Israel Matzav

Meshaal speaks

Gulf Coast Pundit links to a blog post about a speech in Damascus by Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal.

It was little more than a collection of bland cliches about Israeli aggression, Palestinian unity and staunch resolve to resist, with a demand for the release of prisoners held by Israel. "We are not interested in escalation. We want a peaceful resolution to this crisis, but you must understand the needs of the Palestinian people."

Die Welt, the German blog, notes that happily, the world no longer buys Meshaal's nonsense.

A year after Israel surrendered Gaza, due to Palestinian actions, there is no progress towards establishing a 'Palestinian state.' So long as 'Palestinian terror continues, there will be no political progress, no Palestinian state, no peace.

But this is the part of this post I found interesting:

It may be disingenuous of Israel to blame Abbas and Haniyah for what the Qassam brigades do, or for the actions of the Army of Islam kidnappers. Yet there can be little doubt that, like Yasser Arafat before them, they too are able to some degree to steer the actions of the militants - until the militants start to doubt their bone fide revolutionary credentials that is.

In the anarchic chaos of Gaza the Popular Resistance Committees were able to maintain a balance between the political and the military, until the international pressure on Hamas to compromise with Fatah seemed about to win the day.

This would have implied that the war in Gaza was over: after all the pre-1967 green line is Gaza's border. According to the admittedly ambiguous Prisoners Document the territories occupied in 1967 are the areas on which the Palestinian state is to be founded.

That's why the militants decided that this was the moment to raise the level of violence. By kidnapping a soldier they brought a halt to the progress of Palestine's would-be rulers towards genuine political unity and made their own people hostage to their extremist agenda. It's the same depressing scenario as always and it'll be a long time changing.

This implies that the 'Palestinian people' want the war to come to an end and want to reach a final settlement with Israel. I don't buy it. I can believe that the Arab countries are sick and tired of the 'Palestinians' and want to reach a final settlement. But I don't believe that the 'Palestinians' themselves, having been sold a pack of lies, are ready to do so.

Just look at Mr. Edbary.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:51 AM