Posted on 07/03/2006 8:12:02 PM PDT by Ooh-Ah
Gaza is freed, yet Gaza wages war. That reveals the Palestinians' true agenda
Israel Invades Gaza. That is in response to an attack from Gaza that killed two Israelis and wounded another, who was kidnapped and brought back to Gaza ...which, in turn, was in response to Israel's targeted killing of terrorist leaders in Gaza...which, in turn, was in response to the indiscriminate shelling of Israeli towns by rockets launched from Gaza.
Of all the conflicts in the world, the one that seems the most tediously and hopelessly endless is the Arab-Israeli dispute, which has been going on in much the same way, it seems, for 60 years. Just about every story you'll see will characterize Israel's invasion of Gaza as a continuation of the cycle of violence.
Cycles are circular. They have no end. They have no beginning. That is why, as tempting as that figure of speech is to use, in this case it is false. It is as false as calling American attacks on Taliban remnants in Afghanistan part of a cycle of violence between the U.S. and al-Qaeda or, as Osama bin Laden would have it, between Islam and the Crusaders going back to 1099. Every party has its grievances--even Hitler had his list when he invaded Poland in 1939--but every conflict has its origin.
What is so remarkable about the current wave of violence in Gaza is that the event at the origin of the "cycle" is not at all historical, but very contemporary. The event is not buried in the mists of history. It occurred less than one year ago. Before the eyes of the whole world, Israel left Gaza. Every Jew, every soldier, every military installation, every remnant of Israeli occupation was uprooted and taken away.
How do the Palestinians respond? What have they done with Gaza, the first Palestinian territory in history to be independent, something neither the Ottomans nor the British nor the Egyptians nor the Jordanians, all of whom ruled Palestinians before the Israelis, ever permitted? On the very day of Israel's final pullout, the Palestinians began firing rockets out of Gaza into Israeli towns on the other side of the border. And remember: those are attacks not on settlers but on civilians in Israel proper, the pre-1967 Israel that the international community recognizes as legitimately part of sovereign Israel, a member state of the U.N. A thousand rockets have fallen since.
For what possible reason? Before the withdrawal, attacks across the border could have been rationalized with the usual Palestinian mantra of occupation, settlements and so on. But what can one say after the withdrawal?
The logic for those continued attacks is to be found in the so-called phase plan adopted in 1974 by the Palestine National Council in Cairo. Realizing that they would never be able to destroy Israel in one fell swoop, the Palestinians adopted a graduated plan to wipe out Israel. First, accept any territory given to them in any part of historic Palestine. Then, use that sanctuary to wage war until Israel is destroyed.
So in 2005 the Palestinians are given Gaza, free of any Jews. Do they begin building the state they say they want, constructing schools and roads and hospitals? No. They launch rockets at civilians and dig a 300-yard tunnel under the border to attack Israeli soldiers and bring back a hostage.
And this time the terrorism is carried out not by some shadowy group that the Palestinian leader can disavow, however disingenuously. This is Hamas in action--the group that was recently elected to lead the Palestinians. At least there is now truth in advertising: a Palestinian government openly committed to terrorism and to the destruction of a member state of the U.N. openly uses terrorism to carry on its war.
That is no cycle. That is an arrow. That is action with a purpose. The action began 59 years ago when the U.N. voted to solve the Palestine conundrum then ruled by Britain by creating a Jewish state and a Palestinian state side by side. The Jews accepted the compromise; the Palestinians rejected it and joined five outside Arab countries in a war to destroy the Jewish state and take all the territory for themselves.
They failed, and Israel survived. That remains, in the Palestinian view, Israel's original sin, the foundational crime for the cycle: Israel's survival. That's the reason for the rockets, for the tunneling, for the kidnapping--and for Israel's current response.
If that history is too ancient, consider the history of the past 12 months. Gaza is free of occupation, yet Gaza wages war. Why? Because this war is not about occupation, but about Israel's very existence. The so-called cycle will continue until the arrow is abandoned and the Palestinians accept a compromise--or until the arrow finds its mark and Israel dies.
I was shocked to see this was from Time. Then, I noticed Krauthammer wrote it and I was not suprised at all.
Every once in awhile, the MSM rags print something out of the norm to seem 'balanced.' It won't take long for them to revert back into their liberal morass.
Alright, I have more respect for Krauthammer now. But the "origin" is a little over 2,000 years ago. And although the baton was handed to the Muslims a time or two, the effort against Israel was not interrupted.
And Israel will not "die," as Krauthammer assumes is a possibility in hypothesis. President Bush said that we will defend Israel. If Israel is physically overrun at any time, WWIII will follow one way or another to recover it.
Or until the world gets tired of terrorist fanatics and sets its mind to kill them all.
I sometimes struggle over who is better, Krauthammer, Steyn or AC; all I have to do is read another Krauthammer work and I vote for him although it's close with Mark and Annie.
I love to watch Charles on Brit Hume's panel. He's so confident and quiet when making his point. Juan and Mara don't even realize they're cut until they're bleeding.
Barbara Streisand!
This has a beginning waaaaaay back from Hagar the whoreable!
The solidification of this animosity came with muuuuhamhead (Pigs be inseminating him) declaring open season on their half brothers!
Untill the koranus is totally wiped from the toilet papers of history, this shiite will continue!
There is a third option.
Time prints articles like these once in a blue moon to claim they are balanced.
I'm sure this article was surrounded by half a dozen multi page articles about the suffering of the palestinians caused by the evil Israel and "humanitarian crisis" claimed over and over again.
Krauthammer fails to mention that he supported the withdrawal from Gaza. He should admit that he was wrong.
I didn't know he supported withdrawal.
Well, if he's trying to make amends, this article is a good one.
All it's managed to get them is exactly what he's laid out in the article. The Palestinians, by their own actions, have clearly demonstrated land does not bring peace. We all knew it was a useless endeavor, but it shows a serious effort was made to have peace. Now, the Israelis do not have to worry about their citizens being in harm's way when they have to engage in military operations in the area.
Me, too.
I think it needed to be proven to lots of idiots who just go with whatever propaganda they see and hear. The proof is now evident. Clear. Unarguable.
Short, sweet, clear, and concise.
Unfortunately using that logic they have to keep doing it. They made huge concessions to get the Oslo accords. They offered more than what could be expected to get an accord with Arafat. Two years from now you will be saying the same thing when they make new huge concessions. If it works the first time Gaza would not have been necessary they would still be living on the credit from Oslo or Camp David.
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