And that was toned down!
That I knew. No sense in getting too riled up. Left-wingers aren't worth the time.
Oh, thanx for the compliment! Sometimes you have to make it rough, other times you have to make it smoooooooooth. ;-)
Posted on 04/26/2006 7:26:20 PM PDT by SJackson
Facing Collapse, Palestinians Turn to America's Enemies
NEW YORK--Abandon the tactic of terrorism and work within the system, the United States and its Western allies have long urged armed resistance groups. Lay down your weapons and pick up a megaphone. Campaign for public office and, if the people you claim to represent agree with your ideas, you'll win power peacefully. Then, whether or not they share your values, the world will recognize your movement as legitimate and will treat you accordingly.
In the Muslim world, the focus of American-led democratization efforts since 9/11, Republican neoconservatives have repeatedly used a Sunni boycott of Iraqi elections as a cautionary tale: you'll be shut out if you don't participate.
Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, got the message. After two decades of suicide bombings and guerilla warfare against Israel the Palestinian group, founded in 1987 as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, was exhausted. In 2004 Israel assassinated four of Hamas' top officials, including 67-year-old founder Sheikh Ahmed Ishmail Yassin--whose paralysis had confined him to a wheelchair. Hamas boycotted the January 2005 Palestinian presidential election held to replace Yassir Arafat only to see its political enemy Mahmoud Abbas take power.
Frustrated that they were no closer to their goal of an independent Palestinian state than they had been in 1987, Hamas' leaders changed course. They declared a unilateral ceasefire, or tahdiyah (Arabic for "period of calm") in March 2005. They ran candidates in municipal elections. Some won. Encouraged by their success in working within a democratic process developed at the behest of the Clinton and Bush Administrations, Hamas ran a full slate of candidates for the Palestinian Authority Legislative Council. Palestinians liked what they saw and heard from Hamas. In January 2006 Hamas won 76 out of 132 seats in the Council, becoming the majority party in a race with a turnout of over 80 percent.
Celebrating their sweeping victory, Hamas officials promised not to cave in to American and Israeli demands that the group disarm and recognize Israel's right to exist. Despite their clear mandate, however, Hamas indicated that they were willing to make concessions. The tahdiyah remained in effect, and the party's leaders said they were ready to start peace talks with Israel. "Negotiation is not a taboo," said Mahmoud Zahar, a major Hamas figure.
The Bushies might have lost Afghanistan and Iraq, but they got exactly what they wanted in Palestine: democratic elections, a peaceful transfer of power, a radical Islamist group ready to disavow terrorism and transform itself into a parliamentary political party, a majority party willing to work with Israel and her allies. It was a staggering victory for the neoconservative agenda, a golden opportunity to co-opt one of the most prominent organizations of militant Muslims in the world, and proof positive that democracy prevails over terrorism.
And the neocons hated it.
U.S. state-controlled media reacted to Hamas' victory with dismay. "[It] can hardly be considered good news," editorialized The Wall Street Journal. "If your platform is the destruction of Israel, it means you're not a partner in peace, and we're interested in peace," said George W. Bush (shortly after going to war against two countries and sponsoring coups in several others). He ordered a stop to American aid and froze Palestinian bank accounts. Elections, it seems, are only good when you like who wins.
"It's not possible," asserted Hamas spokesman Farhat Asaad, "for the U.S. and the world to turn its back on an elected democracy." He underestimated our capacity for hypocrisy.
On February 13, The New York Times reported that "The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats. The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election...[They] say Hamas will be given a choice: recognize Israel's right to exist, forswear violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements--as called for by the United Nations and the West--or face isolation and collapse."
In the end, they were never offered that choice.
Israel, which collects $50 million per month in customs taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on $1 billion in Palestinian goods sold to Israel and $2 billion in Israeli products sold to Palestine, reacted to Hamas' win by pocketing the Palestinians' money. "I have no intention of approving the transfer of money which will be used for terrorism," barked Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert. But customs taxes aren't aid. The money belongs to the Palestinians. Israel isn't cutting off a "transfer of money" to the new Hamas-led government, a line repeated throughout mainstream media accounts. They're stealing it.
Three months later, reports USA Today, the Palestinian Authority is broke. "The loss of revenue has paralyzed Palestinian government institutions, left salaries unpaid and deepened poverty...unemployment could jump to 40 percent this year from about 30 percent now, and that two-thirds of Palestinians will live under the poverty line, compared with a little over 40 percent in 2005." If this keeps up, the Occupied Territories will collapse into an anarchy that will make Israel long for the intifada.
On his latest taped statement, Osama bin Laden capitalizes on the diplomatic and economic isolation of the Palestinian Authority. "[The West's] opposition to Hamas has confirmed that it is a Crusader-Zionist war against Muslims," he said. "They are determined to continue with their Crusader campaigns against our nation, to occupy our countries, to plunder our resources, and to enslave us." It's hard to argue with his assessment. If Israel's American-backed theft of Palestinian customs revenues isn't plunder, what is?
Once again, the geniuses who run United States foreign policy have transformed a glorious opportunity to gain an ally into total disaster. Rejected by the West whose democratic game it played and won, the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority has been shoved into the arms of America's enemies. Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia---financiers of right-wing madrassas and the 9/11 attacks--have agreed to help the Authority make payroll for its 140,000 government employees.
(Ted Rall is the editor of "Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists," a new anthology of webcartoons.)
That I knew. No sense in getting too riled up. Left-wingers aren't worth the time.
Oh, thanx for the compliment! Sometimes you have to make it rough, other times you have to make it smoooooooooth. ;-)
I see this kind of line and I know I'm not dealing with a serious article.
The only word that comes to mind is "demented."
I wonder how many times Rall's parents "accidentally" dropped him on his head when he was a baby?
We need to get his (and Howie Dean's) rants out to more people, just so they see how crazy the libs have become.
Mark
Export what? They have no products to export.
How can you say that? They've got those greenhouses in Gaza that were funded by well-meaning, but deluded Jews and Israelis, to help them begin by exporting flowers and ... Huh? What? Who did? Oh, never mind...
Well, at least the palstinians have a long track record of exporting... terrorism. They seem to bring terrorism where ever they go, whether it was to Jordan, or Kuait, or Lebanon... And they're so loved by the locals when they arrive (see the genesis of the name "black september.")
Mark
We did? Oh chit, we surrender, Ted.
Comeon, it's Ted Rall, where's the Barf Alert?
The glaring truth from this article is that we must never, ever let a liberal into a position of power again.
This article indicates that a liberal would welcome Hamas and treat them like dignitaries.
Remember this, the next time you vote.
Don't beat around the bush, Ted. "Neocon" is spelled "JOOOOOOOS".
"The Bushies might have lost Afghanistan and Iraq, but they got exactly what they wanted in Palestine: democratic elections, a peaceful transfer of power, a radical Islamist group ready to disavow terrorism and transform itself into a parliamentary political party, a majority party willing to work with Israel and her allies. It was a staggering victory for the neoconservative agenda, a golden opportunity to co-opt one of the most prominent organizations of militant Muslims in the world, and proof positive that democracy prevails over terrorism.
In fact, many of the opposites have occurred:
In fact, Hamas as publicly announced that its terrorism - its terroristic military tactics - remain legitmate. In other words, it continues to see, and expects to use, terrorism as part of it's "negotiations". In other words, it's willingness to "talk" is no more than a willingness to discuss its demands and continue the terror if it's demands are not met.
Anytime a leftist like Rall says "Neocons" it means "these Jews that I hate". It is an anti-Semitic word.
Hamas has not changed it's course nor is it's goal an independent Palestinians state.
Hamas's goal is the complete destruction of the State of Israel period.
They keep saying it loud and clear to anyone and everyone that will listen.
They have been killing Jews ever since they have been in existence every chance they get.
Islam and the people who practice it want Jews and Christians and anybody else that is not one of them either dead or a slave.
They do not want a State they want a planet.
What is it with idiots like this and those in charge of our and other Western Government who will die or sentence other innocents to death rather than accept what these animals say and do as the truth?
When someone tells me they hate me and mine going to kill me or them if they can I believe them and take the appropriate steps.
These people not only say it but are doing it everyday and our leaders send them money and tell us don't pay any attention they don't really mean to they just need understanding.
If this country has any hope we have got to get some leaders who have not been through our public educational system. Those coming out and going into politics are brain dead.
That's a bogus argument. The Left always argues that we can't retaliate against terror because the "innocent civilians" are pulled along by their dictators. Here these "innocents" elected a terror organization as their government. Thus, all are fair game, for remedies including death and expulsion. Maybe the Muslims mean it when they say "you love life, we love death".
Who are we to argue?
That is an urban myth.
The Palestinians in Gaza did not destroy the greenhouses, as within weeks they were back in fully production. This is despite the fact that the greenhouses had their irrigation systems taken out before the handover, and in other areas, the produce of the greenhouses (which had already been purchased by the Palestinians) had been destroyed when the water systems were cut off.
Since the handover, Palestinians have made repeated attempts to export agricultural produce from Gaza, but this has been refused, for "security reasons." It has been a loss of millions of dollars for them.
Some references to the Gaza greenhouses:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051019/wl_mideast_afp/mideastgazaagriculture
Oct 19 2005
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Gaza Strip farmers have renovated more than two-thirds of the greenhouses left behind after Israel's withdrawal, creating jobs for some 2,500 agricultural workers, officials said.
Figures published by the Palestine Economic Development Company (PED) show that in the month since Israeli troops left Gaza, Palestinian agricultural workers have refurbished some 2,200 dunams (22 hectares) of greenhouses out of the 3,162 which were transferred to them. ...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46011
Israel shuts off water, dries Gaza greenhouses Multimillion dollar deal set to transfer structures to Palestinians
August 29, 2005 By Aaron Klein
JERUSALEM – After months of intense negotiations recently culminating in a deal allowing for the transfer of Gaza's high-tech Jewish greenhouses to the Palestinians, several former Jewish residents who briefly returned to their farms told WND they were shocked to find most of their produce has died because Israel turned off the water in the area.
"I couldn't believe it. Almost all of my crops are dead, and the rest is dying," Anita Tucker, one of the pioneer farmers of Jewish Gaza told WND. "I hope the Palestinians aren't expecting fresh produce. ... A fortune in crops is now all gone."
The greenhouse deal, reached just days before the Gaza evacuation, sold the area hot houses for about $14 million to the Economic Cooperation Foundation, an international fund which in turn will transfer the structures to the Palestinians.
… About one-quarter of Gaza's Jewish greenhouses were previously dismantled and moved to new communities in Israel by their owners. The foundation deal reportedly covers the majority of the remaining hothouses.
The first payment to the former farmers of Jewish Gaza was transferred this weekend to a committee working on their behalf. …
But several Jewish Gaza refugees who were allowed to briefly return to their hothouses said most of the produce currently inside is now dead.
Tucker, who owns large structures, said her hothouses were set to be watered by automatic irrigation systems.
"The sprinkler systems didn't work because Israel stupidly turned off the water after the Gaza withdrawal," said Tucker. "All my work, down the drain."
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