Goals? What Goals?
Well, what really has been agreed upon between Fatah and Hamas? That they laid down arms against one another. They will henceforth act in the spirit of mutual co-operation for the greater good of the Palestinian people whom they represent. Hamas, pressured by Saudi Arabia to hammer out an accord with Fatah in Mecca, reluctantly agreed to share cabinet positions, to spread the potential for governing power between both. So much so good. A modest goal achieved.And then? Have they determined between them to finally represent the best interests of the Palestinian people? By starting to make a difference in the day to day lives of the Palestinians? By restoring order and some semblance of good governance? If so, the agreement between the two has been a somewhat success. Any time rival groups decide to stop murdering one another it can only be a good thing. Simple-minded, but it took an authority figure in another country to yank those sides into common sense.
If they cannot between them stop resorting to bloody factional battles, in their zeal to kill one another imperiling the lives of Palestinian civilians including women and children, how can their feeble brains accept the idea that it isn't a good idea to kill other people also with whom they will eventually have to get along, live side by side in mutual prosperity, and law and order? How in the world is that concept so difficult that adult minds cannot grapple with and understand it?
By constantly demonizing what they claim to be their enemy, by blaming an 'occupier' of their land which in fact is a legally-constituted sovereign state whom they adamantly refuse to recognize, they submit themselves in perpetuity to the vicious cycle of blame and revenge. Their long-suffering population will accept that their neighbour is their oppressor and looks with trust toward their champions who can hardly keep from killing one another. And nothing, absolutely nothing moves forward.
In fact, matters have gradually and irrevocably moved into a backward position. Two decades earlier the situation looked a lot brighter, as though finally the irreconcilable might become reconciled to one another's presence in the geography each with full autonomy and one at least committed to helping the weaker grow into its full statehood. But the Middle East is a strange place; a bargain-for place. Nothing can be attained in too simple a matter, instead deadly struggles must be thrashed out before a conclusion can be reached.
It's as though when dealing with an Arab if one succumbs too readily to demands, if one gives more than has been anticipated, the Arab feels the triumph of success, and feels also disdain for the other side which has given up more than was needed. And that heady triumph gives way to greater demands far exceeding expectations, simply because the bargainer can see by his new experience that no demands appear to be off limits, and what was previously felt to be an acceptable compromise will no longer suffice.
What have the Palestinians succeeded in attaining? In just over a year the situation has deteriorated from one which held great promise for statehood, to one in which through disgust with ongoing corruption, a new administration has been voted into place which determinedly placed the dream of Palestinian statehood further than ever from the attainability. Hamas simply stated aspires to destroy the State of Israel. Thus also destroying hope for a Palestinian state.
And if statehood isn't the goal for the Palestinians, then what is? An ongoing stalemate with the country whom they term their brutal occupier? Can it be so extremely distasteful to agree to accept the reality of another's legal and existential right to exist for the purpose of reaching an agreeable compromise to both people living within safe borders?
A pox on modest goals.
Labels: Middle East
posted by Pieface @ Monday, March 12, 2007
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