The State of Palestine

[Morgeruat]

link (the pay version of the page has the full text, reprinted below)

Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 29, 2007 ________________________________ In the world of international diplomacy few issues receive more wall-to-wall support than the notion that it is essential to establish a Palestinian state. Leaders worldwide are so busy speaking of how essential it is for a State of Palestine to be founded that none of them seems to have noticed that it already exists. This state was officially founded in the summer of 2005, when Israel removed its military forces and civilian population from the Gaza Strip and so established the first wholly independent Palestinian state in history. Israel's destruction of four Israeli communities in Northern Samaria and curtailment of its military operations in the area set the conditions for statehood in that area as well. And so it is that as statesmen and activists worldwide loudly proclaim their commitment to establishing the sovereign State of Palestine, they miss the fact that Palestine exists. And it is a nightmare. In the State of Palestine 88 percent of the public feels insecure. Perhaps the other 12 percent are members of the multitude of regular and irregular militias. For in the State of Palestine the ratio of police/militiamen/men-under-arms to civilians is higher than in any other country on earth. In the State of Palestine, two-year-olds are killed and no one cares. Children are woken up in the middle of the night and murdered in front of their parents. Worshipers in mosques are gunned down by terrorists who attend competing mosques. And no one cares. No international human rights groups publish reports calling for an end to the slaughter. No UN body condemns anyone or sends a fact-finding mission to investigate the murders. In the State of Palestine, women are stripped naked and forced to march in the streets to humiliate their husbands. Ambulances are stopped on the way to hospitals and wounded are shot in cold blood. Terrorists enter operating rooms in hospitals and unplug patients from life-support machines. In the State of Palestine, people are kidnapped from their homes in broad daylight and in front of the television cameras. This is the case because the kidnappers themselves are cameramen. Indeed, their commanders often run television stations. And because terror commanders run television stations in the State of Palestine, it should not be surprising that they bomb the competition's television stations. SO IT WAS that last week, terrorists from this group or that group bombed Al Arabiya television station in Gaza. And so it is that Hamas attacks Fatah radio announcers and closes down their radio station claiming that they use their microphones to incite murder. Because indeed, they are inciting murder. What would one expect for terrorists to do when placed in charge of a radio station? And so it is that in the State of Palestine, journalists - whether members of terror groups or not - are part of the 88 percent of their public who are afraid. Sunday they protested outside the offices of one terror faction or another that controls the Palestinian Authority. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, reporter Ala Masharawi explained, "No one goes outside, no one moves without thinking twice. Gaza's streets have become terrible streets, especially at night. Gaza is a ghost town." As the Post's Khaled Abu Toameh reported last week, in the State of Palestine, Christians are persecuted, robbed and beaten in what can only be viewed as a systematic campaign to end the Christian presence in places like Bethlehem. As Samir Qumsiyeh, owner of the Beit Sahur-based private Al-Mahd (Nativity) TV station lamented, "I believe that 15 years from now there will be no Christians left in Bethlehem. Then you will need a torch to find a Christian here." MANY GOVERNMENT ministers and commentators seek strategic meaning in the strife in the State of Palestine. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, for instance, goes on and on about the need to strengthen the "moderates" - that is, the Fatah terror group - over the "extremists" - that is, the Hamas terror group. Helping her to propound this nonsense is PA Chairman and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas and his men tell Westerners how pro-Western they are at the same time as they name streets and schools financed by US aid after Saddam Hussein and build sports facilities on the American taxpayers' tab in memory of terrorists who killed American soldiers in Iraq. For the umpteenth time, on Sunday Fatah spokesmen in PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's office blamed Iran and Syria for the escalating violence in Gaza and Judea and Samaria that has killed 29 people, including two children, in four days. "Iran and Syria are encouraging Hamas to continue fighting against Fatah," they alleged. And yet, just last Thursday the Shin Bet arrested Omar Damra, a Fatah terrorist in Nablus. Damra is accused of manufacturing suicide bomb belts and attempting to smuggle them into Israel. He also stands accused of plotting to place explosive devices along roads in Judea and Samaria with the intention of blowing up IDF patrols. Damra and his partner and fellow Fatah terrorist Mahmad Ramaha, who was arrested a month ago, were working under the instruction of Hizbullah - that is, under the direction of Iran. According to the Shin Bet, Hizbullah - that is, Iran - has taken over Fatah operations in Nablus. Since Israel's withdrawal from northern Samaria in August 2005, the Shin Bet has noted that, like Gaza, the Nablus area has become a mini-Afghanistan. So not only are Hamas terrorists operating under Iranian and Syrian direction today, Fatah terrorists are as well. Yet this doesn't stop the US and Israel from pouring guns and money into the hands of Fatah terror chiefs. They fail to recognize that what you see is what you get. These guns are not used to encourage moderation. These guns are used against Israelis and Palestinians alike in a turf battle between terror groups over money, guns and power that will never end. And it will never end because fighting and killing for money, guns and power is what terrorists do. FOR THE past 13 years, since the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994, the contours of the State of Palestine have taken form in front of our eyes. Starting with Yasser Arafat's abrogation of the rule of law and murderous campaign against land dealers and journalists, with each passing year and with each move to further empower the PA, the situation has only grown worse. And yet, international pressure on Israel from Arabs, Europeans and the US to surrender more territory, curtail its authority, abrogate its claims to the areas set for Palestine, and finance the Fatah terror group have only grown in intensity. And with each passing year, as the reality of Palestine has become clearer, the Israeli leadership's will to resist this pressure is increasingly eroded. So it is that last week Defense Minister Amir Peretz announced that he supports negotiating with Hamas. Peretz laid out his "vision" for the reinstatement of the so-called peace process with the Palestinians, and stated that, to "empower" the Palestinians, he supports extending the ban on IDF operations from Gaza to Judea and Samaria. It should go without saying that such IDF operations are aimed at preventing massacres of Israeli civilians like the one that happened in Eilat Monday morning. LIVNI, FOR her part, has become the international champion of Fatah. Gushing to an audience of international peace processors in Davos, Switzerland, last week, Livni said, "In order to achieve peace and in order to promote a process, we must stick to this vision of a two-state solution and examine what the best steps to take are." Of course, neither Livni nor Peretz, who insist that Israel's most urgent priority is to establish Palestine, is willing to recognize that Palestine exists already. They refuse to acknowledge what we already know: Palestine is a terror state and an economic basket case fully funded by the international community. Indeed, over the past year since Hamas won the Palestinian elections, international assistance to the Palestinians has increased dramatically. As Ibrahim Gambari, the UN under-secretary-general for political affairs, noted last Thursday, official Western aid to the Palestinians, not including Arab and Iranian support for Hamas and Fatah, increased by 10 percent in 2006 over 2005, and stood at $1.2 billion. The Palestinians, who receive more aid per capita than any people on earth, are needy not because they lack funds. They are poor because they prefer poverty, violence and war to prosperity, peace and moderation. So it is that 57 percent of Palestinians support terror attacks against Israel. The multitude of protesters worldwide who demand an end to the so-called "occupation" and the establishment of Palestine should be made aware of the fact that Palestine already exists. The hordes of political leaders mindlessly squawking about "visions" and "two-state solutions" should know: This is Palestine. Enter at your own risk.

[Timber Loftis]

TL;DR

[PurpleXVI]

Short version: "Oh noez, Palestine has a lot of gunmen and terrorists, watch as we exaggerate the issue and subtly suggest that Palestine is a hellhole that would be better off not existing."

And as much as I support Israel, it's rather hard to blame the Palestinians entirely for their hardship. A lot of the deaths there, at least in the past, have been because of Israeli attacks and assasinations, both botched, succesful and somewhere in between. Israeli politics and lack of care in military operations have allowed organizations like Fatah and Hamas to reach the top in Palestine and take control of it.

Finally, blaming all of Fatah or Hamas for the actions of some of it's members(Without proof that it was ordered from the top.) is like saying every Republican is a murderer if one of them shoots his wife. Both organizations are most likely so decentralized and anarchic that half don't know what the other half are doing.

Oh, wait, one addition. If you want an example of the exaggerating, inflammatory language used in this article, note how it refers to an attack in Eilat as a "massacre." It was a single bombing that killed three people. That is not a "massacre" unless you're trying to make it sound worse than it is. Of course it's bad, terrible, horrifying, but hardly the call to arms that a "massacre" would be.

[Morgeruat]

Finally, blaming all of Fatah or Hamas for the actions of some of it's members(Without proof that it was ordered from the top.) is like saying every Republican is a murderer if one of them shoots his wife. Both organizations are most likely so decentralized and anarchic that half don't know what the other half are doing.

Trends are observed, for instance serial killers are typified as middle-aged, middle to upper class, republican, Caucasian men, a generalization that isn't always correct (Washington DC snipers), just as much as if you hear someone strapped a bomb to their chest and blew up a shopping mall, you don't really need to hear more before assuming muslim extremists.

While the attacks may or may not have been "ordered from the top" you ignore the mindset programmed into these terrorists, and then once they're set loose they're dangerous to EVERYBODY not just Israelis, or Jews specifically. It's like training a dog to look for drugs and then being pissed when he finds your stash.

[ 02-05-2007, 03:40 PM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]

[Black Baron]

Gaza is worse than a hell hole, trust me. I was there during the second lebanese war, and prior to it. More stinky, dirty and lowly place can be found nowhere else on earth. That is a proffesional opinion. I got tired of killing ten year old boys that dutifully try to kill me with rpg. It is a place where two year old babyies are wired with tnt (saw one personally). It is a place of horror and despair. It is Gaza ( a synonyme to a juicy curse).
Your media does not tell you half of what happens there. It is percisely as this article describes it.
However, and here Purple is correct, we can't blame an entire movement for actions of an individual. We can however blame an entire movement for his ideology. For god's sake a portrait of the Grand Mufty still hangs in the FATAH residence! A man that hated jews like Hitler did, and the one that ordered massacares and pogroms in 1929 and other years.
About Hamas ideology i do not think that i have to explain.

[robertthebard]

I came away from the article with one other thought in mind. There is a Palestinian State. Why are people trying to create one?

And as much as I support Israel, it's rather hard to blame the Palestinians entirely for their hardship. A lot of the deaths there, at least in the past, have been because of Israeli attacks and assasinations, both botched, succesful and somewhere in between. Israeli politics and lack of care in military operations have allowed organizations like Fatah and Hamas to reach the top in Palestine and take control of it.

What does this really mean? That no matter what, it's Israel's fault? Because that's the meaning I take away from this paragraph. I'm quite sure that some of the instances that are listed in the article can be verified throuh a Google search. Are we going to find that it was actually Israel's troops that did the deeds? Is it Israel's fault that the factions each try to gain dominance over the other?

What I see, from the article, is that you have a group of people that are so worried about who's in charge, they spend all their time fighting for control, and none of their time trying to fix some of the social/economic problems they now have. They wanted to be an independant state, and now they are, and what do they do with it? Try to wipe eachother out.

[PurpleXVI]

No, it's not entirely Israel's fault, but when Israeli rockets just killed your cousin in a botched attack, you're more likely to vote for the dude who yells: "DEATH TO ISRAEL!" than the guy who yells: "A FAIR AND MODERATE PEACE TREATY WITH ISRAEL!"

The blame ultimately lies with the extremist elements within Palestine, but you can hardly blame Average Ahmed on the street for voting for the guys who say they're gonna fight the guys who killed his relatives. Israel's policies are certainly exacerbating the situation, they made there be a bigger chance of it turning out this way.

Additionally, you exaggerate what I said, all I commented on was the Eilat attack. I never said that Palestinians are not killing Palestinians. But if the US armed forces split into Republican and Democrat camps, then started a bloody civil war at the behest of politicians, would you blame some random guy in Nebraska for the state of his country? No, you wouldn't. It's much the same situation here, not every Palestinian is either a Fatah Murderous Bastard or a Hamas Terrorist Bastard. There are plenty of members of Fatah who are civilized, probably plenty of Hamas members who just want to not get bombed by Israel, and plenty of Palestinians who hold no great allegiance to either party but just want to not get their heads shot off.

But you seem to have the solution. What should Unarmed Mohammed, College Student Extraordinaire, go out on the streets and do? Make a rousing speech to the effect of not supporting Fatah or Hamas violence, which would get him shot in the head? Take up a one-man crusade against the militants which would get him shot in the head? Or maybe find somewhere to take cover and see if he can scrounge up the money to get him and his family out of the country?

[robertthebard]

Let's see, what did the US do? Oh, we dumped a bunch of tea into the Boston Harbor, and told a much superior Empire to kiss our collective asses. Once again, this comes down to moderates not wanting to take any risks. If they stood up and did what needs to be done, Muslims dealing with Muslims, instead of saying, "they aren't our problem, they aren't Muslim".

We took a risk, and we prevailed. It could have just as easily gone the other way, and this discussion would be happening in German, or maybe Japanese. The fact is, in order for the problems to get settled, people are going to have to take some chances, and stand up and do something, instead of waiting for somebody else to do it, and then pointing fingers at them when they do. Case in point; Iraq.

If Unarmed Mohammed did stand up and make the speech, and got killed, wouldn't he too be a martyr for his cause? After all, he's a Muslim too. If the Moderate Muslim is so convinced that these extremists aren't Muslim, then shouldn't they be willing to stand up against the infidels that are sullying the name of Islam?

I think the fact of the matter is that the Moderate Muslim, as a group, doesn't do that because they actually support what's being done. They may never do a press conference to that effect, but taking no action against a group that is effectively destroying what they want the world's perception of Islam to be should be just cause for a Jihad against the extremists, I would think.

[Black Baron]

According to your logic, Purple, if my friend/relative (heavens forbid) was killed by a palestinian terrorist i would vote for Kahana party. Its ideology is pretty much like the mentioned above Mufty but with slight modifications. Let me assure you that i would not. I am reasonable man that had seen the war from up close. It does not appeal to me more than absolutely neccessary.

Average Ahmed had brought it all on himself when he had voted Hamas. Instead fighting the injustice like Ghandi did, or like some more blood oriented revoulutionnaire (sp?) he votes with his passiveness. We gave them the entire Gaza strip and we got Quassams.

Since that they are totally incapable of governing themselves without resenting to ak-47, I suggest half seriuously, half mockingly that we level the entire strip (after an evacuation) and start to govern their lives. After that they will beg to UN to get rif of us, we shall remove our forces from the strip, and the history will complete one more circle.

[johnny]

The Palestinians were probably fed up with Fatah, which is also quite understandable looking at Arafat's Swiss bankaccount. While the people were literally starving to death, our jolly friend amassed a personal savingsaccount of over 300 million $. Fatah doesn't care about the average Mohammed Doe, but then again, neither does Hamas, they see the people as cattle which they can throw at the enemy. The more martyrs, the better for them. These are the Palestinians only two options, and frankly, it's not something to cheer about.

On the other hand, i believe that every people get the leaders they deserve, and the Palestinians got theirs. A selfdestructive bunch of warmongerers who can't even come to terms amongst eachother. I'd give it another three or four decades until they are completely extinct. The Israeli's won't even be responsible for it, they are perfectly capable of killing eachother without outside help. That's the one big thing they have incommon with that other extinct species, the dinosaurs....they too never grew a friggin brain.

[ 02-05-2007, 06:30 PM: Message edited by: johnny ]