I've Been Asking The Same Question

Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs asks What The Hell Is Wrong With The Washington Post after it publishes an Op-Ed by Ismail Haniyeh, Aggression Under False Pretenses. The unintentionally ironic headline runs over a column that never mentions the word "Hamas," which is the terror group Haniyeh helps lead when he's not moonlighting as prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority. That last part, the Post got.

The pretext for Haniyeh's column is Israel's failure to meekly accept the kidnapping of one of its soldiers, compelling its military to re-enter the Gaza strip. Haniyeh complains of being occupied and besieged. Jerusalem blogger Israel Matzav, pointed to in a roundup by Soccer Dad, makes some of the elementary distinctions:

1. Gaza is no longer 'occupied.' It was Judenrein from August of last year until you brought [kindnapped soldier] Gilad Shilat into it two weeks ago. You cannot hide behind the 'occupation' and blame it for all your troubles any more. It's not there.

2. You weren't 'besieged.' You were invaded. You were invaded in retaliation for invading Israel and for continuously shooting Kassams at Israeli civilians since last summer's surrender and expulsion of Jews....

Picky.

Essentially we're facing a very simple problem. Via Ed Morrisey, here's Barry Rubin in the Jerusalem Post:

HERE ARE the basic points for understanding Palestinian politics:

There are hardly any moderate Palestinians in public life and even those few generally keep their mouths shut, or echo the militant majority. With few exceptions - countable on your fingers - a Palestinian moderate in practice can usually be defined as someone who apologizes for terrorism in good English. The mantra of "helping the moderates" cannot work under these conditions.

Fatah and PLO strategy rests on the belief that defeat is staved off as long as you keep fighting. Their only true victory is to continue the struggle. Of course, the cost of this is not only violence, suffering and disruption, but also a failure to achieve anything material.

This is why the "cycle of violence" concept is useless. Palestinians don't attack Israel because Israel attacks them, but because that is their sole program....

Surely at some time in the 1930's, American newspapers invited Nazis to write the occasional column. Eventually, they stopped. Up here in the first decade of the 21st century, we're still waiting.

Update: From Blue Crab Boulevard:

The Washington Post, which I have been fairly tough on, but regarded pretty much as a reliable news source on many - not all - subjects, has just taken a nose dive in my personal credibility index. This is the willful publishing of propaganda for terrorists.

Comments

[jack anagadir]

Re: GAZA, Palestine — As Americans commemorated etc., etc.
We continue missing the point. The issue is not about what happened last week, last month, or yesterday between Gaza and Israel but what happened in 1948 - this is the bottom-line issue. Because of the killing during WW2 of some 7 million Jews all of Europe felt totally guilty and shameful - as they should. My family in the Netherlands, schools, universities, newspapers, etc. wouldn't bring this up for some 40 years - it took a lot more than just Hitler to implement these atrocities. But now times have changed and we should have a hard look at Israel, what is happening with the Palestinians, etc. These two groups will never live in peace together because it is forced and artificial. The only way out is to get back to 1948 and let the right blend evolve. Look at other Arab countries, South-Africa, etc. as examples. Indeed the USA is supporting and financing Israel - the $64 question however is "WHY and HOW LONG." When that is no longer required Israel has to stand on its own feet and that will be difficult. They better look ahead and make friends in the Middle East itself!

[Christopher Fotos]

These two groups will never live in peace together because it is forced and artificial

They need not live in peace together--they could live in peace apart, except that lots of Palestinians have devoted themselves to murdering Jews. Jews object. Weird, huh.