A glimmer of hope in Palestine

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority, has come up with an idea that might actually have some potential for positive change in Palestine: a transitional Cabinet of technocrats.

The idea was endorsed earlier Tuesday by a group of academics, politicians and professionals representing all walks of life in Palestinian society, who called for the establishment of a transitional government consisting of independent figures to resolve the crisis between Fatah and Hamas.

The call, which was made at a press conference that was held in Ramallah under the title "Appeal for the Sake of Palestine," comes amid growing fears that the Fatah-Hamas dispute could spill over into civil war.

Hamas, not surprisingly, is cool to the idea.

As regular readers of this blog know, I have said more than once that the only hope of the Palestinians is to turn away from both Hamas and Fatah, and look to a third option. Although there are real obstacles to this particular proposal's success, it nonetheless shows that rationality not only exists in Palestine, but is starting to find a voice. We'll take our comfort where we can find it.

Palestinians would also have to reject their deeply ingrained culture of hatred. This is not easily done, but is not without historic precedent. Entire populations have been known to experience a mass movement of revulsion against their former excesses. Think of post-Nazi Germany, revolutionary France, and 18th century Salem. I'm not sure Palestinians are quite ripe for a thorough-going renunciation of their ideologies. Hopefully a full-fledged civil war will not be necessary to bring them to that point. But it might be.

Hat tip to the Captain's Quarters.

Technorati tags: Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas, Fatah

Jimmy Carter wants aid restored to Palestinians

Jimmy Carter has a good heart, but as far as I can tell, not a very good head.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Friday that a foreign policy aimed at punishing the Hamas-led Palestinian government through a seven-month aid freeze has failed, and called on the international community to seek other ways to resolve the conflict.

"The attempt to coerce Hamas leaders by starving the Palestinian people has failed, and it is time for the international community to alleviate their suffering and resort to diplomacy," Carter said in a statement.

The former president added that he is doubtful that Palestinian leaders will make any progress toward reconciliation with Israel "as long as the Palestinians are subjected to this kind of debasement and personal suffering."

What Carter doesn't seem to understand is that sometimes tough love is required. The best way to love the Palestinians is to stop enabling their delusions and their hatred and make them face reality.

They have now been living with the existence of a Jewish state for almost six decades and still refuse to accept that it will not go away. They need to realize that they would be better off with leadership that can face that reality and find a diplomatic way to deal with it, rather than wallowing in unending psychotic hatred. And the only method that has even the foggiest hope of succeeding is to stop financing it, until the pain of the reality forces the Palestinian "street" to reject the leadership in place and start looking for an entirely different approach. There have been some isolated Palestinian voices of reason, but they've been relatively timid, given the very real possibility of getting their heads blown off for dissenting. We do tend to forget that Palestinians kill far more Palestinians than Israelis. (Yes, you can read that last sentence two ways. They are both true.)

Carter says the attempt has failed. I say that it is just now starting to reach the point where it has a hope of succeeding. The delusions of the Palestinian people are very powerful and can only be broken by rather extreme methods. Carter is far too much like the doting father who bails his children out of jail yet again and gently tries to reason with them, while establishing no limits and shielding them from the consequences of their actions.

It's time to stop shielding the Palestinians and let them realize that nasty actions have truly nasty consequences.

Technorati tags: Jimmy Carter

Gleanings from the blogosphere, Oct. 3

I still haven't figured out how the Anchoress manages to sound so passionate and so reasonable at the same time (very rare combination), but she's doing it again with her rant on free speech.

Amba at Ambivablog is citing experiments with Botox that add extra evidence for the theory that your facial expressions affect your mood.

No, not even big brother Egypt can hammer sense into the head of Hamas. Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters comments on Hamas' refusal to accept a prisoner swap for Shalit.

Technorati tags: Botox, Gilad Shalit

Violent protests in Palestine may be sign of hope [Updated]

I know that sounds perverse, but I think that the only real hope for Palestinians is to reject both Hamas and Fatah and enter the real world. They need to accept that Israel is not going to go away, and that if their Arab brethren haven't risen up to liberate them since 1948, that might just mean they never will (60 years is a long time for a message to sink in). Coming out into the real world will entail a painful re-ordering of mentalities, but now that the enablers have cut off financial support, Palestinian fantasies might finally die.

That's why I think the riots in Palestine, which have both Hamas and Fatah worried, might actually be a good thing, as the Palestinian "street" starts to realize that their leaders have never brought them anything but grief.

One can hope, anyway.

[Update] It would appear I spoke too soon. Other news releases make it clear that the fighting is between the rival factions of Hamas and Fatah, not a rejection of the two of them together. No encounter of any kind with reality on the horizon.

Technorati tags: Fatah, Hamas

Egypt loses patience with Hamas

Maclean's is reporting that Egypt has sent a letter to Hamas - which has been acknowledged - demanding that they form a unity government with President Abbas and release the Franco-Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.

The Egyptian demand came in a "strongly worded letter" from Egypt's powerful intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to the Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the letter.

The letter also demanded Hamas co-operate fully with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in forming a national unity government, a step that has been stalled by the militant group's refusal to form an administration that recognizes Israel.

The message reflected increasing impatience with Hamas by Egypt, which has been mediating for months, trying to reach a deal on a prisoner swap for the release of Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who is being held by Hamas-allied militants in Gaza.

An adult has arrived on the scene! I'm not sure that even Egypt can grap Hamas by the scruff of its neck and haul it into reality, but they've got as good a shot as anybody else on the planet. It would take some pretty intense pressure over an extended period of time to have any lasting result, it seems to me. Cognitive therapy always works better with a willing participant.

Up until now, I think the majority of the Arab world was perfectly content to let the Palestinians moulder. In the last 60 years, they have only paid lip service to solidarity with the Palestinians, who were never very popular with their Arab brothers anyway. A perpetually needy, "oppressed" Palestine enabled them to turn the eyes of their own discontents toward Israel, instead of looking toward reform at home. A festering Palestine was highly useful.

It is Nasrallah and Ahmadinejad who shook up this cozy arrangement. The Arab states are deeply worried about an aggressive Iran actively seeking to become a major player beyond its borders. Muslim solidarity would not be able to handle that kind of strain. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan in particular can only view with alarm Persian incursions through its unruly proxy Hezbollah.

Egypt finds itself in the position, not for the first time, where its interests coincide with Israel's. A strong Israel, undistracted by Palestinian troublemakers, could put Hezbollah in its place better than anyone else, particularly since UNIFIL is obviously not going to accomplish anything meaningful.

Members of the international force sent to Lebanon under the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 have said that they cannot set up checkpoints, search cars or trucks, homes or businesses, or detain suspects.

Commanders of the force, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or Unifil, say the resolution places Lebanese sovereignty paramount - meaning they first must be authorized by the Lebanese Army to take such actions."

So Egypt has obviously decided that new tactics are necessary. Hamas is "studying" the letter. I imagine they're in a state of shock. If this doesn't wake them up, only total collapse of the Palestinian Authority to the point that both Fatah and Hamas are rejected by the Palestinian people in favour of someone willing to deal with Israel could bring about any real change.

Technorati tags: Gilad Shalit

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Dysfunctional Palestinians

"Palestinians never miss an opportunity to shoot themselves in the foot."

I heard that one decades ago, and it has never ceased to amaze me how doggedly they will prove it over and over again. Is there any more profoundly dysfunctional group of people on the planet?

Hamas and Fatah absolutely have to work together to pull the Palestinian Authority out of its morass, but Hamas absolutely refuses to do anything that implies a recognition of Israel, precisely what it needs to do to recover its funding. To complicate things, gunmen are threatening any political leaders that try to find a way out of their international isolation.

In Gaza City, meanwhile, two dozen Islamic militant gunmen threatened to attack any coalition that recognized Israel.

"We will fight against it by all means, and we will deal with it as an entity linked to the occupation," said one of the gunmen, who would only identify himself by his nom de guerre, Abu Abir.

The gunmen, who gathered outside a mosque, represent only a small splinter group. However, it marked the first time Palestinian militants said publicly they were prepared to attack government officials.

Nobody can accuse Hamas of being inconsistent. They have consistently lived in an alternate reality from day one. Consider their January offer of "hudna," as reported by Threatswatch.org:

Al-Zahar refused to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, claiming that Hamas would decide that issue once they met his demands as set forth. Those demands include “to release our detainees; to stop their aggression; to make geographic link between Gaza Strip and West Bank”.

The substance of the above demands aside, the true insight into the subject offered by Hamas came with the qualifier that followed the demands, as al-Zahar concluded, “at that time, with assurance from other sides, we are going to accept to establish our independent state at that time, and give us one or two, 10, 15 years time in order to see what is the real intention of Israel after that.”

In short, if Israel releases all of its prisoners (not happening, as many are held on direct charges of acts of terrorism), pulls out of the West Bank entirely (including all settlements), ceases all operations (presumably including future operations in reaction to attacks by any other Palestinian-based terror group not recognizing a Hamas hudna), and gives them an additional swath of land from Israel proper in the Negev Desert that links Gaza and the West Bank, then Hamas will think about reconsidering their recognition of Israel.

Now isn't that a compelling bargaining position?

Hudna, by the way, refers to a temporary truce to be entered into when Muslims are in a position of weakness. So, let's recapitulate: give us everything we want, we will give you nothing in return, and then maybe, just maybe, we might temporarily concede that you have a right to exist. But just for a little while.

I'm willing to believe that even a total collapse of the Palestinian Authority will not bring these guys to their senses. Is there any way of breaking through that level of delusion? Perhaps if things get bad enough, the Palestinian people as a whole will get fed up and massively reject both the corrupt Fatah and the delusional Hamas, but I'm not holding my breath. It does seem to be the only possible way back to the real world though.

Technorati tags: Hamas, Fatah

Gleanings from the blogosphere, Aug. 29

Ed at Captain's Quarter's comments on a Jerusalem Post article about Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official who is urging Palestinians to stop blaming Israel for their internal problems and to take responsibility for their own chaos. He blames the armed factions who are crawling over the Gaza Strip for the mayhem. I will confess to a state of shock after reading this. It's not often you hear a voice of reason being raised in the Gaza Strip. I hope he survives.