
 |
|
June 17, 2013
June 12, 2013
Stephanie Hanes: Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect
Fred Weir: In tweak to US, Russia would 'consider' asylum for Snowden
June 10, 2013
The Kosher Gourmet by Anjali Prasertong: A tart filling so good it might not make it to the crust
June 5, 2013
John Rosemond: Mom, Dad: Talk More and listen less
Kristen Chick: Egypt court sentences 43 pro-democracy workers to prison
June 3, 2013
Molly Hennessy-Fiske: Military judge to consider letting Fort Hood shooting defendant represent himself
May 29, 2013
Andrew Connelly and Helene Bienvenu: The Little Synagogue that Refused to Die
May 24, 2013
Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb: When I didn't so 'humbly disagree'
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Jan. 24, 2007
/ 5 Shevat 5767
From bad to worse
By
Mort Zuckerman
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Is your journey really necessary? That was the slogan on the old World War II poster intended to encourage Americans to save energy. With her recently completed journey to the Middle East, Condoleezza Rice wasted both time and energy and badly dented America's diplomatic credibility.
The secretary of state's intention was to revive the "road map" plan to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is a worthy but misconceived idea. The conflict that must be settled once and for all before anyone attempts anything like the plan envisioned in the road map is the conflict among the Palestinians, which is now verging on outright civil war.
In Gaza, Hamas and Fatah gunmen have been killing and kidnapping each other with increased ferocity since unknown gunmen killed three young sons of a Fatah security official. In reprisal attacks, the prime minister, Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh, and the foreign minister were attacked. Hamas operatives also murdered an imam who had the temerity to condemn the movement. In the past year, the number of Palestinians murdered has increased 50 percent.
Behind all the carnage is a call for early elections by the president, Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas, who wants to replace the ineffective Hamas government. Polls show more than half the Palestinian population is fed up with Hamas; 86 percent of those in Gaza say their lives have worsened since Hamas took over. Why? Because Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and renounce terrorism, international sanctions have intensified unemployment and poverty among Palestinians.
Hamas sees the call for elections as an absolute casus belli against Fatah, so both seek outside help as they rearm. Hamas has received a reported $250 million from Iran, which wants to see Hamas as militarily strong as its puppet Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Shooting galleries. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, has conceded a lot to Abbas. Palestinians, he says, could eventually have an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza if they turn away from violence, recognize Israel's right to live in peace, and give up their demands for refugees from the 1948 Mideast War to return. Olmert's substantive offerings to date include the release of $100 million of Palestinian tax revenues so Abbas can pay salaries, the removal of security roadblocks, permission for troops loyal to Abbas to enter the Palestinian territories from Jordan, and for Fatah to receive weapons through Egypt. If all that weren't enough, Olmert is also putting a hold on military action in northern Gaza in return for the deployment of Palestinian Authority security forces to prevent rocket attacks against Israeli towns a critical requirement as the lethal Kassams become increasingly accurate. No country can allow its cities to become shooting galleries where merely crossing the street and going to the grocery are the daily equivalent of russian roulette. The weapons, instead, just keep on coming: Egypt has utterly failed to prevent arms and explosives for Hamas from crossing its border to Gaza.
The roadblock to peace is Hamas. Prime Minister Haniyeh is just back from Tehran, where he declared time and again that his organization will never recognize Israel, will not honor any of the existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, and will continue its jihad until Jerusalem is liberated and "the face of the Zionist state would disappear," according to the Economist. Hamas seeks constant combat against Israelis in the hope of wearing them down morally, physically, and psychologically.
The elections Fatah is now calling for offer at least one cause for hope: They could tell us whether most Palestinians want pragmatic moves toward peace or ideological moves toward war. The crux, as it has been all along, is Hamas's refusal to accept Israel's right to exist, which stems from a visceral hatred of Israel, the blood lust of popular resistance, the destructive influence of radical Islam, the interference of Iran, and the belief in so many Arab hearts that sooner or later Israel will disappear from the map because it has no right to exist.
The U.S. role in this nightmare scenario ought to be clear, though it is anything but. Washington is banking on the hope that Palestinians will remove Hamas from power and strengthen President Abbas and Fatah. That, this hopelessly wishful thinking goes, would prepare the grounds for negotiations, which would then be confirmed by a referendum, after which a Palestinian state with temporary borders would be established.
The presumption here is that Hamas will be contained and the security threat it represents eliminated not a chance! We were foolish in believing that Hamas couldn't win an election, and we were dead wrong to overrule Israel's desire to retain control of the Gaza-Egyptian border, the source of so much of today's chaos.
The American proposal for this spiraling crisis is worse than premature. It will damage our credibility and our influence. The last thing America needs in this increasingly dangerous part of the world is yet another demonstration of its naivete.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Mort Zuckerman is editor-in-chief and publisher of U.S. News and World Report. Send your comments to him by clicking here.
ARCHIVES
© 2005, Mortimer Zuckerman
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Peter Funt
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
John Kass
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Michael Reagan
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Cathy Young
Mort Zuckerman

Eric Allie
Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Nate Beeler
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
Daryl Cagle
Patrick Chappatte
John Cole
Paul Combs
J. D. Crowe
John Darkow
Bill Day
John Deering
Sean Delonas
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Randall Enos
Mallard Fillmore
David Fitzsimmons
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Mike Keefe
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Gary McCoy
Rick McKee
Jack Ohman
Jeff Parker
Milt Priggee
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Steve Sack
Bill Schorr
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
David Ray Skinner
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Christopher Weyant
Larry Wright
Dan Wasserman
Adam Zyglis

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|