Parodies Lost: International

June 08, 2006

J'Accuse: The West & Arabs to the Palestinians: Drop Dead

In the 1890s, Alfred Dryfus, a Jew and a French officer, was wrongly convicted of espionage in yet another wave of French anti-Semitism. It wasn't until Emile Zola published his famous editorial, "J'Accuse" (I accuse), condemning the French government for railroading Dryfus, that he was released.

So today, J'Accuse the west, the western media, and the Arab states of complete indifference to the chaos going on in the territories or using that mess for their own ends. After two days of stories about violence in Gaza and the West Bank, using feeds from Yahoo.com, there was nothing in The Washington Post, The New York Times, or USA Today, and nothing listed in the top stories at the networks, Fox, MSNBC, Salon, Reuters, or even Diablog or memeorandum.

Civil war may be breaking out in the territories, but it's not worth the media's time. Had Israel been conducting raids in the territories, it'd have been front page news everywhere.

The exceptions were The Los Angeles Times and CNN. The LA Times focused on the fact that Hamas is in complete disarray, not only being snubbed by its so-called Arab allies but also being pressured by the Arab states to reach some accommodation with Israel. Egypt supposedly is trying to broker talks between the two sides.

But where is the clear voice from the Arab world that the Palestinians have to clean up their mess? Where is the kind of aid the Palestinians need to relieve the suffering of their people? Where is a combined Arab effort to intervene in the chaos? Where are the voices from Western nations offering to broker peace, to impose peace, to engage in something other than silence and occasional blame directed at Israelis? What we're getting are words -- and empty words at that.

Meanwhile, gunmen still roam the West Bank and Gaza while Hamas and Fatah fiddle.

According to Palestinian analyst Talal Okal, "The question is really where they can go from here. It looks like a dead end — but one that could drag down everyone else along with them."

Hamas is in complete disarray, with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh being endplayed by Hamas thugs and unable to form a working government. "Several Hamas ministers are said to have nearly come to blows with aides who refused to carry out their bidding, or did so half-heartedly."

CNN, citing an AP report, had an extraordinary story this morning: President Jahmoud Abbas said that he "has the authority to remove the newly elected Hamas government from power..." Hamas' response:

"We will go, but we will not recognize the Palestinian political regime. We will not participate in any new election and we will go underground as we did before and we will not adhere to any commitments, any truce, by anyone. Being ousted from power will have a heavy price for everyone. We hope not to reach that."

The great failure of the Israelis is the lack of a strategic plan to address the pan-Arab insanity, but it's tough to create a plan in the midst of such blatant hypocrisy on the part of Arabs and Western governments.

The Arabs want Israelis pushed into the Mediterranean. Anyone who fails to understand that is either blind, naive, or just plain anti-Semitic. The only true democracy in the Middle East, the only true ally of the U.S., Israel gets no real support from anyone.

For years, the world has been crying crocodile tears about the fate of the poor Palestinians. Now, when, more than ever, the Palestinians need help, the silence is deafening. I worry for the fate of Israel in the face of Western policy incompetence and lunatics such as the leadership of Iran. I don't trust calls for peace among the Arab nations, because whenever Israel makes concessions, the Arabs just raise the bar.

But to allow the situation in the territories to deteriorate where Israel has no choice but to retake Gaza is the height of immorality and hypocrisy on the part of the West and Arabs. On second thought, perhaps that's the game plan? Let Israel take care of the mess - again - and then the world can comfortably go back to blaming the Jews.

There are no depths so low that people will not sink in their disregard for their fellow human beings.

June 08, 2006 in International, Religion, Terrorism | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

June 07, 2006

Palestinians At Each Others Throats

Sunday, April 23

After Hamas leader Khaled Mashal suggested that President Mahmoud Abbas was trying to undermine the new Palestinian government, Palestinian students at rival universities began attacking each other with everything from rocks to rifles. At least 15 were reported wounded.

The violence continued into Sunday. </a> In Gaza, Hamas and Fatah gunmen traded fire at the Health Ministry. There was a similar incident in the West Bank town of Nablus where dozens of Fatah gunmen took over the municipality building and ordered the mayor, who is from Hamas, to shut down his offices. Elsewhere in the West Bank, thousands of Fatah supporters took part in several separate rallies supporting Abbas and Mashal.

While leaders from both factions have been meeting and calling for an end to the violence, they've had little success, and there is now speculation that the fighting could erupt into a civil war.

Just hours ago, Hamas gunmen and police had to rescue the newly appointed health minister after angry Palestinians stormed his office. Hamas blamed Fatah which denied any involvement in the affair.

What is clear is the people's frustration with the newly-elected Hamas government, the inability of both Hamas and Fatah to form a functioning coalition government, the economic strangulation, and a complete lack of leadership are resulting in explosive levels of unrest, tension, and anger. Neither side seems to be willing to compromise. Worse, neither side seems to be able to control their own gunmen.

The violence continues to spread with occasional pauses to condemn Israel, but even appeals to unite against their common enemy seems no longer sufficient to hide the fundamental differences between the two parties, the economic and social chaos created by years of Fatah corruption and misrule, and the growing distrust in Hamas in a leadership role.