January 27, 2008
ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES:
Israel's Gaza policy is shredded by Hamas (Steven Erlanger, January 27, 2008, NY Times)
When Hamas blew large holes in Gaza's border with Egypt, allowing thousands of Palestinians a chance to stock up on medicines, food and consumer goods, it also blew a large hole in the Israeli policy, backed by Washington, of squeezing the population of Gaza in the hope that they would turn actively against Hamas.As Israeli leaders pushed Egypt to close the border and fumbled for an effective response, the apparent Hamas success put Egypt into a bind and further undermined the chances that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Fatah faction could succeed in negotiating a peace treaty - let alone by the time President George W. Bush leaves office.
There's no need for a deal, we can impose one unilaterally, but if we insist on a deal it has to be with the representatives of the Palestinian people, which means Hamas, not Fatah.
MORE:
Israel relents on supplies to Gaza (Steven Erlanger, January 27, 2008, NY Times)
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel promised the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, on Sunday that Israel would no longer disrupt the supply of food, medicine and necessary energy into the Gaza Strip and intended to prevent a "humanitarian disaster" there. Last Wednesday, the Hamas rulers of Gaza broke open the border to Egypt, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to seek the goods that Israel had restricted.As an indication of the altered Israeli attitude, the state told the Supreme Court, which was meeting to hear a petition against Israeli efforts to cut electricity and fuel to Gaza, that industrial diesel fuel needed to run Gaza's main power station would now be supplied regularly, although in amounts that do not meet Gaza's needs for uninterrupted electricity.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 27, 2008 5:52 PM
"Hey, all right! The Israelis are giving us medicine and food and fuel and electricity!"
"That's great!"
"..."
"..."
"...So... wanna kill all Jews and Israelis?"
"Okay!"
Posted by: Just John at January 27, 2008 6:43 PMOne gets the impression that Palestinians must think Egyptian electrons and Egyptian food and Egyptian medicine are somehow inferior. Just what is it about that Eastern/Southern border that drives them so?
With respect to Palestinian representation, what about those loyal to Islamic Jihad? Al-Aqsa? The PFLP? Hezbollah? Al-Qaeda in Gaza? And those who just want to be left alone?
Nobody recognizes Hamas, because they took power by force. There will have to be another election, but the principal parties don't want it right now. Neither Hamas nor Fatah wants to risk a loss. President Bush will probably have to impose an election on them to get a peace deal signed.
Posted by: jim hamlen at January 27, 2008 7:04 PMSo why not this headline: "There Is No Palestine"? Gaza was part of Egypt before 1967, right? Let it be again.
Posted by: PapayaSF at January 27, 2008 7:25 PMYou're confusing boundaries with sovereignty. Palestine exists where people think themselves Palestinian. That they therefore get parts of Egypt, Israel, etc. is a given.
Posted by: oj at January 27, 2008 9:03 PMHamas won Palestine's only free election and they'll win the next.
Posted by: oj at January 27, 2008 9:05 PM"Palestine exists where people think themselves Palestinian."
How did they come to that thought, OJ? Don't you think all those outside Arabs, meddling Euros, and US peace creeps put that thought into their heads over the decades?
Can sovereignty really exist if it is based on manipulations of past deeds?
Posted by: Brad S at January 27, 2008 10:10 PMIt is very unlikely that Hamas will permit another election in Gaza. Nobody will recognize them because of their terror - which they will not renounce or stop - and they aren't going to risk losing a vote just to prove a point to the Euros and the UN. They can hold power, but the longer that goes, the more corrupt they will become (a la Arafat).
Although this border action gives them a boost just when they needed it. And it probably won't hurt their image that the Egyptians were using cattle prods to keep cars from crossing today.
Hamas can be the legitimate government, but can they unring the bell of terror and insanity first. Nobody will accept them in their present form, nor should they.
Posted by: jim hamlen at January 28, 2008 1:05 AMOlmert is the worst "leader" any country anywhere (in the West at least) has ever had in my memory.
He should seize the inititive. A joint US/Isreal unilateral recognition with dictated borders (more or less 1967) of an independent state. A US resolution at the Security Council sealing this.
Then, you can say we don't supply fuel to independent states. Let them get it from Egypt.
Then, as rockets continue, a declaration of war and a real sustained air offensive.
Posted by: Bob at January 28, 2008 9:48 AMJust today, I handled a piece of business correspondsence from someone living on "Abu Jihad Steet, West Bank, Israel."
"Where do you live?" "Why on 'Son of Holy War Street'.*" One could not escape the image of a family sitting around the TV, watching some sports game with sticks of dynamite strapped to their chests.
________________________
*I know the street is named for an infamous terrorist of that name--this does not alter the outrageousness of the idea: if anything is makes it worse. These people want war.