US & Israel: "Let Fatah Buy Guns, Please!"
It's as if SNL, National Lampoon, The Onion, Scrappleface and Mad Magazine put their heads together and concocted the story as a state-of-the-art satire. As the sub-title of "The Nose On Your Face" puts it, "News so fake you'll swear it came from the mainstream media."
Yet it is, apparently, a true story!
The United States and Israel have approved the transfer of weapons and ammunition (2,000,000 rounds of ammunition!) from Egypt into Gaza to resupply President Abbas and his Fatah Party with enough fire-power to stand toe-to-toe with Hamas.
In a recent post I suggested that this sort of "Abbas-coddling" by Israel and the United States would label him as a puppet of the West. Surely this cannot help his popularity among the Palestinian people whose hatred of Israel seemingly transcends any other needs or desires they may have.
Perhaps the real purpose of this transaction is to foster a more deadly and violent confrontation between Hamas and Fatah, leading to such destruction that the people will rise up and demand and end to the nonsense, lifting up moderate Palestinian leaders who are willing to recognize Israel as a nation and embrace the "two-state" solution.
Personally, I doubt that this will be the outcome of this decision. More likely we will see more splintering of power in Gaza and the West Bank and even more chaos and anarchy than we have seen in the past.
Iran's funneling of money to "independent Palestinian terrorists" via Hezbollah as a reward for every rocket fired into Israel is a sign of this breakdown in control and authority in the area.
None of this bodes well for either the peace process or, more specifically, for Israel and its people. Fatah's al-Aksa Martyr's Brigade has seemed to enjoy shooting rockets into Israel and sending suicide bombers across the border to kill as many Israeli's as possible. To think that none of these arms will find their way into the hands of such terrorists is beyond naive. And yet Israel's Prime Minister Olmert has given his approval to this deal . . . and the already announced release of $100 million in withheld tax money . . . and the likely release of imprisoned Palestinians . . . and getting nothing in return. Zip.
It has been popular in recent years to glorify the idea that "thinking outside of the box" is a good thing.
But when what is in the box is a monster who wants to rip you to shreds and eat you, I should think that keeping "inside the box" is a far better strategy.
Yet it is, apparently, a true story!
The United States and Israel have approved the transfer of weapons and ammunition (2,000,000 rounds of ammunition!) from Egypt into Gaza to resupply President Abbas and his Fatah Party with enough fire-power to stand toe-to-toe with Hamas.
In a recent post I suggested that this sort of "Abbas-coddling" by Israel and the United States would label him as a puppet of the West. Surely this cannot help his popularity among the Palestinian people whose hatred of Israel seemingly transcends any other needs or desires they may have.
Perhaps the real purpose of this transaction is to foster a more deadly and violent confrontation between Hamas and Fatah, leading to such destruction that the people will rise up and demand and end to the nonsense, lifting up moderate Palestinian leaders who are willing to recognize Israel as a nation and embrace the "two-state" solution.
Personally, I doubt that this will be the outcome of this decision. More likely we will see more splintering of power in Gaza and the West Bank and even more chaos and anarchy than we have seen in the past.
Iran's funneling of money to "independent Palestinian terrorists" via Hezbollah as a reward for every rocket fired into Israel is a sign of this breakdown in control and authority in the area.
None of this bodes well for either the peace process or, more specifically, for Israel and its people. Fatah's al-Aksa Martyr's Brigade has seemed to enjoy shooting rockets into Israel and sending suicide bombers across the border to kill as many Israeli's as possible. To think that none of these arms will find their way into the hands of such terrorists is beyond naive. And yet Israel's Prime Minister Olmert has given his approval to this deal . . . and the already announced release of $100 million in withheld tax money . . . and the likely release of imprisoned Palestinians . . . and getting nothing in return. Zip.
It has been popular in recent years to glorify the idea that "thinking outside of the box" is a good thing.
But when what is in the box is a monster who wants to rip you to shreds and eat you, I should think that keeping "inside the box" is a far better strategy.
posted by Bird of Paradise at 11:17 AM
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