Dark Day
Not sure how else this could have turned out...the elections in the Palestinian territories. Was there really a win scenario? I don't think so. At least Hamas says out loud their intentions where the PA just did backroom deals, having Fatah do their dirty work. There is no peace partner. There never was.
posted by Esther @ 9:19 AM
20 comments
20 Comments:
Esther
This may not be bad in the long run. The dual game of the PA and Hamas is over. Now that Hamas is part of the government it can be targeted. Hamas may deal with the other groups more effectively and bring the terrorist under one leadership. This is preferable to anarchy and one million chiefs.
If they want war they will get it.
Remember it is easier to blow thing up then to collect the trash.
"If they want war they will get it."
I think this is what is coming.
Perhaps this is Sharon's last rabbit pulled out fron the hat.
The election results did not surprise me. They did dishearten me, though.
It's out in the open now. The Pals never wanted peace with Israel. Their overwhelming vote proves it.
At least Israel can fully retaliate AND call for American aid against a hostile govt' now!
Esther - a day or so later it is still a "dark day", but like others, I also see a ray of hope. It is a long way off, and there is the terrible reality of what this wil cost Israel before us, but finally the Palestinians have come to the end of their PR line. The truth is now all they have left, and their truth is indefencible. I noted today the beginnings of international response and reaction and also note the Palestinians are commencing the oh-so-predictable civil slaughter that accompanies everything they are and do.
Be of good cheer, yours is a just cause.
"If they want war they will get it."
Yes they will and Israel will NEVER be defeated!
Hamas won the elections on the campaign slogan "Martyrdom operations drove the Zionists out of Gaza."
Thank Ariel Sharon for the mess.
beamish:
"Thank Ariel Sharon for the mess."
i already have.
It was always so clear, but some people prefer lying to themselves and others.
This is no different then it was a few weeks ago. It doesn't matter if it is a admited terrorist group or a group that secretly supports terrorism that controls the government. The end result is still the same-terrorism.
This election forces Hamas to live by the rules it makes. If it attacks Israel now, it better be ready to be attacked right back, big time, because now Israel can claim self defense from another government.
I think all this does is remove the masks. In the end, Hamas won't change, and this will do more to kill them than anything else has.
(*)>
Hamas Won as Expected, And Its a Good Thing, let me count the ways.
http://tswe.blogspot.com/2006/01/hamas-won-as-expected-and-its-good.html
Hey I visited before, Just didn't comment much.
But you are wrong, voting is much more important than anything else. Its is NOT just a act devoid of meaning. Its a ritual of importance. Its tells people #1 change can come without violence, #2 and that having your own leaders is not an answer to all of your problems. Life is hard get a helment.
Sharon wisely moved the IDF to defensible borders. Within which a Jewish Majority exist.
I know you believe that leaving Gaza was giving something for nothing. It wasn't it was losing a political and a finacial liability in exchange for Israeli unity on the best way to secure the future of Israel.
http://tswe.blogspot.com/2006/01/hamas-won-as-expected-and-its-good.html
You all made such great comments. This is definitely the discussion of the moment.
Scott, you visit me? You really visit me? :) I can't picture you ever visiting without leaving me your opinion on something. ;)
I totally disagree with you about voting as being an okay first step towards democracy. To do that allows things like what happened in Israell, in Iraq, etc to happen -- the bad guys win. If you've done all the previous steps, you are less likely to have that happen. Have you read Natan Sharansky's book? I know Bush did but I think he skipped a few chapters.
I understand what you are saying, about democratic institutions being needed first.
But look Israel manages to work without a Constitution, England without a bill of rights. America without the right to vote.
But elections mean that leaders are accountable to their people. Peace can not be imposed from the top down by a few American picked Arab leaders. We tried that for the whole cold war it doesn't work.
Democracy must rule.
I have read Natan Sharansky's but have you read the Penatgon's New Map ? Its a must read too.
Oooh, no I haven't. Thanks for the suggestion!
I can't believe you haven't commented on the One Life to Live thread I have above this. ;) Perhaps a lovely Valentine's gift for your fabulous and just as opinionated wife? Please send a hey her way, along with the kids. Loved the latest picture I was sent...they're way too cute.
Esther,
I think there's an angle here that perhaps should be considered, and it's even been borne out by Charles Krauthammer, who's probably one of the more cogent thinkers when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. While the Israelis needed Hamas like a hole in the head, there's a public relations advantage in all of this because, finally, the mask of "moderation" has been ripped off the Palestinians, and even that darling of the so-called Quartet, Mahmoud Abbas, is starting to be seen as having been corrupt and deliberately ineffectual at disarming the terrorists. After all, it's not as if the Hamas thugs had unseated the Palestinian version of Winston Churchill, so I wouldn't fret too much for the time being (and you know I would tell you if I thought this was really as bad for Israel as some people think). The truth is that Israel has never had a peace partner...certainly not Arafat and not Abbas, the Holocaust denier, either. It's just that now the rest of the world will see what they, and the Israeli left-wing, refused to admit, and it's that the majority of Palestinians still have not accepted Israel's right to exist...although I can't believe we're even having this discussion after 57 years!!!!
I'd say "dark day" sums it up pretty well. It's a dark day for the Middle East.
I cannot help but echo the feelings of the posters here.
My reaction was palpably "mixed" but it could be boiled down to "bring it on".
But then I felt that I had no real right to feel that way, because I am not an Israeli, nor do I live in Israel.
But - then again - I spend an awful lot of my time in London and they have vowed a violent reaction to the "Danish Cartoons".
On reflection - bring it ON!
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