Saturday, August 13, 2005

Now this is not especially encouraging

On the eve of the Israeli disengagement Hamas invites TV cameramen to take pictures of the Hamas militia in action. From the Jerusalem Post:
Meanwhile, in Gaza early Friday, about 1,000 armed and masked Hamas combatants staged a training exercise in which they practiced infiltrating and attacking Jewish settlements.

For the first time Hamas invited TV cameramen to film about 1,000 gunmen training ahead of the pullout. It wasn't clear whether this signaled an intent by the terrorist group to attack settlements during the impending pullout.
The release of the pictures of Hamas members rapelling from high-rise walls and jumping through hoops of fire was also seen as a challenge to the Palestinian Authority.

It is no secret that I do not support the current Israeli disengagement from Gaza. I rejected the plan as unsound for the sake of security, politics and the economy when it was first proposed as a central platform of the Israeli Labour party. Apparently, the majority of Israeli’s felt the same and elected the Likud party lead by Sharon who actively campaigned against the folly of “disengagement from Gaza”. Unlike Sharon, nothing that has come to pass to change my mind, and if anything, I am more opposed than ever.

I am not even convinced that security and peace can ever be had for Israelis and their neighbors if it requires that any area becomes Judenrein. I cannot fathom how 8,000 plus Israeli’s represent a threat to a democratic and free “Palestinian” state nor why for the sake of peace and security for all it requires a forced ethnic expulsion of any Jew from their home.

Why we in the West continue to say that we want to see a peaceful conclusion to the conflict between the Israeli’s and Palestinians and yet do not take the Palestinians seriously to task for their entrenched anti-Semitism and seek resolutions to the conflict by tailoring all negotiations to be sensitive to their bigotry and delusional thinking is beyond my ken. But having said that, please note, that this is one time that I sincerely hope and pray, that I am standing on the wrong side of history; for the price of being right in my conclusions - is far too high a price to ask any human heart to pay.

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