslo was hopeless because it was negotiated with Arafat, but the Arafats in the current scenario are sitting in Gaza and Damascus, whining, arranging arms shipments from Iran, and planning terror attacks. They're not invited to this party.
I'm not saying it'll be easy. Hamas will not go gently into that good night, and our settlers vividly remember the fruits of our withdrawal from the Gaza settlements. We all do. It'll be painful and difficult, but yes -- I do believe it's possible.