Israpundit

by Omri Ceren

I’ve been trying to come up with a sarcastic opening for the last couple of minutes, but - honestly - screw it:

The Palestinian Authority threatened on Tuesday to suspend negotiations with Israel in response to an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip that left 19 Palestinians - most of them Hamas gunmen - dead. The PA also called for deploying international forces in the Gaza Strip “to defend Palestinian civilians against recurring Israeli acts of aggression.” The call was issued by the PA government in Ramallah and the ruling Fatah faction. PA officials strongly condemned the IDF raid, dubbing it a “massacre.” The officials expressed outrage at its timing, coming five days after US President George W. Bush’s visit to Ramallah and his meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

So, um, I’ve got some questions:

(1) So the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip get to drop dozens of rockets and bombs on Israeli schools and hospitals while Bush is actually in Ramallah, but responding to that five days later is a cause for outrage - yes?
(2) When mainstream media outlets run with the Palestinian “Israel brought Fatah and Hamas together” narrative, do you think they’ll mention how Fatah and Hamas have been united diplomatically and militarily for months?
(3) Has there ever been a major Israeli military campaign - justified or not, limited or not - that wasn’t a “massacre”? Cf. stupid headline tricks from a previous “massacre”?
(4) When the Palestinians call for an international force, do they know in advance that it’ll become a bunch of human shields allowing Palestinians to attack Israel but restricting Israeli retaliation? Or does it just work out that way?
(5) How absurd is it that Israel is getting blamed for a surgical operation against rocket teams ostensibly unassociated from Hamas because the raid escalated after Hamas soldiers pinned down Israeli forces?

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

by Omri Ceren

Our friends the Saudis have responded to President Bush’s multi-billion dollar sale of cutting-edge bombs by emphasizing that - actually - they kind of hate Israel:

The US president views the support of Arab neighbors as crucial to the ability of Palestinian leaders to strike and sustain a final peace deal with Israel, which Bush wants done by the end of the year. He also sees Arab acknowledgment of Israel’s place in the region as vital to the process. But the US request seemed a tall order. At Rice’s side, Saud said “I don’t know what more outreach we can give the Israelis,” he said, referring to an Arab peace plan and the sentiment in the region that Israel hasn’t been meeting its obligations under an internationally sponsored roadmap, and that the US is too lenient on that point.

We’re not foreign policy experts or anything, but since they’re asking: something more they can do is endorse a peace plan that doesn’t literally mandate that the Jewish State commit suicide. Just a thought. Or they could do something other than imply that they’re willing to use US weapons to go to war with Israel if the Jewish State rejects their generous proposal of voluntary suicide. Also maybe an idea to throw around. But at least the Saudis have been coming out strongly against Iran: (more…)

by Omri Ceren

What do you think the tipoff was? We were ready to sign off on that theory after Iranian proxy Hamas soldiers rolled Fatah in the Gaza Strip and then promised to take over the West Bank and suspend Annapolis. But maybe they just needed another hint:

Syria and Iran have stepped up their efforts to overthrow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his ruling Fatah party, PA officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post Monday. The officials accused the Syrians and Iranians of “encouraging” Hamas and other radical Palestinian groups to establish a new organization that would replace the PLO. They also accused the two countries of continuing to provide Hamas and its allies in the Gaza Strip with millions of dollars and weapons. The officials pointed out that in the context of their efforts to overthrow Abbas’s regime in the West Bank, Damascus and Teheran have encouraged Hamas and 10 other radical groups to meet in the Syrian capital on January 23 to discuss forming a new PLO and increasing their terror attacks on Israel. “Syria and Iran are working toward undermining the PLO and President Abbas,” a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah told the Post. “They want to help Hamas extend its control to the West Bank. They are pouring millions of dollars into Hamas and its friends.”

You know what’s weird about this? It’s that just a week ago Abbas was saying that he agrees that Fatah isn’t an alternative to Hamas. And that, by the by, was only a week or so after high-ranking Fatah members explicitly embraced Hamas diplomatically and militarily. At least the Israelis aren’t the only ones regularly aiding, supporting, and making concessions to people who want to kill them. Incidentally - if even the Palestinians say that they’re about to have a civil war, wouldn’t it be a good idea for Israel to not make concessions for a few weeks? Just on the off-chance that Fatah soldiers get rolled by Hamas? Crazy as that sounds.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

Barry Rubin, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 20, 2008

T.S. Eliot wrote memorably in The Hollow Men: Between the idea / And the reality / Between the motion / And the act / Falls the shadow.

In the case of the peace process and all the great ideas for fixing everything in Arab-Israel relations, the shadow has been Palestinian leaders’ unwillingness - and now also inability - to make a compromise agreement ending the conflict. Close examination of the movement’s ideology, organization and structure shows why this is true.

Exactly 40 years ago, in 1968, Yasser Arafat and Fatah took over. That same year, Arafat laid down two principles that have dominated the movement ever since.

First, in July 1968 he changed the PLO Charter, emphasizing the group was no longer a follower of Arab states but both independent and the struggles’ leader. But at the same time he stated: “We are an extension of the hundred million Arabs.” It proved hard to have it both ways, though Arafat usually managed the tension adequately.

Today, the Arab world’s real support for Fatah and for the Palestinians generally is minimal, though many in the West still don’t notice that. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas recently said, “Our Arab relations are at their best. We do not have any problems with any Arab country.” CONTINUE

Well, not exactly.

Straight From The Jerusalem Boardroom #122, Jan. 20, 2008

1. A 60 year track record (1948-2008) – GDP increased 60 times, 7% annual average (current GDP annual growth rate per capita – 3.5%); the fastest population growth in the industrialized world; lowest inflation in 60 years; lowest rate of government expenditures; lowest level of defense expenditures; positive trade balance achieved recently; all time record of socio-economic gaps (Merav Arlozorov, The Marker, Jan. 8).

2. $1.76BN raised by 462 Israeli high-tech companies, the highest since 2001 ($2BN), an 8.5% increase compared with 2006 - $1.6BN, 2005 – $1.3BN, 2004 - $1.1BN, 2003 - $1BN, 2002 - $1.1BN, 2001- $2BN, 2000 - $3BN, 1999 - $1BN. The share of overseas investors increases systematically – 61% in 2007 (The Marker, Jan. 14, 2008, Globes, Jan. 14).
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