httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geBpwu-jRjw&eurl
The Israel Air Force on Saturday dropped leaflets into the Gaza Strip warning residents that it plans to escalate its two-week-old offensive. The army says it has dropped the fliers throughout Gaza. It says the notices are meant as a “general warning.” The notice says Israel is about to begin a “new phase in the war on terror.” It says it will “escalate” an operation that already has killed more than 800 Palestinians. – [...] – Haaretz
Seize land to control the tunnels into Israel? Or kick Hamas out? What’s the end goal? Easy. Hamas draws Israel into escalating a bloodbath in Gaza.
In fact, Hamas revels in the Palestinian suffering its terrorism has triggered. Thousands of its fighters have retreated into Gaza’s most densely populated areas, where they continue to fire dozens of rockets a day at Israeli civilians. They want nothing more than to draw Israel into an even bigger and bloodier fight — during which, Hamas calculates, Israeli forces will suffer heavy casualties, while the even bigger Palestinian losses will reap a propaganda windfall for Hamas across the Middle East and Europe.
Israel’s leaders are on the verge of giving Hamas its wish. Its top leaders also rejected the U.N. cease-fire resolution passed Thursday night; now they appear to be debating whether to throw thousands of reserve soldiers into a street-by-street battle. [...]
We need an international effort on Egypt’s border with Israel, but Mubarak, increasingly under pressure, doesn’t like that idea. Enter the EU:
In an attempt to break an impasse that has stalled cease-fire talks aimed at ending the fighting in the Gaza Strip, European diplomats are mulling a proposal which would restore control of the Gaza Strip border crossings to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, the Times of London newspaper reported in Saturday editions. [...]
Meanwhile, Israelis consider escalation. Escalation? Again, to what end? A political disaster for Israelis, as President George W. Bush sits on his hands.
You be the judge on the latest controversy, which neocons are saying is a fake atrocity video from Gaza.
The political pressure on Israel is mounting while we await President Obama. But where’s the pressure in the U.S. for Israel to understand what their military action is doing around the world? No one should be sanguine that Obama will act any differently than other American presidents if there is no pressure here for him to revert to “honest broker.”
An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal has a jarring headline for anyone pro Israel: Israel Is Committing War Crimes: Hamas’s violations are no justification for Israel’s actions. The definition of “war crimes” should not make Bush or Cheney rest easy or travel very far. But our friend Israel is headed for a bigger PR defeat than Lebanon ’06, which was also a military disaster for Olmert. Attempting to balance that neither side is perfect, the writer comes to this judgment of Israel’s crimes: Israel’s American-made F-16s and Apache helicopters have destroyed mosques, the education and justice ministries, a university, prisons, courts and police stations. These institutions were part of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure. … Deliberate attacks on civilians that lack strict military necessity are war crimes. Israel’s current violations of international law extend a long pattern of abuse of the rights of Gaza Palestinians.
No one seems to be willing to explain how Israel is going to stop Hamas rocket attacks, targeting the militant thugs inside Gaza, without hitting civilians and the infrastructure, when Hamas lies in the midst of both.
Israel’s contemplation of escalation is a spring board to insanity, because it rewards Hamas’ way of terrorist war play with more dead Palestinians.
After all these years the Israelis still don’t get that their cause depends on keeping hearts and minds invested on their side, which as the 21st century dawns plays out violently on a very old grudge match, now flying under the banner of Bush’s “war on terror,” that is wearing everyone’s patience to a nub.
Taylor – I worry that the rumbling in the streets of Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries will most likely become a roar of anger and fury. What will the Egyptian leaders do if their people demand that they defend the Palestinians? What is going to happen if any of the other Moslem countries demand their countries protect the Palestinians? This is so bad and has the potential for something really devestating and catastophic.
Tricky waters for Israel, for sure. The escalation might work. Get out faster.
The only thing the escalation will do is to harden hearts and minds. This is catastrophic.
Every time Israel turns a deaf ear to the publicity they’re getting it makes it harder and harder for moderate Arabs on the street, but also Arab leaders, to distance themselves from the militant Hamas that has control over Gaza.
The PA and Abbas need more support over a wide area, while the leaders in Hamas in Syria have got to do something about the military faction in control of Gaza. Back channel pressure on all sides on the Gaza thugocracy must be applied.
Everything in Israel is political, of course, but the old generation is…..well, old. Perhaps after the dust settles, Israel can do some much needed PR work and rebuild those schools and hospitals.
I’m reading today that they are making progress on the tunnel problem. That, I think, seems to be the key to lifting the embargo.
BTW, there’s a pretty good article today about the recent protests in Paris. It turns out that the group were, indeed, militant Islamists. It wasn’t the usual pro-Palestinian group. It was a pro-Hamas/militant group.
France has a problem, clearly.
if you have a link, please share it.
Taylor – I went looking for a link to AnninCA’s comment. I found this dating back to Jan. 3, 2009 in a Jewish Daily. No mention of Pro Hamas.
http://tinyurl.com/7qjepl
I also read LeMonde – granted my French is terrible and I don’t pretend to be fluent in reading LeMonde but I did not see anything to verify AnninCA’s comment that the protests were pro-Hamas. Militant yes, angry and inflamed, yes, but nothing about pro-Hamas only Pro Palestinian. And I’m sorry that the protests turned violent. I didn’t find anything relating to protests in the last few days. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong place.
I’m wondering how much internal dissent there is in Israel to the current military incursion , via the press or public protest. I know there had been a fairly significant Peace movement in the past. Taylor, what’s a good source for information from inside Israel?
GeoT – the link below is the translation from the Hebrew. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any problems with it.
http://tinyurl.com/8vfkjj
OK, but don’t yell at me due to the source.
I happen to like this blog for conservative viewpoints, but that’s beside the point.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/in-paris-pro-palestine-demos-were-pro-hamas/
Geo…..there’s a lot of dissent. This is a generational shift for Israel.
But I do think they are united on one basic fact.
Living next door to a militant group dedicated to exterminating you, even if their rockets are less than effective, isn’t ok.
Jane, Egypt is still pretty much fundamentalist Islamic, with a very progressive government, if that term can be applied with strict definition boundaries.
In short, it’s up to that government to work their own communications.
No, they aren’t going to turn their populace into tolerant folks. This is an anti-semitic country, by definition.
However, they do have power to soften. That, as usual means, no direct support to Israel. That would blow it out of the water.
It’ll be the usual games.
My sense is that Israel will push the world to the edge of tolerance, and I don’t think the Israeli voters will even quite understand the protests.
The notion that a nation made up of survivors of the Holocaust “get” nuance is rather funny to me.
That’s antithetical to the pioneers who actually took the world up and went to Israel to build a life.
I will always believe this was a nutty solution out of WWII that can work.
Nutty solutions often work. They often surprise humans.
They just work.
Honestly, my opinion is that Hamas is a fly in the ointment only.
They need to be flicked off.
I’m very optimistic about the future for Palestinians. I think we’ve figured out the problems and challenges and have solutions.
Hamas is the last barrier.
AnninCA | 01.10.2009 – 2:44 pm | #
While Egypt has large segments of fundamentalist Moslems the majority of Egyptians are moderate. I should know I worked in Egypt for many years and still have friends in that country. None of whom I would classify as fundamentalist.
Interesting, Jane. I was interpreting the outcry as the voice of that faction.
What you say makes sense, actually. That’s always been my “sense” of Egypt, anyway.
I’m so not sophisticated about this middle-east stuff and, hopefully, don’t pretend to be.
But I do sort of “get” it.
I should state, for the record, I view this a bit like the Berlin wall.
I was flipping amazed when that came down.
Sometimes, the world gets into hardline positions that just really don’t last.
I think that’s the nicest thing I’ve learned by simply getting older. These resentments melt in SPITE of ourselves.
I’m convinced we’ll see a resolution to this in our lifetime. Won’t that be nice?
GeoT – the link below is the translation from the Hebrew. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any problems with it.
http://tinyurl.com/8vfkjj
Jane Austen | 01.10.2009 – 2:14 pm | #
thank you kindly… reading it now.
Ann – I was given the opportunity to work in the Middle East, Africa and Asia (many of these countries had Moslem populations) for more than 20 years. Having worked in these countries gave me a different perspective than most people have in this country because I learned from the people in the various countries I worked in. My former colleague and traveling companion was Moslem and from him I learned much about Islam and what it means to be a Moslem. I also learned how to make the best baklava, hummis and tabouli from his wife.
Here’s another bit of coverage JA:
Jewish Human Rights Groups in Israel Outraged at Attacks on Gaza
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/264719
one more from Australia:
“We are Australian Jews who join thousands in Israel and around the world condemning ongoing Israeli military attacks on Gaza,” the signatories said in a statement today.
“Together with Israeli peace group Gush Shalom, we condemn the current war as ‘inhuman, superfluous’ and ‘abominable.”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24879206-2702,00.html
Well, Jane, my son became Muslim in an Los Angeles suburb. I’m not kidding you.
We’d take him to dinner. He’d pull out his dang prayer rug and go out to the parking lot and turn his buttinsky upside down.
I pointed out that I’d lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years and never tripped over a Muslim in the parking lot.
His answer was, “They are heathens.”
My ex-husband, rightfully just remarked, “He has an interesting way of growing up.
I was furious at the Muslim family who pulled him into this nonsense. Their kid couldn’t come to our home. But they invited MY kid to all kinds of great goodies….(rich Iranians, btw…..what toys they didn’t have?)
But I survived this all. With a deep breath. This is my consequence of raising him in a very liberal environment, but now that he’s safe, I can say, “OK, I was right.”
He’s a lovely young man who is very open-minded, etc. today.
But I must say, honestly, that experience with what I thought was unfair propoganda by the Muslims in my personal life?
It probably toughened me up a bit.
BTW, I must say, the woman who was seducing my son to her religion was truly a nice woman.
She just was unfair.
And I need to also report that when she saw how he was suffering due to her seduction, she backed off and really was fair to him.
He had blonde hair and blue eyes, for gosh sakes. He would never be acceptable in that society.
She apologized to him for misleading him.
HE has no regrets. I do. But HE doesn’t.
He figures it was part of the normal “teen” path to enlightenment deal.
I am grateful that I did NOT ever go to her house and rip her head off.
It worked out.
On your other part of your post? I have friends who came from parts of Europe where middle-eastern food is part of the Jewish culture.
Hannuka is filled with stuffed grape leaves and loads of baklava.
go figure. :_)
GeoT | 01.10.2009 – 3:14 pm | #
This is one of the sites I looked at today. As in any other country you always have those who protest against what they consider being done wrong by their country. Didn’t we have protests when we went into Iraq?
Didn’t we have
protests when we went into Iraq?
Jane Austen | 01.10.2009 – 3:21 pm | #
Yes, and I also remember hearing the protesters called un-American etc. etc. I’m just glad their is the other side getting out that it is not 100% agreed in Israel that they are doing the right thing or in the right way at least.
AnninCA | 01.10.2009 – 3:20 pm | #
I’m not sure I understand the point of your post. I live in a small town with a small to moderate Moslem population; the mosque and their Moslem culture is quite visible. I attend some of their neighborhood meetings on trying to find ways to live peacefully together and making our town a better place to live.
I’m sorry, but I’m just getting really sick of this bullshit. The true “definition” of the Palestinians to the Israelis as well as right-wing pro-Israel people is “savages in the way”. It is an exact parallel to our own Natives (and if you think ‘savages’ is too strong a word – you don’t talk to my right-wing contacts who think Israel should just *level* the West Bank then clear it for Israeli homes).
I guarantee you if the American reservations had been put close to settler towns, the town would have been forced to move them due to angry flaming arrows raining down on them.
Did we ever find a solution in this country? Sort of. We helped remove the poverty from the reservations by giving them the gambling casinos. Funny how ‘wealth’ can cure a lot of anger. Oddly enough, that might work over there as well. Casinos are illegal in Israel, but that doesn’t mean Israelis don’t love to gamble. There’s a HUGE casino near Jericho (staffed by Palestinian servants).
Well, I can’t think of how to share my own personal experience any clear, Jane.
I think it’s a matter of true intimacy. It’s one thing to adopt a position, when there’s no real personal consequence.
It’s quite another when there is a consequence.
I think, personally, that the issue about Israel is just that. It’s very personal in that region, and it means quite a lot more to them. For both sides.
I think I respect the US position which is to ward off knee-jerk reactions.
Anyway, I am happy to have shared my own contact experience.
It’s my story.
There’s a HUGE casino near Jericho (staffed by
Palestinian servants).
pmichael | 01.10.2009 – 3:29 pm | #
Greta idea PM
That’s prime Mediterranean beach front in Gaza, Full employment, corruption by western culture, guaranteed to settle things down :=)
GeoT | 01.10.2009 – 3:26 pm | #
I was going into highschool when Israel was granted declared its independence. I supported Israel as a nation then and I support it today. But in 60 years little has been done to do anything to resolve the Palestinian problem. And I especially blame the Bush Administration for having done little or nothing over the past 8 years to alleviate the conditions of the Palestinians or to encourage a peaceful resolution.
I think the issue is simply political. It will be resolved.
but I do admit, I’m an optimist.
And I especially blame the Bush Administration
for having done little or nothing over the past 8 years to alleviate the conditions of the
Palestinians or to encourage a peaceful resolution.
Jane Austen | 01.10.2009 – 3:33 pm | #
You are 100% correct. There was some momentum from previous admins. that Bush squandered and reverted to a do nothing, blind eye approach that accomplished nothing, in fact set the process back.
The new reality emerging is as Americans of course we support Israel but not without discernment and the ability to call them on it when they overstep their bounds, like now, IMO
GeoT | 01.10.2009 – 3:40 pm | #
I have a bumper sticker on my car that says “Seek peace and pursue it.” Peace must be worked at. It’s not something that comes easily.
pmichael | 01.10.2009 – 3:29 pm | #
A few years ago my husband and I visited the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation. Living conditions of the Native Americans on that reservation could be compared to living in the “third world.” Sadly they have no beach front or the resources to build casinos.
Well, Geo, I think our “debate” is actually OK, and this is a safe one to debate it about, too.
Hamas is clearly in the wrong.
Israel is right.
It’s a good opportunity push forward on the key message: Resolve Palestine.
Right now, liberals in Israel have lost, but they are definitely vocal and ready to retake control.
As long as they respect the right of Israel to protect itself and show a willingness to ignore international sniping, they will retake political influence.
I have a bumper sticker on my car that says “Seek peace and pursue it.” Peace must be worked
at. It’s not something that comes easily.
Jane Austen | 01.10.2009 – 3:43 pm | #
I have a bumper sticker that says “Visualize Whirled Peas” :=)
Great idea PM
That’s prime Mediterranean beach front in Gaza, Full employment, corruption by western
culture, guaranteed to settle things down :=)
GeoT
GeoT and Jane – I found it intriguing that Arial Sharon was/is part owner of the Jericho casino. Why are casinos illegal in Israel? Because they’re against Jewish religious laws.
Guess it’s alright to own one, however *L* – and/or have a night on the town, across the border. Kinda like leaving your religious ‘dry county’ to go whoop it up next door.
Hamas is clearly in the wrong.
Israel is right.
AnninCA | 01.10.2009 – 3:46 pm | #
Israel may be “right” but what their doing and who they are killing is causing them to be perceived as the bad guys, and perception matters. It is weakening them in the long run IMO
they’re not their… (that’s one of my per peeves and I do it all the time)
A few years ago my husband and I visited the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation. Living
conditions of the Native Americans on that reservation could be compared to living in the
“third world.” Sadly they have no beach front or the resources to build casinos. Jane Austen
And here we are – how many decades after that reservation was created ?
A solution in Gaza is far more difficult to arrive at than people think. Leveling it would seem to be the only ‘fast’ solution, but that’s way too inhumane to even consider.
Oh wait.
I forgot.
It’s already under way.
pmichael | 01.10.2009 – 3:52 pm | #
I’m LMAO here because I remember going into a night club in a “dry county” in NC on a couple of occasions. It was illegal for the nightclub to serve booze but they provided you with the setup. You brought the booze in in a brown paper bag and kept it on the floor by your chair and when you wanted a drink you discretely picked up booze in bag and poured into the glass provided and added whatever which was also provided.
Israel may be “right” but what their doing and who they are killing is causing them to be
perceived as the bad guys, and perception matters. It is weakening them in the long run IMO
GeoT | 01.10.2009 – 3:54 pm | #
Just think if Bush & Co had continued the peace process during the last 8 years what is happening right now might have been avoided. I also question why Israel decided right now at this time to mount this kind of attack. Could it be that with the incoming administration they figured that Obama & Co might not go along with an attack of this multitude?
” The [Israeli] government has a hard time knowing whether or not specific policies will be followed in the field. For example, the Israeli government’s policy in the present action in the Gaza Strip has been to avoid civilian casualties whenever possible. Based on personal experience of the behavior of IDF conscripts toward Palestinian civilians, I would say that the Israeli government has little control over what individual groups of these young Israeli soldiers may do in incidents like the one yesterday in which mortar fire was directed toward UN controlled school buildings.
In Beit Suhur outside Bethlehem, I have seen IDF troops shoot at Palestinian Christian women hanging out laundry in their gardens. This was done with tank coaxial machine guns from within a bermed up dirt fort a couple of hundred yards away, and evidently just for the fun of it. In Bethlehem a lieutenant told me that he would have had his men shoot me in the street during a demonstration that I happened to get caught in, but that he had not because he thought I might not be a Palestinian and that if I were not the incident would have caused him some trouble. I have seen a lot of things like that.”
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2009/01/the-idf-ground.html
Terrifying description, pmichael.
Terrifying description, pmichael. Jane Austen
Yes, but if there was more chat traffic today, I can almost guarantee someone would eventually accuse me of being anti-Semite/Jew with my parallel between this nonsense and our own country’s Natives.
Being anti-Zionism is too often equated in a kneejerk reaction with being against Jews somehow – and that has been going on since 1948. It makes me see internally hemorrage, I get so angry.
pmichael | 01.10.2009 – 4:32 pm | #
I know where you’re coming from. The only thing I’m anti is war and the devestation it wreaks.
President-elect Barack Obama is planning to honor one-time rival John McCain at a dinner on the eve of his inauguration.
Obama’s inaugural committee said Saturday it has planned three dinners across Washington to honor leaders who worked across party lines.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/10/obama-to-honor-mccain-on-_n_156836.html
Heyas Taylor,
Thought you might find it interesting. It’s been a few years, but the JFK white rose is back on the list this year:
http://www.MorrisNursery.com
More atrocity we’re not supposed to see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJaPZLNLBu8
Why should Israel give two f*cks at a rolling doughnut what the world thinks? They have NEVER, ever been held accountable for their or their proxies actions. If ever a PEEP came from an American administration(and they have been few and FAR between) they basically were told shut the F up and keep sending money and arms.
Now they have the STERLING ezample of the bush crime family to point to. Hell, as ridiculously ineffective as they are at least Hamas IS firing rockets into Israel. What did Iraq EVER do to us?
“AnninCA | 01.10.2009 – 3:20 pm | #”
Would it have alright if it had been HaraKrishnas? Or fundamentelist UUUUUberchristians? Mormons? How about if he’s
d wanted to become a…gasp…JEW! AnnainCA this post REALLY sounds like a feminized Archie Bunker rant.
pmichael | 01.10.2009 – 3:29 pm | #
This is one of the more insulting posts I’ve read in a long time.
Hi Fellow Americans,
I just spent 5 weeks in the Middle East working in Dubai, Qatar, with the last two weeks in Egypt. This is my sixth trip to Egypt and I have never before been subjected to the kind of scorn like what I ran into this time. Colleagues that I have know for years did not want to speak to me. I was ripped a new one by a waiter when he found out I was American. Something unheard of in the past. The company I was working for (Canadian) was so concerned about our (5 Americans on the project) safety getting to the airport in Cairo they had us transported by armored limousine with a guard to stand with us until we were safely on the British Airways flight out of there. I think they overreacted a bit, but not by much.
Make no mistake. The people in Egypt and elsewhere around that region blame the US for what is going on in Gaza. They see the Israelis as US puppets and nothing more. They are seething with rage over it and they feel so powerless that they are getting desperate and are ready to do desperate things.
Bush and the idiots in power in Israel have so poisoned the name of the United States in that part of the world that it is now very dangerous for people like me to go there and work. Places I used to go to in Cairo are now off limits because of the danger. Needless to say I won’t be going back even if it means leaving my job.
I fully expect most pro-western governments in the Middle East to fall and fall soon.
This is one of the more insulting posts I’ve read in a long time. secularhumanizinevoluter
Yes! Now that we have the Internet and news from outside the US, it’s an insult to our intelligence to think we can’t see what’s going on in Gaza.
Can anyone imagine Bush do this? This is cool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vQ7wQ80Aik
doing this
“I guarantee you if the American reservations had been put close to settler towns, the town
would have been forced to move them due to angry flaming arrows raining down on them.
Did we ever find a solution in this country? Sort of. We helped remove the poverty from the
reservations by giving them the gambling casinos. pmichael | 01.10.2009 – 3:29 pm | # “
This statement is apallingly ignorant both on a historical and factual basis. The Native Peoples ONLY ever left the reservations they had been FORCED onto when the government failed to meet even subsistence levels of food deliveries.
“We” didn’t “give” the native Americans casinos. They built them. Or they leased the rights to build them.
Basically what “we” as in anglo or white America has ever done for and to the Native populations is lie to them, murder them and break every single treaty that the government of the United States ever signed with them. EVERY SINGLE ONE.
I agree, Sec – but since gambling is carefully monitored and regulated in this country (used to be only Nevada) we did ‘give’ them the rights to have gmbling houses and profit from them.
They were selling fireworks and ciggs because as soverign entities the state and local Taxe laws don’t apply to them. They had some slick types tell them they could build casinos too. We didn’t “give” them the right. The US courts recognized that they HAD those rights.
Don’t mean to be a hard case on this but reality is reality. And it’s kinda nice to finally see the Native Americans coming out on the sweet end of the stick, though in some cases there is corruption and the money dosen’t get to all the people.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
THE DEMONS OF GAZA
ONLY HAMAS IS TO BLAME FOR THE WAR; ONLY THE PALESTINIANS CAN STOP IT
January 10, 2009
Ralph Peters
The New York Post
Israel hasn’t killed a single civilian in the Gaza Strip. Over a hundred
civilians have died, and Israeli bombs or shells may have ended their lives.
But Israeli didn’t kill them.
Hamas did.
It’s time to smash the lies. The lies of Hamas. The UN lies. And the
save-the-terrorists lies of the global media.
There is no moral equivalence between Hamas terrorists and Israeli soldiers.
There is no gray area. There is no point in negotiations.
Hamas is a Jew-killing machine. It exists to destroy Israel. What is there
to negotiate?
When Hamas can’t kill Jews, it’s perfectly willing to drive Palestinian
civilians into the line of fire – old men, women and children. Hamas herds
the innocent into “shelters,” then draws Israeli fire on them. And the
headline-greedy media cheer them on.
Hamas isn’t fighting for political goals. “Brokered agreements” are purely
means to an end. And the envisioned end is the complete destruction of
Israel in the name of a terrorist god. Safe in hidden bunkers or in
Damascus, the Hamas leadership is willing to watch an unlimited number of
civilians and even street-level terrorists die.
Lives, too, are nothing but means to an end. And dead kids are the coins
that keep the propaganda meter ticking.
All Hamas had to do to prevent Israel’s act of self-defense was to leave
Israel unmolested by terror rockets. All Hamas needs to do now to stop this
conflict and spare the Palestinian people it pretends to champion is to stop
trying to kill Israelis and agree to let Israel exist in peace.
Hamas didn’t, and Hamas won’t.
Now Israel has to continue its attack, to wreak all the havoc it can on
Hamas before a new American president starts meddling. If Israel stops now,
Hamas can declare victory just for surviving – despite its crippling losses.
While it’s impossible to fully eliminate extremism, killing every terrorist
leader hiding in a Gaza bunker is the only hope of achieving even a
temporary, imperfect peace. The chance may not come again.
And don’t worry about “creating a power vacuum.” Let the Palestinians pick
up their own pieces. Even anarchy in Gaza is better for Israel than Hamas.
Israelis, Americans and Westerners overall share a tragic intellectual blind
spot: We’re caught in yesterday’s model of terrorism, that of Arafat’s PLO,
of the IRA, the Red Brigades or the Weather Underground. But, as brutal as
those organizations could be, they never believed they were on a mission
from God.
Yesteryear’s terrorists wanted to change the world. They were willing to
shed blood and, in extreme cases, to give their own blood to their causes.
But they didn’t seek death. They preferred to live to see their “better
world.”
Now our civilization faces terrorists who regard death as a promotion. They
believe that any action can be excused because they’re serving their god.
And their core belief is that you and I, as stubborn unbelievers, deserve
death.
Their grisly god knows no compromise. To give an inch is to betray their
god’s trust entirely. Yet we – and even some Israelis – believe it’s
possible to cut deals with them.
In search of peace, Israel handed Gaza to the Palestinians, a people who had
never had a state of their own. As thanks, Israel received terror rockets.
And the Palestinian people got a gang war.
Peace is the last thing Hamas terrorists and gangsters want. Peace means the
game is up. Peace means they’ve disappointed their god. Peace means no more
excuses. They couldn’t bear peace for six months.
This is a war to the bitter end. And we’re afraid to admit what it’s about.
It’s not about American sins or Israeli intransigence. It’s about a sickness
in the soul of a civilization – of Middle-Eastern Islam – that can only be
cured from within. Until Arabs or Iranians decide to cure themselves, we’ll
have to fight.
Instead, we want to talk. We convince ourselves, against all evidence, that
our enemies really want to talk, too, that they just need “incentives” (the
diplomat’s term for bribes). The apparent belief of our president-elect that
it’s possible to negotiate with faith-fueled fanatics is so naive it’s
terrifying.
Yet, it’s understandable. Barack Obama’s entire career has been built on
words, not deeds, on his power to persuade, not his power to deliver. But
all the caucuses, debates, neighborhood meetings and backroom deal-making
sessions in his past haven’t prepared him to “negotiate” with men whose
single-minded goal is Israel’s destruction – and ours.
If Obama repeats the same “peace-process” folly as his predecessors, from
Jimmy have-you-hugged-your-terrorist-today? Carter through Bill Clinton and
George W. Bush, he’ll be devoured before he knows he’s been bitten.
How many administrations have to repeat the identical error of believing
that, deep down inside, terrorists, gunmen and warlords really want peace
every bit as much as we do? Israel’s enemies aren’t just looking to cut a
sharp deal. They want to destroy Israel.
Which part of what they shout in our faces is so hard to understand?
Israel’s foes have been preaching Jew-hatred for so long that even the
“moderates” can’t turn back now.
And why does the global left hate Israel so? Why would they pull out the
stops to rescue Hamas?
Because Israel exposed the lie that a suffering people can’t lift itself up
through hard work, education and discipline. Israel didn’t need the help of
a hundred condescending NGOs and their misery junkies.
Because the Holocaust is a permanent embarrassment to Europeans. They need
to believe that Israelis are kosher Nazis.
Because, from the safety of cafes and campuses, it’s cool to call terrorists
“freedom fighters.” It makes you feel less guilty when you hit up daddy (or
the state) for money. I mean, dude, it’s not like you have to, like, live
with them or anything, you know?
(The preceding sentence is not a direct quote from Caroline Kennedy.)
Because, above all, the most-destructive racists in the world today are
mainstream leftists. Want the truth? The Left codes Israel as white and,
therefore, inherently an oppressor. Israel is held to the highest standard
of our civilization and our legal codes – and denied the right to
self-defense.
But the Left tacitly believes that people with darker skins are inferior and
can’t be expected to behave at a civilized level. Leftists expect terrorist
movements or African dictators to behave horribly. It’s the post-modern,
latte-sucking version of the “little brown brother” mentality.
The worst enemies of developing societies have been leftists who refuse to
hold them to fundamental standards of governance and decency. But, then, the
Left needs developing societies to fail to prove that the system’s
hopelessly stacked against them.
A battered, impoverished, butchered people built a thriving Western
democracy in an Eastern wasteland. Israel can never be forgiven for its
success.
In this six-decade-old conflict that Israel’s intractable neighbors continue
to force upon it, there not only are no good solutions, but, thanks to the
zero-sum mentality of Islamist terrorists, there aren’t even any bad
solutions – short of nuclear genocide – that would bring an enduring peace
to the Middle East.
And even the elimination of Israel wouldn’t be enough. The terrorists would
fight among themselves, while warring upon less-devout fellow Muslims.
All Israel can do is to fight for time and buy intervals of relative calm
with the blood of its sons and daughters. By demanding premature cease-fires
and insisting that we can find a diplomatic solution, we strengthen monsters
and undercut our defenders.
And don’t believe the propaganda about this conflict rallying Gaza’s
Palestinians behind Hamas. That’s more little-brown-brother condescension,
assuming all Arabs are so stupid they don’t know who started this and who’s
dragging it out at their expense.
Gaza’s people may not care much for Israelis, but they rue the day they cast
their votes for Hamas. Hamas is killing them.
Ralph Peters is a retired U.S. Army officer and the author of “Looking For
Trouble.”
Ralph Peters
The New York Post
subpar | 01.11.2009 – 3:16 pm | #
yeah, well Peters thought the War in Iraq was a peachy idea so maybe he doesn’t have the best perspective on the middle east.
OT. Yesterday we got an 8 x 10 invitation to the Inauguration. Probably because we had been sending money to Obama’s campaign. But still, I think I will get it framed because it is really nice.
Ralph Peters
The New York Post
subpar | 01.11.2009 – 3:16 pm | #
yeah, well Peters thought the War in Iraq was a peachy idea so maybe he doesn’t have the best
perspective on the middle east.
GeoT | 01.11.2009 – 4:00 pm | #
yeah, well peters thought…..bla bla bla…..?
I will judge an article based on its content and accuracy. Its easy to discredit an article based on the author’s previous positions, but its a cop out. if you have disagreements about the key points of what he was making then that should be open for debate.
subpar | 01.11.2009 – 5:06 pm | #
you’re a turd. kerplunk.
Joe the Plumber, reporting on the war form Israel says media should be banned from reporting on war…
(it is astonishing)
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=11490686&ch=4226714&src=news
another crime
Rights group: Israel uses white phosphorus in Gaza
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090111/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_white_phosphorus
Never in the history of the cyber world has a handle more accuratly portrayed the qualitative content of an individual’s postings then subpar.
As for the Israelis using Willie Peter I said that when the first pictures posted here of the attacks on Gaza showed a White Phos. round impacting in an urban area. It is against the GC to use White Phos. against personel and most especially civilians. I think they call that a WAR CRIME.
Joe the Plumber, reporting on the war form Israel says media should be banned from reporting on war…
(it is astonishing)
GeoT,
And to think this guy was a cornerstone of McCain’s campaign. McCain managed to inflict JTP and Palin on us. Hopefully he will regret his campaign for the rest of his life.
Off Topic, but would just like to say, that today was Alice Paul’s birthday. Women owe a lot to this great women, who most people in this country have heard nothing about. So… HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICE PAUL.
From crooksandliars.com
“WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (IPS) – Contrary to Israel’s argument that it was forced to launch its air and ground offensive against Gaza in order to stop the firing of rockets into its territory, Hamas proposed in mid-December to return to the original Hamas-Israel ceasefire arrangement, according to a U.S.-based source who has been briefed on the proposal.
The proposal to renew the ceasefire was presented by a high-level Hamas delegation to Egyptian Minister of Intelligence Omar Suleiman at a meeting in Cairo Dec. 14. The delegation, said to have included Moussa Abu Marzouk, the second-ranking official in the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, told Suleiman that Hamas was prepared to stop all rocket attacks against Israel if the Israelis would open up the Gaza border crossings and pledge not to launch attacks in Gaza.
The Hamas officials insisted that Israel not be allowed to close or reduce commercial traffic through border crossings for political purposes, as it had done during the six-month lull, according to the source. They asked Suleiman, who had served as mediator between Israel and Hamas in negotiating the original six-month Gaza ceasefire last spring, to “put pressure” on Israel to take that the ceasefire proposal seriously.
Suleiman said he could not pressure Israel but could only make the suggestion to Israeli officials. It could not be learned, however, whether Israel explicitly rejected the Hamas proposal or simply refused to respond to Egypt.
The readiness of Hamas to return to the ceasefire conditionally in mid-December was confirmed by Dr. Robert Pastor, a professor at American University and senior adviser to the Carter Centre, who met with Khaled Meshal, chairman of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus on Dec. 14, along with former President Jimmy Carter. Pastor told IPS that Meshal indicated Hamas was willing to go back to the ceasefire that had been in effect up to early November “if there was a sign that Israel would lift the siege on Gaza”.”
So it would appear that our dear friends and allies in Israel are just as much a bunch of murderous liars as the present squatters in the White House are wouldn’t it?
So Egypt is making headway with Hamas?
Interesting.
Geo……not everything is about PR.
Sometimes, all of us, whether an individual or a country, needs to stop worrying about what other think and just do what’s right.
If we’re wrong, we’re wrong.
But the worst thing I can think of is to die knowing that you really let everyone else “tell” you what to do.
Like public opinion is even rational?
That goes back to medieval times. The public used to love to parade around with heads on sticks and demand the blood of the latest royal who was subject to the latest rumor.
I have no interest in that type of culture.
Secular, it could have been Presbyterian, btw.
I think what bugged me the most? I would never do that to another family’s child.
There are boundaries. Religious people, alas, sometimes cross those.
Frankly I’m all in favor of if not cutting off royalties heads at least kicking them out of the Palace and making them get a job. I think the start of our country had something to do with that sort of thingy!