Tel-Chai Nation

In the Saturday issue of The Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens, the former EIC of the Jerusalem Post, points out how the Arabs in the Gaza strip, for example, have a violent culture that's separate from their hatred of Israel (Hat tip: Betsy's Page):

Consider a statistic: In the first nine months of 2005 more Palestinians were killed by other Palestinians than by Israelis--219 to 218, according to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Interior, although the former figure is probably in truth much higher. In the Gaza Strip, the departure of Israeli troops and settlers has brought anarchy, not freedom. Members of Hamas routinely fight gun battles with members of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas's ruling political party. Just as often, the killing takes place between clans, or hamullas. So-called collaborators are put to the gun by street mobs, their "guilt" sometimes nothing more than being the object of a neighbor's spite. Palestinian social outsiders are also at mortal risk: Honor killings of "loose" women are common, as is the torture and murder of homosexuals.

Atop this culture of violence are the Hamas and Fatah leaders, the hamulla chieftains, the Palestinian Authority's "generals" and "ministers." And standing atop them--theoretically, at least--is the Palestinian president. All were raised in this culture; most have had their uses for violence. For Arafat, those uses were to achieve mastery of his movement, and to harness its energies to his political purpose. Among Palestinians, his popularity owed chiefly to the fact that under his leadership all this violence achieved an astonishing measure of international respectability.

As Stephens correctly points out, even if the so-called palestinians were to get a state of their own, it would not change the fact that violence and poverty would be a forgone conclusion in becoming the norm amongst its Arab/Islamic residents. A most glaring example is their vandalism of the greenhouses left behind by the Israelis in August when IDF forces withdrew. This is a leading problem with Islam and such, in that it's part of their culture, and to call them a state would not change anything, if at all.

Needless to say, neither Yasir Arafat nor any of his cronies since then have ever shown any genuine interest in building a viable economy, and that, plus the fact that they destroyed the greenhouses left behind, is but one of the reasons why, for them, making a "state" is pretty much impossible.

Another problem is that the Bush administration, as this report from Israel National News reveals, considers this kind of culture acceptable, in this case by tolerating the Hamas' running in the PLO's so-called elections:

It's now official: Though the U.S. considers Hamas a terrorist organization, it will take no active steps to prevent Hamas from running in the upcoming Palestinian Authority elections.

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack, at his official Daily Press Briefing on Thursday, said clearly that Palestinian politics is exclusively up to the "Palestinian people."

At the same time, McCormack emphasized that the American and Quartet position has not changed regarding "terrorist organizations operating outside of the rule of law" - though he did not elaborate. He said that in the view of the U.S., "Hamas is a terrorist organization."

However, McCormack added in a lengthy explanation, "It is also the case that how the Palestinian political process unfolds and evolves is a question for the Palestinian people. And I think that President Abbas is at the forefront, saying that there can only be one rule, one gun and one authority. And you heard he and President Bush speak just a short while ago ... about the fact that President Abbas was elected on a platform of bringing peace and security to the Palestinian people. And we are working with him and other members of the Palestinian Authority to see that the Palestinian Authority is able to live up to its obligations under the roadmap. Those obligations are that they not only have to stop acts of terrorism and violence, but they have to act to dismantle terrorist groups."

McCormack praised a recent Palestinian Authority law that forbids "armed displays in mass demonstrations," indicating that this could soften the damage done by Hamas' participation in the elections.

U.S. President George Bush hosted Abbas in Washington on Thursday. PA sources said afterwards that though Bush raised the matter of disarming Hamas, he did not dwell on it or pressure Abbas on this matter. Neither did he mention the issue during a joint press conference with Abbas after the meeting.

If the US government and even the MSM refuse to view the PLO as the terrorist organization it is, and do not object to a violence-advocating entities like the Hamas taking part in the former's "elections", how can anyone expect the problem of violence in Arab/Islamic communities to be dealt with?

Also, as pointed out on Israel Perspectives and Blog Free, the US government, to put it that way, is simply no friend of Israel's.

Update: One Jerusalem's got more on Bush's legitimization of the Hamas in the PLO's elections, and makes some very good points on how he's undermining even the US's own war on terror by doing so.

Labels: Israel