Saturday, June 16, 2007
A Nation of Nihilists
The first two paragraphs of the Wall Street Journal's editorial about the Palestinian question vis a vis the little Civil War in Gaza is exactly how I see and feel about the matter. I have met some Palestinians and liked them; so I have some compassion for their suffering, but I have to admit that, in the thinking part of my brain, I see they brought it on themselves.
Here are the good paragraphs:
Scores of Palestinians were killed this week in Gaza in factional fighting between loyalists of President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and those of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. As if on cue, it took about 24 hours before pundits the world over blamed the violence on Israel and President Bush.
This is the Israel that dismantled its settlements in Gaza in August 2005, a unilateral concession for which it asked, and got, nothing in return. And it is the U.S. President who, in a landmark speech five years ago this month, called on Palestinians to "elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror." Had Palestinians done so, they could be living today in a peaceful, independent state. Instead, in January 2006 they freely handed the reins of government to Hamas in parliamentary elections. What is happening today is the result of that choice--their choice.
As you sow, so shall you reap. That's s thought from that region, isn't it?
Here are the good paragraphs:
Scores of Palestinians were killed this week in Gaza in factional fighting between loyalists of President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and those of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. As if on cue, it took about 24 hours before pundits the world over blamed the violence on Israel and President Bush.
This is the Israel that dismantled its settlements in Gaza in August 2005, a unilateral concession for which it asked, and got, nothing in return. And it is the U.S. President who, in a landmark speech five years ago this month, called on Palestinians to "elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror." Had Palestinians done so, they could be living today in a peaceful, independent state. Instead, in January 2006 they freely handed the reins of government to Hamas in parliamentary elections. What is happening today is the result of that choice--their choice.
As you sow, so shall you reap. That's s thought from that region, isn't it?
Labels: Palestinian question
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 3:46 PM 
