Deal's Off
On again. Off again. They just don't seem to speak the same language. Or they do, but somehow everything comes out garbled. It's not all that complicated, after all. Want peace? Bargain for it. Never mind that hudna stuff, that temporary truce which will be recognized until such time as it becomes inconvenient and then all hell breaks loose again. Temporary peace doesn't create trust and stability, the confidence of the population and economic prosperity. A truce is a truce. Not a cessation of war, but a temporary respite.If Fatah is prepared to do bargain in good faith on behalf of the Palestinian Authority well and good. If it really means that they can reign in their busy little terror circles and disband them, persuade them to play soccer instead of blood games. Hamas clings to its determined hate-on for Israel, to seek, at a time and place of its choosing to obliterate the State and its population. But for the time, hudna. No deal, Khaled Meshaal and Ismail Haniyeh. Back to the drawing board.
That is, after you settle more immediate accounts. This is tribalism at its most usual state of anarchy and blood-lust; first things first. So, isn't this dreary? The 'moderate' Mahmoud Abbas and the immoderate Ismail Haniyeh and their respective fanatics at it again. It's a blood sport celebrated widely in the geography. The teams are hardly recognizable one from the other, they have so much in common. Traditions, customs, history, a homogeneous appearance.
But the more they look alike, the more confounding their behaviours toward one another; brethren in appearance, enemies in spirit. And spirited they are, rallying and shouting bellicosity, gearing up for fun and games. All suited up Middle East style, with kaffiyeh, jeans, Kalishnikovs. That their endless war games have the result of further impoverishing their position and their people appears to be beyond them.
But who can blame them, for after all, boys will be boys and in this region that means growing up tough and belligerent and murderous. So the raids and the shootings, the terrorist attacks - aimed at one another, how refreshing - continue unabated. Innocent bystanders injured or killed? That's awful; if it occurred during an IDF raid they'd bring down the wrath of the UN on Israel. This is justifiable homicide.
"How can dialogue go on when there is a bomb underneath the table?" points out Fatah spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, blaming Hamas for the violence. Palestinian factions cannot see beyond their rivalries and that appears to be that. Settling of old accounts. This is an ongoing, simmering war game. Just practising for the real thing.
Kidnapping isn't confined to Palestinian versus Israeli; it also works moderately well when it's Palestinian against Palestinian. Bringing with it threats of reprisal, competetive kidnapping. Killings and revenge killings for the original killings. They each describe the activities of the others as "grave crimes". There will be no mercy for the killers - on each side - by each side.
And so the ongoing drama continues. This is the Middle East.
Labels: Middle East
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, January 28, 2007
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