ObviousGuy's Journal: New Hamas leader

Just a thought about the new Hamas leader.

He has gone on record and stated plainly that the U.S. is not going to be a target of Hamas attacks. This is a very astute move.

The patience with Israel around the world is growing very thin. This is not mere anti-Semitism that many Jewish leaders automatically rail against every time the Jews are criticized. There is a growing disgust with the manner in which the Israeli government treats the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. This disgust is a direct result of our concepts of Western democracy and equal rights. Since the victory of Israel against its neighbors decades ago, the Jewish population has oppressed the Palestinian refugees in a system akin to apartheid in South Africa.

For a while here, since the beginning of the second intifada and significant increase in civilian bombings, the Palestinians were losing a lot of credibility. Of course the Israelis have the right to crack down on terrorists!

Even in the Yassin killing, Israel is fully justified in the eyes of many to have undertaken the operation.

But now the new leader of Hamas has done something very smart. He has focused his war onto a single opponent - Israel. This changes the dynamics of the war from one of Hamas vs. Israel/U.S. to only Hamas vs. Israel. The U.S. is now given the chance to disengage themselves from Israel. It also forces Israel to deal with Hamas as an opponent in a civil war rather than as part of an overarching War on Terrorism.

Bush has already taken the position that a Palestinian homeland is inevitable and desirable, and this is Hamas giving the U.S. the chance to push that position. If the U.S. is able to make Israel realize that they will lose American support unless the Jewish population stops treating the Palestinian refugees as interlopers, then we may see significant progress towards peace in Israel.

OTOH, we may see Israel lash out uninhibitedly against the Palestinians. However, the international backlash, including the possible invasion of Israel and arrest of Israeli leaders for violations of international human rights laws, would most likely put a damper on such a large Jewish offensive.

It doesn't look like the U.S. has any inclination to take the chance to disengage, if the public statements of American diplomats are any indication, though. It's too bad. This could have been a way of protecting the U.S. from increased terrorist attacks coming from opponents of Israel.

Look

[Otter]

I'm not about to get into the zillionth unending flame war on the larger topic except to say that the comparison of Israel to South Africa is absurd and baseless, no matter how many times it's repeated.

As far as the Hamas issue goes, I believe you're confused about what their goals have been. It has nothing to do with any sort of compromise with Israel -- they explicitly demand the destruction of Israel and the death or expulsion of every Jew living there. Support for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, a

Re:Look

[baldass_newbie]

Let's take this a step forward.
There was NEVER a Palestine. It is a region, part of an area divided up by Britain and France from the Ottoman Empire following WWI.
The Brits fell in love with the idea of a Zionist home. Pretty much because someone misheard or misread somebody else.
The Palis said the region would never support more than 60K people.
The Palis were compensentated for their land in $$$. In fact, they lived in relative peace even until the official chartering of the state in 1948.
However, some

Re:Look

[Otter]

Personally I think genocide is the only solution, however, Israelis may find that a touchy subject.

I appreciate the support, but this isn't really any more helpful than indiscriminately shouting about "apartheid" and "the Jews". Expelling the Palestinians is utterly out of the question for the overwhelming majority in Israel, let alone killing them.

At this point, the best thing in the short term would be to restore a situation where people on both sides can at least expect to get through the day without b

Re:Look

[ObviousGuy]

I do not back down from my use of apartheid, and I threw out a few more incindiary phrases in a post over here [slashdot.org]. Though no analogy is complete, they are all relevant and the parallels between modern Israel and those other situations I listed are striking and disheartening.

Obviously, the biggest difference between those analogies and the current situation is that the oppressed minorities are fighting back against the dehumanizing police state with lethal and illegal methods. But this does not minimize Isra

Re:Look

[baldass_newbie]

Apparently yesterday 60 prominent Palistinians published an ad saying that more violence is NOT the answer.
AFAIK, this is the first time any kind of moderate leadership has made itself widely known.
Hope springs eternal.

And I know that such talk is neither reasonable nor helpful. However, this is just a web discussion. ;-)

Invasion of Israel?

[eglamkowski]

Let's not forget they have nuclear weapons. If backed into a corner for their very existance by the entirety of the world's nations, what would they have to lose in using them?