Russian version
Has any population ever been less suited for statehood than the Palestinians?
- Информация о материале
- Автор: Jeff Jacoby
Jewish World Review Feb.
15, 2007 / 27 Shevat 5767
The tong war between Fatah and Hamas was raging last month when Palestinian
Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas addressed a Fatah rally in Ramallah. "The
priority for me is preserving national unity and preventing internal fighting,"
he told the crowd on Jan. 11. "Shooting at your brother is forbidden."
But Abbas made clear it was only intra-Palestinian bloodshed he opposed.
Attacking Jews was still OK.
"We should put our internal fighting aside and raise our rifles only
against the Israeli occupation," he said, according to a World Net Daily
report. In a nod to his Arab rivals, he praised arch-terrorist Ahmed Yassin,
the co-founder of Hamas who was killed by Israel in 2004. For good measure,
he threw in some anti-Semitic boilerplate: "The sons of Israel are mentioned
as those who are corrupting humanity on earth."
Most media accounts of the Fatah rally mentioned only Abbas's "unity"
remarks, leaving out the gamier stuff about raising rifles against the
humanity-corrupters (AP headline: "Abbas calls for respect at Fatah rally").
In similar fashion, news reports have rarely pointed out that in the Gaza
Strip, where the Fatah-Hamas street battles have taken place, the "occupation"
ended in August 2005, when Israel razed 21 Jewish settlements and expelled
every Jew from the territory. For all intents and purposes, there has been
a sovereign Palestinian state in Gaza for the past 18 months. The anarchy
and violence, the kidnappings, the myriad of armed gangs — that is the
authentic face of Palestinian statehood. Take a good look.
"In the State of Palestine," writes
columnist Caroline Glick in the Jan. 30 JWR, "two-year-olds are killed
and no one cares. Children are woken up in the middle of the night and
murdered in front of their parents. Worshipers in mosques are gunned down
by terrorists who attend competing mosques. . . . In the State of Palestine,
women are stripped naked and forced to march in the streets to humiliate
their husbands. Ambulances are stopped on the way to hospitals and the
wounded are shot in cold blood."
The wonder is not that the Palestinian Authority seethes with violence
and instability; there are other places too where bloodshed is the daily
fare. The wonder is not that the Palestinians, who receive copious amounts
of international aid — more than $1.2 billion last year from Western governments
alone — channel so much of their resources and energy into weapons and
warfare. The wonder is that so many voices still push for a Palestinian
state.
But has any population ever been less suited for statehood than the
Palestinians? From the terrorists they choose as leaders to the jihad promoted
in their schools, their culture is drenched in violence and hatred. Each
time the world has offered them sovereignty — an offer that the Kurds or
the Chechens or the Tibetans would leap at — the Palestinians have opted
instead for bloodshed and rejectionism.
"What do you want more," a frustrated Shimon Peres once asked Yasser
Arafat, "a Palestinian state or a Palestinian struggle?" Over and over,
Palestinians have chosen the "struggle." The very essence of Palestinian
national identity is a hunger for Israel's destruction. Both the Fatah
and Hamas charters call for the obliteration of the Jewish state through
bloodshed. A two-state solution — Israel and Palestine living peacefully
side-by-side — is emphatically not what the Palestinians seek. No amount
of Israeli concessions or American wheedling or Quartet cajoling is likely
to change that.
So why does the Bush administration continue to pretend otherwise?
"There is simply no reason to avoid the subject of how we get to a
Palestinian state," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice blithely asserted
Feb. 2, even as the best reason to do so — the Palestinians' unfitness
for self-government — was on display in Gaza's streets. Last week Abbas
agreed to form a "unity" government with Hamas, making any prospect of
peace with Israel more remote. Yet next week Rice will host a summit meeting
with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and there will be a
fresh flood of empty words about peace and statehood.
James Woolsey, who served as director of central intelligence under
President Clinton, said recently that it would take "many decades" before
Palestinian society is civilized enough for statehood. Even some Palestinians
might agree. "Everyone here is disgusted by what's happening in the Gaza
Strip," Shireen Atiyeh, 30, a Palestinian Authority government worker,
told the Jerusalem Post. "We are telling the world that we don't deserve
a state. . . Today I'm ashamed to say that I'm a Palestinian."
When will it be time to consider statehood for Palestine? When it is
led by people like her.
© 2006, Boston Globe
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