Commentary
We are going away for a while, so there will be a break in my sending these missives. This is my current parting shot.
When I started writing this blog in 2000, due to the second intifada that the Palestinians opened up on us, it was a way to inform friends, mainly in the US, of what life was like in Israel then. At first it was all about suicide bombings and Israeli casualties on buses and in cafes. Once the IDF found how to deal with this and the security barrier was built, the intifada gradually faded.
Then we segued into the era of Iranian domination of the Muslim side of the conflict, with the ascendence of a rearmed Hizbollah in Lebanon and of Hamas in the PA. While we have been waiting years for the so-called "moderate" Pres. Abbas to flex his muscles and take over the initiative, so far this has not happened, and probably never will.
So after the Second Lebanon war of 2006 we are left with the armed struggle going on between Fatah and Hamas for control of Palestinian destiny, that is based on profound differences of ideology as well as of strategy and economics. But, we also have a constant rocket barrage against the south of our coutnry, without adequate response from this weak and indecisive Government.
I do receive occasional plaudits and criticisms from recipients and the messages are forwarded on to others, so I have no real idea how many people read them. I do receive comments from unexpected places, for example Georg from central France, and an Islamist who quoted the Koran and the Bible to prove that I am wrong.
No one can predict where the current situation will lead, but certainly the challenge of dealing with a resurgent and possibly nuclear armed Iran is the chief concern for the near future. I promised myself, and perhaps others, that I would stop writing these articles once we have a peace treaty with the Palestinians. OK, maybe that means never, but there is the possibility that there can both be peace and an end to this blog, whichever comes first. At least live in hope. Be back in two weeks.
When I started writing this blog in 2000, due to the second intifada that the Palestinians opened up on us, it was a way to inform friends, mainly in the US, of what life was like in Israel then. At first it was all about suicide bombings and Israeli casualties on buses and in cafes. Once the IDF found how to deal with this and the security barrier was built, the intifada gradually faded.
Then we segued into the era of Iranian domination of the Muslim side of the conflict, with the ascendence of a rearmed Hizbollah in Lebanon and of Hamas in the PA. While we have been waiting years for the so-called "moderate" Pres. Abbas to flex his muscles and take over the initiative, so far this has not happened, and probably never will.
So after the Second Lebanon war of 2006 we are left with the armed struggle going on between Fatah and Hamas for control of Palestinian destiny, that is based on profound differences of ideology as well as of strategy and economics. But, we also have a constant rocket barrage against the south of our coutnry, without adequate response from this weak and indecisive Government.
I do receive occasional plaudits and criticisms from recipients and the messages are forwarded on to others, so I have no real idea how many people read them. I do receive comments from unexpected places, for example Georg from central France, and an Islamist who quoted the Koran and the Bible to prove that I am wrong.
No one can predict where the current situation will lead, but certainly the challenge of dealing with a resurgent and possibly nuclear armed Iran is the chief concern for the near future. I promised myself, and perhaps others, that I would stop writing these articles once we have a peace treaty with the Palestinians. OK, maybe that means never, but there is the possibility that there can both be peace and an end to this blog, whichever comes first. At least live in hope. Be back in two weeks.
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:26 AM
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