Hamas has announced it will not "protect Israel from attacks by other factions". There is nothing new about this idiotic line of reasoning, of course, and it has been one of the standard canards ever since Israel began disbanding its occupation and transferring power to the Palestinians in 1993.
The question is not if the PLO, or PA, or Hamas, or anyone else, will protect Israel from the more extreme Palestinian forces that will always continue with their anti-Israeli violence no matter what agreements are reached. The question is if whatever Palestinian government it may be will take upon itself one of the most basic of all tasks of government, the monopoly of waging violence. As long as they don't understand that this is a fundamental need of their own, irrespective of Israel, no peace agreement with them will ever hold. On the contrary, the longer they insist on behaving like little children, the more obvious and irrevocable it will be not to allow them a government. Governing is a matter for adults.
[Which doesn't mean Israel should continue to control them. More and more I am beginning to think there will ultimately be not choice but to hand over some sort of control of the Palestinians to the Jordanians and the Egyptians.]
FROM CAROL HERMAN
ReplyDeleteMore obvious, still. YOu don't get news reported in the media, anymore.
Sort'a like college. Where they've created a monopoly on degrees; and what you get is debt. Even the old love for "the old books" has been dead, for awhile.
And, the people who lecture? As I said, part of the limosine liberal elite. So there's no point in trying to decifer what they're telling you, with any news.
But you can figure things out!
Gaza has arabs. Lebanon has arabs. Both countries are "tools" of other nations. For gaza? The sauds, and their various cousins; rich in oil wealth. But stuck, right now, on not really moving forward, much. (And, unbeknownst to you; hated by other arabs. Sort'a like discovering "native" American indian tribes killing each other. And, no matter what, never leaving their hunting/gathering ways behind. As large swaths of land was "incorporated into farming" by American settlers.)
In the end, those who "don't incorporate better," lose.
You're also probably familiar with the arab custom of NOT WORKING HARD. Here? The men wear dresses. And, the women are goats. And, since oil under their sands have made "a few" extremely wealthy; they go west to buy what they think they need. Luxuries. And, tall buildings. Though they run nothing at all. And, all their labor is imported. (Oh. And, not from Africa.) The Sauds "import" from India (not Pakistan). And, from the gentle peoples dispersed throughout Indonesia; which is a conglomeration, sort'a of "mixed race." Or whatever it is that happened in the past.
You're being told to believe ...
And, here's the crux of the problem.
Academicians once had exclusive rights on telling others "what to believe." But there was a stepped approach. You'd see steps made in one direction (towards Jesus). And, then, away. Towards rational thought.
When Magellan circumnavigated the globe it was the "technological big deal" of the 1500. Leading to wealth for a newly emerging middle class.
You could add that the Black Death, that plagued Europe in the 1350's, settled it, pretty much, for the poor. Since there were fewer of them. And, finally, on the scene, being able to provide human labor began to be renumerated.
And, all throughout history: Diplomatic pants dancers. Or wars.
The Sauds aren't going to go to war! Bunch of cowards! Though 9/11 was designed to send Americans into Irak. Which came to pass.
And, yet? The Sauds didn't get what they really wanted, which was control of the Iraqi oil fields! (You thought all they wanted was Saddam's head as a trophy?) You'd be wrong.
Yes, the ultra-religious in Israel are still pissed off they had to leave gaza. (But then? If Jews had to fight for gaza it would have been the blood of secular Jews that would have been sent in to fight. For those Jews ... who when Arik SHaron said they had to leave ... Used 50,000 IDF troops to gently take 8,000 LUNATICS out of gaza! And, for thanks? The religous Jews, bedecked in ORANGE, stuck pins into the flesh of the female IDF soldiers.)
And, they're still screaming!
As if in gazoo, the arabs just want to keep lobbing missiles. When, instead, through the tunnels, they could drag hallucinagens.
Don't confuse "stupid" with "lazy." Or what you see as what you're getting.
The limosine liberals couldn't tell you what was happening, beyond their propaganda.
But here's the news: The Israelis will NEVER be allowed to hold onto any gains (in terms of territory), made in gazoo. Or Lebanon. Or even, if the Israelis flatten Damascus.
Why?
Because to "take land" you need treaties. And, today's Israelis are on par with yesterday's American indians, where no treaty lasted all that long. Basically, you need to know more about power brokers.
You need to know that if anything happens in gazoo ... the eypgtians aren't going to claim title. It goes, instead, to Abbas. Dead or alive. (And, ya know what else? Olmert knows this! He knows how America will play its own hand full of cards.)
This was also true back in the summer of 2006. When Winograd missed the boat. And, decided the limosine liberal's mantra would work as an accusation against Olmert.
Olmert, however, knew the Sauds were primed to race into Damascus; enervate the majority of the population which is Sunni. And, "change the map of the Mideast."
Yup. That was the plan.
Bush couldn't push Olmert. But Olmert danced. And, the elites in Israel thought they'd dictate terms. But it doesn't seem to come to pass.
In other words, are you surprised Ehud Barak backtracked? I said he rolled off the curb into the gutter. If that's a save, so be it.
The Likud also think of themselves as "players." 6 seats belong to Bibi. And, 6 to Silvan Shalom. (Both men are dogs. Hardly worth banking on.) But the media?
That's for propaganda.
Just like the FBI. Trained to say "no terrorism," and when they do? THe news stories collapse. It's a magician's trick.
While the Internet GROWS!
It's on the Internet that you're not buying the pre-packaged TV "dinners."
Sure. It's wild. Each man to his own.
As to gaza, as much as you think "things have remained the same," ... the truth is different. Heck, even the european guys have left town. (When one of their journalists got kidnapped.)
The other thing? Well, just last week 4 of the 5 leaders of the Dogmush tribe were killed by an Israeli missile. And one other sits in an Israeli prison where he's been "a bargaining chip" when he was taken out of gaza, by Mossad. Or Shin Bet. Men disguised on donkeys.
This clues you in that Shalit is not alive.
Yet NOTHING makes it into the news!
Because? Just like academic credentials, the "news guys" took over,thinking they owned a propaganda machine.
But ya know what? THEY LOST CUSTOMERS!
Eventually, that's where you'll see the pain. (You may even see it in eygpt, too. Because? Visitors come. And, visitors go. And, travel, with the costs of fuel UP, means business shrinks in other places.)
And, among bad habits. When people change? Change becomes the license the future uses to make different playing fields.
By the way, Darfur is in worse shape! Ditto Zimbabwe. Just because it isn't under your nose, doesn't mean there are states far worse than your "local" anarchy.
Heck, even dead cats can "bounce up."
Keep your eyes poised on Syria! Because? The big 100 Jets "game" played with Greece, was done to make Assad crap in his pants. He probably knows the Israelis "will do something dramatic" IF Iran is really close to producing nukes.
And, that means the "locals" are gonna be under Iran's thumb. Or not. And, it can get very noisy.
On the other hand? What if Iran really isn't all that close?
Syria once thought it was close. And, the MOSSAD killed about 30-scientists; before deciding the plant, itself, needed to be knocked out.
What follows ABBAS? There doesn't seem to be a clear path to "lineage" over there. WHile eygpt? YOu think Mubarak's son just waltzes in?
Why? Because the orchestra hasn't practiced other tunes?
Do you think the Jordanians and the Egyptians are remotely interested in taking control of those areas and exercising normal government in them? I really don't think so. Maybe I'm wrong, but I imagine the governments of those areas think they need a bunch of violent Palestinians to control and to stop from attacking Israel about like they need a hole in the head. Isn't that in essence what Jordan said back in the 80's?
ReplyDeleteAnd besides, if they simply _won't_ stop sending rockets into Israel under any government or pseudo-government, I do not understand how Israel can refuse to "control" them without throwing over its own responsibility to defend its own citizens. Do Israelis just move farther and farther away from the borders as they get longer and longer range missiles, all because the worst possible thing in the world is for Israel to control Arabs? I mean, if your neighbor won't stop attacking you, you have to defend yourself and your own, even if that means "controlling" your neighbor. No one else will. I don't see any other way. To me it seems an intractable situation given that the Palestinians refuse to stop attacking.
And since when is Hamas _not_ the "more extreme forces"? My goodness, I remember just a couple of months ago when supposedly Hamas were the "extremists." They became moderates by definition last week?
FROM CAROL HERMAN
ReplyDelete"Only if" the media worked better; you'd find the words that would describe what the arabs in gaza do ... (which includes tunnels, and their derivative "businesses.") And, the fact that Israel does a lot.
For instance: Shalit was kidnapped by the Dogmush gang. And, last week an Israeli missile sent one drone into the vehicle that held 4 "head men" of the Dogmush tribe. (While one "bargaining chip" was taken more than a year ago.) Shalit has not come back, alive.
While the media might as well "doodle."
Here, in America, unbeknownst to most people (who reside in the middle-class strudtures), there are gangs. With guns. And, violence even in their schools. And, lots of early pregnancies; that are not affected by the "rules" that you can have sex with anyone under 16. (I know. There's a sliding scale. And, just as nature intended, some people reach maturity earlier than others.) And, this, too, corrupts the opportunities.
But the media does turn a blind eye!
And, as far as I can tell, the MOSSAD, and the Shin Bet, prefer secrecy. When a door creeks open? Well, the MOSSAD made a few mistakes. And, Victor Ostrovsky tells ya "how the system works." While very little gets reported.
Gaza is not Israel! The links that are there? (Not discussing the tunnels to and from eygpt). But the major areas, where electricity flows in. And, there are truck loads of food. And, stuff. That lines the pockets of all sorts of diplomatic pants dancers. So, it's not as if you can halt, everything.
Nor should you want war with these people! Remember this. Israelis soldiers are used to living in communities that have no raw sewage problems.
While even when Tel Aviv was close enough to the arab quarter ... You could "cross a line" ... and enter a building ... that had a pipe sticking up in the ground. WIth two bricks on which you balanced your feet. And, to the arabs, this was called a "toilet."
They also had flying cockroaches bigger than I thought it was possible for a cockroach to grow.
While all you're doing is flirting with the headlines. And, you fail to recognize what happens when a bunch of lightweights, take over an industry. Be it academia. Or even what a passed for medicine, back in the middle ages.
The wore the uniforms. They talked the talk. They pronounced some people inherently smarter than others. And, they called their crap "credentials."
Meanwhile, history always set about going at a slow pace. In some instances? People didn't even know the "outcomes of wars." Take the one that lasted 100 years.
If you think you need headlines coming out of gazoo to change the equation, then you might as well keep on waiting. For all the good it will do ya.
On the other hand? IF you prevent real words from flowing, eventually, you can expect (rather than not expect), another Victor Ostrovsky to come down the pike. Why not?
I've also already told you the FBI has turned it's "NO TERRORISM, HERE" mantra into a success story (of sorts.) Since there are no statistics showing terrorism, in America, beyond 9/11. 2001. That's quite a long run! (And, it even now makes the Saudis happy.)
As to gazoo; I'm sure there's a majority of Israelis who are glad to be out of there. And, who still think very highly of Arik Sharon. Because he pulled it off.
Okay. The missiles, that tend to terrify people who get quoted by journalists, who live in Sderot ... it might not be quite what it appears?
Since the IDF is operational.
And, to quietly go about picking up the "trash" ... Hamas ... Takes insider dope. Somehow. Somewhere. This information finds its way out of the woodwork.
While you'd have to be a very dumb arab, indeed, not to know all the hostilities faced by Arafat's crowd. Heck, not just in gazoo! But in Beirut. And, now on the borders of Syria and Jordan, where Saddam's imports can't find their ways home.
When anti-Semitism was at its height, fruits in dresses, speaking for the Catholic Church, got their ignorant parishioners to believe that Jews used the blood of Christian children in making their Passover matzo.
How much of this lunacy came because the priests were also selling the idea that when you bit into a matzo cracker you were eating Jesus ... I have no idea. But crazy ideas have a way of compounding each other.
Till they fail.
Too bad the limosine liberals can't see out of their windshields. Perhaps, they just keep their windows draped?
Doesn't change reality. "They" are losing customers!
Maybe? There'll be a headline contest, some day, where people will go back and show ... for instance ... that even if Olmert needs to go to elections sooner, rather than later, in November 2010. He can garner what Arik Sharon got.
If you don't remember. Labor tore at Sharon. And, pulled down his first government. And, Labor, it seems is at pains to even, now, throw away more seats.
Plus, if you think Likud's on a roll, how come they're going crazy in the knesset?
If you were on a roll, you'd escalate your argument to the point where Dalia Itsik (of all people), tells you to sit down?
It's from the odd interpretations, that you can hear what no one in authority is speaking.
What do I care? I'm on the Internet. Where it's everyone for themselves.
The question is if whatever Palestinian government it may be will take upon itself one of the most basic of all tasks of government, the monopoly of waging violence.
ReplyDeleteThe same question could be asked to the Israeli government as regards the settlers. How long will Israel allow its fanatics to embarrass the country with their violence? How long will the stoning of schoolgirls, the beating of shepherds, the uprooting of trees, the slashing of tyres, the burning of property, the puncturing of water tanks, etc., be tolerated? How long will the settlers be allowed to hijack the national discourse and set the State's agenda?
FROM CAROL HERMAN
ReplyDeleteWelcome to reality Ibrahim. Free countries are notorious for protecting those among us most likely to be disliked.
The bigger picture, however, shows ya that the Israelis did get out of Gaza. And, Arik Sharon found a way, be it expensive; two years and 50,000 troops, trained to gently "pack and take" 8000 reluctant settlers, wearing orange.
Orange did not become a peace color. So you could draw a conclusion of winners and losers. But who cares?
Then, here in the USA, today, you've got the defining gun moment. Yes. You can own one. No, you don't need to keep it disassembled, or unloaded. Or with the trigger locked. It clearly states you can own a gun. And, you can use it in self-defense.
All the liberals in the world, couldn't shoot American history.
Perhaps? Their target wasn't big enough? OR? They couldn't find their putz with two hands and an itch To help them.
Why is it that people confuse the media with anything representing, these days, what people are thinking and feeling?
Take Israel, for instance. Where people are out-spoken. And, the religious right are just a small section of the whole.
Yes. You can be Jewish. And, you can be secular. It's just like growing up in New York. Where you can also get the best bagels.
You can't even set up a straw man to make the settlers out to be enemies of the state. They aren't. In a democracy you're supposed to get factions. And, arguments.
Even though our Founding Fathers weren't Jewish, they knew enough about creating a free republic, instead of a monarchy, just by letting people have a political forum to argue.
Now, yesterday, another example of how meaningless the media really is, just caught world attention.
In case you didn't know, "This time" Olmert was supposed to fold his tent. He was supposed to "leave with dignity." While at the same time, David Horovitz also keeps his job. (With falling ad rates, you'd think the Jerusalem Post would be wide awake by now. But that's just not so.)
And, I saw it!
I saw the headlines that said Olmert was really "going" this time. And, Ehud Barak had the ladder tucked under his arm.
It really is a circus act.
While all the schmaltz was flowing; Ehud Barak made a deal (with Olmert), to stay seated in his defense portfolio chair). And, up ahead? Don't get snagged on September. Look, intead, that "at the next election Likud and Labor are going into it TOGETHER. As a package.
Very similar to the way Arik Sharon gamed the system before he stroked.
And, Olmert's no dummy!
Plus? July 17th is a ticket to watch Morris Talansky, again. Will he be wearing orange?
Stupid questions deserve stupid answers.
While Olmert's still a player.
And, it's only on the Internet you get to see how "da news" meets its fate.
On the other hand, if you're a "believer" wear orange.
Me? I'm just an optimist.
FROM CAROL HERMAN
ReplyDeleteWorse than a typo! What a big OOPS!
KADIMA AND LABOR are now one solid faction.
Forget Likud.
Forget orange.
They may be unworthy of sovereignty but they have a right to it - an inalienable right. Yaacov, I seldom agree with you but I love your blog. It's more interesting than 99.99% of all blogs and always well-written. Keep up the good work. And thank you.
ReplyDeleteWell thank you Steve, it's a pleasure to get such feedback.
ReplyDeleteAs for the right of the Palestinians etc: I'm an adherent of the theory whereby any group that can define itself as a nation and is capable of running their own country, has a right to it. This is a kind of circular logic, since the reason the Bolivians, say, are capable etc is because someone gave them a state back in the early 19th century and they've more or less run it since then. The Kurds, however, or the Tibetans, or the Catalans, were never given a state so they never ran it. The Palestinians are a strange case: they've been offered a state a number of times since the mid-1930s, and they have consistently screwed up royally. I used to think this was Israel's fault, but the events of the past 8 years have put any such notions to rest.
Most Israelis, myself obviously included, wish the Palestinians were capable of running their own state, because then we could negotiate terms and live alongside them. Alas, they're not capable, and we're stuck with them like a fish bone in our throat.
Firstly, I wish I had said that I often disagree with you rather than I seldom agree with you. A subtle difference, perhaps, but closer to the truth.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, we may not really differ on this as much as it appears at first glance. You are, I believe, looking at this in terms of realpolitik and, in those terms, you are undeniably correct. But I am taking more of a philosophical approach, if you will, which differentiates between the right to staehood and the ability to run a state. At any rate, even for an old pessimist like myself, things have a way of changing, often with lightning speed. Remember how amazed we were when Sadat offered to come to Israel?
Thirdly, as far as who is at fault in this sorry state (no pun intended) of affairs, there is more than enough fault to go around and some of it lies, I'm afraid, with Israeli policies vis-a-vis Gaza and the West Bank. Also, it seems to me that there are some Israelis within the power structure whose mouths are bigger than their brains. I think it is foolish for Mofaz to openly threaten to bomb
Iran. Since the Iranians are fully aware of the possibility, it serves no purpose to make a pronouncement like this. It only serves to alarm the international community and make Israel look like an agressor state.
Finally, I see that your favorite music is Beethoven. Now there is something we agree on.