Peace-Loving Hamas
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is one busy peace emissary. He will not rest in peace himself until he sees the success of his mission. To reward peace-loving Palestinians by bringing unbearable levels of public opprobrium against Israel, shaming that war-loving country to sue for peace with the entire collective of the Palestinian Authority, inclusive of misunderstood Hamas.
Palestinians need no longer endure lives of deliberate humanitarian deprivation through Israeli malevolence and determined inhuman machinations.
Hamas, writes Mr. Carter with complacent certainty, desires peace. He condemns the United States and Israel for Satanizing Hamas which wishes only to see peace reign supreme over the area, with the establishment of a separate and sovereign Palestinian state. At which juncture they will lay down their arms and revert to piously law-abiding citizens, mission accomplished.
By ignoring the true face of Hamas, by declaring it a terrorist group, they unjustly malign a group with humanitarian interests at heart.
For by imposing boycotts and punishment of political factions the U.S. and Israel throw up roadblocks in the peace process, making it difficult for factional leaders to moderate their groups' policies. He carries the blame-the-victim syndrome to new heights of absurdity, but with complete composure, placid in his righteous certainty that he holds the key to solving the seemingly insolvable.
Hamas, he asserts with authority, is prepared to accept any agreement negotiated by Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert, and will willingly disband its militia in favour of a non-partisan professional security force. A mutual cease-fire in Gaza is perfectly agreeable to Hamas. One wonders to whom he spoke, one wonders whether he listened to responses to his initiatives, for Khaled Meshaal offers an entirely different message, and little wonder.
Mr. Carter does not appear to recognize the delightful challenges inherent in Middle East game-playing, even when he becomes part of it.
The "struggle" against Israel, according to Mr. Meshaal, would continue. Whatever accommodation will be pursued and brought to a successful conclusion between Israel and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, according to Hamas's Meshaal, there will be no recognition of Israel.
Hamas is working toward achieving a new, more Arab-acceptable power balance. And having achieved that, ensuring that the Palestinians are in a position to become sovereign finally - the "struggle" continues.
Of course, to achieve that solution leading to sovereignty, the considerable issues relating to Jerusalem, pre-1967 borders, the right of return and items like the disposition of settlers in the West Bank would have to be negotiated successfully. According to the wishes of the Palestinian people, in accordance with the Document of National Consensus.
Israel must be prepared to give a lot. The Palestinian Authority will loftily be prepared to give - not an awful lot of anything, but peace is the ultimate bargaining chip and warfare and terror not to be relinquished without due payment.
As for that other little inconvenience, the matter of missing soldier Gilad Shalit, why that issue too can be accommodated. "If Israel agrees to a list of prisoners to be exchanged, and the first group is released, Corporal Shalit will be sent to Egypt, pending the final releases," Carter carefully explained.
Of course that particular "list of prisoners" reflecting all such "exchange" lists is comprised of hundreds of names, including those of prisoners who may have been implicated in the murder of Israelis.
What deviltry resides in details.
Like the details, for example, in the most recent accusations launched against Israel, implicating the IDF in the killing of a Palestinian woman and her four infants. The background having been set by Hamas, conducting its lethal activities directly from within civilian enclaves. Where two armed terrorists, close by the woman's house, carried large knapsacks, and when targeted by the IDF the explosives contained in them took the lives of the woman and her children.
The reportage through the international news community was instant and as usual, directly implicated Israel in violence against innocents. Video footage of grim-faced Hamas men bearing the small bodies wrapped in Hamas-green coverings, Hamas head-bands wrapped around their still faces, told an unsubtle and theatrical story. Hamas-supporting Palestinians once again victimized by the army of the deathly occupier.
Israel's defenders are many among the Palestinians, including Arab members of Israel's Knesset: "Israel proves every day that its army is the foremost competitor of Nazism and that it carries out an ideology of destruction, just like in humanity's worst periods" denounced MK Ibrahim Sarsur, accusing the state of which he is a member of parliament of "cold-bloodedly wiping out an entire family, including its innocent children."
Knowing full well how excruciatingly difficult it is for the Israeli Defence Forces to fight an enemy which positions itself deliberately among civilians, which sets down explosives in their midst, and which is more than prepared to mount exercises certain to result in civilian deaths. The better to enable it to point the finger of blame at the responding security forces, and portray themselves as the righteously stout defenders of freedom for the Palestinian cause.
"We make great efforts to avoid hitting civilians", said an IDF source. Many attacks have been cancelled because of proximity to civilian concentrations. We regret that Hamas has no qualms about risking civilians by operating among them and creating a false impression that Israel is the one endangering them."
Hamas excels at manufacturing disaster and turning the finger of blame elsewhere. And the international community looks no deeper than the facade peace-loving Hamas present
Labels: Israel, Middle East, Terrorism
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, April 30, 2008
<< Home