What didn't happen
What for me is one of the most significant outcomes of the recent Gaza war (Operation cast lead), often overlooked, was the fact that there were no significant outbreaks of anti-Israel violence in the West Bank (the PA, controlled by Fatah), in the surrounding Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan), from Hizbollah in Lebanon, or even from the Arabs in Israel.
Yes, there were demonstrations in Jordan, put down effectively by the Jordanian police, and there were demonstrations in Ramallah and other cities of the PA, but they were well controlled by the PA police that Israel has allowed to be deployed for just such a civil purpose, and in Egypt, but they were also limited and controlled. We have been mesmerized by the outrageous anti-Semitic demonstrations that occured in the West, mainly in Britain, which in fact were much larger and more widely reported than any in the Arab world (a case of being more Catholic than the Pope).
This must tell us something important, the Sunni Arabs, although many were concerned about the civilian casualties, were not on the whole prepared to do anything significant to support Hamas in Gaza. And this was even when the media were portraying the IDF as baby-killers, a deliberate distortion. Only in Iran and Syria did a Government support the demonstrations against Israel. Most notably, Hizbollah that came to the aid of Hamas in Gaza in 2006, when the IDF raided Gaza because Gilad Schalit had been kidnapped, and thus precipitated the Second Lebanon War, this time Hizbollah remained quiescent. The presumptive reason why is that they received such a thumping last time, even though they declared it a victory, that they decided not to test Israel's response again.
So now many liberal-minded politicians have concluded that since Israel did not destroy Hamas, that it would be good if the Palestinians formed a united Fatah-Hamas Government and unified Gaza and the West Bank again. Even John Mitchell, Pres. Obama's special Middle East envoy declared this. But, it won't work, because neither Hamas nor Fatah are prepared to budge, neither can admit that the other is legitimate. It is a matter of deep principle for them, and this schism is at least as fundamental as that between the Palestinians and Israel itself, since it goes to the core of how to resolve the conflict. Fatah are prepared to at least deal with the entity called Israel, even though they refuse to recognize it as a Jewish State, but Hamas is not prepared to deal with any such entity as dictated by their fundamentalist religious beliefs.
So far no Western politican of any note (except perhaps some Norwegians and some Dutch) have actually had any dealings with Hamas, since it is recognized as a terrorist group by the US, the UN and the EU. But, if Hamas joined a unity Government with Fatah, that would immediately make that Government unacceptable to Israel, and hopefully to the Western countries. It is this change of emphasis, from the Bush Administration to the Obama Administration that portends some problems for the Israel-US relationship in the near future. When we have a Netanyahu-lead Likud Government installed in Israel, the situation could become tenuous.
Yes, there were demonstrations in Jordan, put down effectively by the Jordanian police, and there were demonstrations in Ramallah and other cities of the PA, but they were well controlled by the PA police that Israel has allowed to be deployed for just such a civil purpose, and in Egypt, but they were also limited and controlled. We have been mesmerized by the outrageous anti-Semitic demonstrations that occured in the West, mainly in Britain, which in fact were much larger and more widely reported than any in the Arab world (a case of being more Catholic than the Pope).
This must tell us something important, the Sunni Arabs, although many were concerned about the civilian casualties, were not on the whole prepared to do anything significant to support Hamas in Gaza. And this was even when the media were portraying the IDF as baby-killers, a deliberate distortion. Only in Iran and Syria did a Government support the demonstrations against Israel. Most notably, Hizbollah that came to the aid of Hamas in Gaza in 2006, when the IDF raided Gaza because Gilad Schalit had been kidnapped, and thus precipitated the Second Lebanon War, this time Hizbollah remained quiescent. The presumptive reason why is that they received such a thumping last time, even though they declared it a victory, that they decided not to test Israel's response again.
So now many liberal-minded politicians have concluded that since Israel did not destroy Hamas, that it would be good if the Palestinians formed a united Fatah-Hamas Government and unified Gaza and the West Bank again. Even John Mitchell, Pres. Obama's special Middle East envoy declared this. But, it won't work, because neither Hamas nor Fatah are prepared to budge, neither can admit that the other is legitimate. It is a matter of deep principle for them, and this schism is at least as fundamental as that between the Palestinians and Israel itself, since it goes to the core of how to resolve the conflict. Fatah are prepared to at least deal with the entity called Israel, even though they refuse to recognize it as a Jewish State, but Hamas is not prepared to deal with any such entity as dictated by their fundamentalist religious beliefs.
So far no Western politican of any note (except perhaps some Norwegians and some Dutch) have actually had any dealings with Hamas, since it is recognized as a terrorist group by the US, the UN and the EU. But, if Hamas joined a unity Government with Fatah, that would immediately make that Government unacceptable to Israel, and hopefully to the Western countries. It is this change of emphasis, from the Bush Administration to the Obama Administration that portends some problems for the Israel-US relationship in the near future. When we have a Netanyahu-lead Likud Government installed in Israel, the situation could become tenuous.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:47 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home