Some Deal, Some Dealers
The first offer from Ismail Haniyah of Hamas was for Israel to pull back all of her troops from Gaza and the West Bank in exchange for Hamas and Fatah to halt the incessant firing of rockets into Israeli territory. Well, how about that? At last, at long last, some kind of movement from Hamas. Oh dear, what's that? Only a cessation of rocket firing? That would not include suicide bombing and other incidentally lethal attacks against Israeli civilians?Well, forget it. No deal. What kind of an absurd agreement would that represent? The State of Israel would no longer seek to halt attacks upon its citizens, its territory, if rockets no longer were lobbed, but would just sit on its hands in the event of other attacks? Right. Of course, Israel, always hopeful, had signed on to quite similar offers in the past - only to find that there was no cessation of said attacks, despite troop withdrawal.
Look at Gaza, now emptied of its Jewish settlers, at great cost to the State of Israel, but worse, much worse, so much anguish visited upon Jewish settlers in Gaza to whom a constant state of war with Palestinians and the urging of their government justified their view that this was their land, through biblical history, successful settlement in altering the landscape to productivity, to traditional "right" of conquest.
Gaza, that vast emptied land proven to be wonderfully habitable, profitable and arable, left to pride-wounded Palestinians to do with as they would. Opportunity was there, so was some of the industrial-use infrastructure for the productive use of Palestinians. Destroyed, everything destroyed. The land used for nothing more useful than a launching site for deadly rockets into Israel. Opportunity denied.
Mr. Haniyah urged the Israelis "to respect this positive readiness expressed by the Palestinian resistance factions". A broader ceasefire might be possible, it was suggested, should Israel be amenable to the offer. Israel, though, knows full well with whom she is dealing. Israel was warned by Hamas that this would be a final opportunity to cease hostilities. No deal.
A later telephone call from Fatah's Abu Masen to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assured Israel that a final agreement was reached between the Fatah/Hamas factions, that all attacks from their "resistance factions" would cease. The deal was agreed to.
One supposes there can be honour between enemies. The IDF has agreed to withdraw, and their word has proven to be good. Post IDF-withdrawal, the various Islamic factions fell all over themselves to claim honour restored by a continuation of the Kassam rocket assaults. Some dealers.
We stay tuned.
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, November 26, 2006
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