Russian version
Waiting for war in Gaza
- Информация о материале
- Автор: Mort Zuckerman
Jewish World Review Nov.
9, 2006 / 18 Mar-Cheshvan 5766
All eyes are on Iraq, but another war looms in the caldron of the Middle
East. The battlefield will be Gaza. The cause is the same as the war in
Lebanon: the appetite of Arab radicals for bloodshed.
Israel pulled out of Gaza more than a year ago, but instead of using
their independence to build a Palestinian state, the Gaza Arabs have been
killing each other, as well as trying to kill Israelis. Factional fighting
between Hamas forces loyal to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and the Fatah
forces more or less loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas verges on a civil
war. The turmoil will threaten Israel, which cannot be expected to stand
aside as it did to its cost in southern Lebanon while Hezbollah grew strong
enough to rocket Israeli cities.
In Gaza, every intelligence, police, military, and security agency
predicted violence if the security of the Gaza-Egypt border, the Philadelphia
Route, was left to those parties when Israel withdrew. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice forced the Israelis to agree to the deal-and the border
has indeed become a sewer for terrorists and weapons. The Egyptians have
betrayed their obligations, even though Hamas is a threat to Egypt. The
Israeli Defense Forces have discovered as many as 100 transborder tunnels,
through which some 20 tons of explosives, tens of thousands of rifles,
RPGs, rockets, and missiles of all kinds have been shipped. The Gazans
have made matters worse by building hundreds of short-range Kassam rockets
to rain on southern Israel.
Sooner rather than later, the Israelis will have to retake the Philadelphia
Route before the Palestinians accumulate a stockpile of armaments to bloody
Israel like Hezbollah did this past summer.
Warrior sons. None of this is in the interest of the people of Gaza.
Their vote for Hamas back in January has brought anarchy, corruption, chaos,
and tribal wars. Abdallah Awad, columnist for the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam,
writes: "The factions, which not long ago were, in the eyes of the public,
the guarantee for ridding ourselves of the occupation and for freedom and
independence, have become ... another occupation, more repressive than
the [Israeli] occupation itself."
The long-run prospect is grim, because Hamas simply isn't interested
in peace; in the latest survey, two thirds of Gazans reject peace with
Israel while almost as many believe in shelling Israeli cities. Hamas ensures
further bloodshed by indoctrinating Palestinian children. They are not
born hating, but from the age of 3 their radical leadership incites them
to murder. The hate pervades the educational system, TV broadcasting, summer
camps, children's trading cards, movies, music, even games that make martyrdom
a major theme. A Palestinian psychiatrist recently reported that over half
the Palestinian children between the ages of 6 and 11 dream of becoming
suicide bombers. And in this perverse and tragic pursuit, they are urged
on by their prime minister, Haniyeh. "One of the signs of victory," he
told a rally recently, "is the Palestinian mother who prepares her son
to be a warrior and then receives the news of his death for the sake of
Allah with cries of happiness."
This is the real face of Hamas, not the apparently pacific one of the
Hamas maneuver unveiled in the New York Times on Wednesday by Ahmed Yousef,
Haniyeh's senior adviser. In a ploy to gain western sympathy-and a renewal
of funding-Hamas proposed a "hudna," or truce, so that the two peoples
could work out their differences peaceably. It is a deceitful message,
for if one reads the code carefully, it is clear that the "peace" Hamas
proposes involves destroying the State of Israel. Never once did Yousef
refer to Israel the state, but only "Israelis." His hudna would give time
for Hamas to build up military strength, exactly as Hezbollah did in Lebanon.
Yousef denies that the proposed truce would be such a ruse, but all the
frenzied arms smuggling belies that.
The international community must not weaken in its insistence that
Hamas must commit to end violence. With such a pledge, Hamas could end
its isolation and mitigate the suffering of Palestinians, but Yousef declares
that "the spirit of Palestinians" would never permit a renunciation of
violence. Hamas prefers instead to let the Gazans suffer in the hope that
sympathy for the victims of its own intransigence trump reason and sound
judgment. Hamas, in truth, is not a nationalist force. It is part of the
global movement of jihad, a Palestinian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood founded
in Egypt with the goal of eliminating Israel with help from its Syrian
and Iranian backers.
Middle East diplomats, so enamored of process, keep hoping the right
dose of concessions will somehow result in mutually reinforcing perceptions
of security. This is hopelessly naive. For now and the foreseeable future,
the seat on the other side of the table across from Israel is occupied
only by a death's-head.
JWR contributor Mort Zuckerman is editor-in-chief and publisher of U.S.
News and World Report.
© 2005, Mortimer Zuckerman
Russian version
Russian version
An introduction to MAOF
Haim Goldman
Haim Goldman
Dear Friends,
Would you believe that the undersigned has anything in common with
-- Professor Victor Davis Hanson (Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University),
-- Dr Charles Krauthammer, (Washington Post, Time, The Weekly Standard),
-- Caroline Glick (Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post),
-- Jonathan Tobin (Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent).
Amazingly, the editors of the MAOF website decided that the missives of the undersigned are worthy of translation and posting along the articles written by these distinguished authors.
The first letter was published without the consent of the undersigned.
However, after thorough examination of the laudable attitude of MAOF and of the excellent contents of the website, the undersigned had most graciously granted his permission for publication of his missives in both English and Russian.
“Analytical Group MAOF” [1] is an organisation founded about ten years ago by Russian-speaking Jewish intellectuals. The attitude of MAOF is definitely pro-Zionist -- unambiguously and unapologetically.
One of MAOF’s primary purposes is providing information and analysis about Middle-Eastern and world affairs as well as about Israel’s history, values and dilemmas. In addition to extensive publication activity in various media, MAOF also organises excursions and seminars. While the vast majority of the contents of the MAOF website is in Russian, texts originally written in English are provided in the original [2] as well as in Russian.
There are arguably about 250 millions of Russian-speakers worldwide and many of them do not read English. The indisputable motivation for the author’s permission was to grant those millions of disadvantaged people the grand benefit of reading the author’s ruminations. If the author is ever maliciously accused that his tacit motivation for authorising the publication was his craving to be listed along with the above-mentioned distinguished writers, his plea will definitely be “nolo contendere”.
The editors of MAOF expressed their gratitude by granting the undersigned a privilege that no other author got – the opportunity to review and correct the Russian translation before publication. The original letters of the undersigned are at [3] and their Russian version is at [4]. At of today, only two letters are posted but several other letters are pending translation.
You are kindly ENCOURAGED TO RECOMMEND the MAOF website to your friends and colleagues worldwide, particularly those who speak Russian. Those who do not enjoy the benefit of proficiency in the exquisite Russian language can find many thought-provoking and inspiring articles about Middle-Eastern and world affairs in the English section [2].
Sincerely,
Haim Goldman
28.10.2006
REFERENCES:
[1] http://maof.rjews.net
[2] section.php3? sid=37&num=25
[3] authorg.php3? id=2107&type=a
[4] authorg.php3? id=2166&type=a