The Palestinians have a strange way of proving they are ready to run their own independent state. Hardly a day passed in the last few weeks without an incident proving that all they are capable of is running a state into the ground.
Their conduct plays neatly into the hands of Ariel Sharon, who makes clear in a New York Times Magazine article that he is advancing a separation strategy rather than bothering with a negotiated settlement.
In the thick of the prime minister's unilateral steps, newspapers were plastered with these headlines: "Militants' blast kills 2 Palestinians by Israel checkpoint"; "Thugs disrupt gathering of Arafat critics"; "Homeless Palestinians seize government office in Gaza"; "Yasser bungled Gaza slay probe"; "Arab Bank funneled terror funds - suit."
With these kinds of headlines, how can they be trusted to govern their own state?
The worst of it occurred Wednesday, August 11, when a terrorist killed two fellow Palestinians, and seriously wounded a 6-year-old child and three Israeli border police officers 200 yards from a checkpoint at the northern edge of Jerusalem. According to news accounts, officials said that Israeli soldiers approached a suspicious car when a bomb in a backpack-like bag exploded by the side of the road.
A terrorist leader, Zacaria Zubeidah, actually telephoned an Associated Press reporter and explained that the bomber was headed for a destination in Jerusalem and was forced to abandon the bomb as police moved in. "We found ourselves forced to detonate it at the spot," he said.
In the hospital emergency room, a Palestinian victim rationalized over what his brethren did to him. "I don't want to blame them," said Rateb Abu Fkhaideh, 47, who was treated for a leg injury.
"Why are you defending them?" asked Nader Omar, 35. "They are wrong. We should raise our voice against them. These guys don't use their minds." Two others nodded in agreement.
The next day, Thursday (Aug. 12), several dozen homeless Palestinians seized control of the governor's office in protest of the Palestinian Authority's failure to ease their plight after their homes were damaged or destroyed by Israeli troops. Yusef Shaat told the Associated Press, "Our houses have been demolished, we have no homes, no beds, no clothes - and nobody from the Palestinian Authority comes to see us."
Maybe Shaat was not aware that PA leader Yasser Arafat was too busy diverting anywhere from $900 million to $5 billion to his own uses.
Saturday, 100 out-of-work university graduates took their turn by raiding a PA building in a Gaza refugee camp demanding that the Palestinian leadership find them jobs. "We have asked all those in charge and all the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council to find a solution for our situation by finding us jobs, but no one is listening to us," explained protest leader Shadi Shaath.
Then, on Sunday, columnist Jeff Jacoby described in The Boston Globe how Arafat suppresses unflattering news by closing down newspapers and threatening or even employing violence against journalists. When Palestinians danced in the streets to celebrate the deaths of 3,000 Americans in the 9-11 attacks, an Arafat aide told the Associated Press's Jerusalem bureau that if footage of the street-dancing is aired then "we cannot guarantee the life" of the cameraman. Reporters were warned last month that they would be severely punished if they covered clashes between rival Palestinian groups in Gaza.
Khaled Abu Toameh, an Arab reporter for The Jerusalem Post, said earlier this year as quoted by Jacoby, "People in the rest of the world? do not get an accurate picture of what happens in the region. Partly to blame are foreign journalists who allow themselves to be misled? The bulk of the blame rests with the PA, whose tyrannical approach and control of the media creates an atmosphere of intimidation and fear."
These examples of thuggery, neglect, incompetence and corruption discourage confidence in the Palestinians' qualifications as a viable peace partner at the same time that Sharon pursues his disengagement plan, which in essence means separation from the Palestinians. Sharon and his lieutenants make no bones about that direction in a Times magazine article by James Bennet, who just completed a three-year stint covering the Israeli conflict.
Sharon understands the political reality, Bennet writes: "Israelis might not believe they could negotiate a peace, but they also did not want their children to continue dying to protect a few settlers in Gaza. Sharon initially opposed a West Bank barrier, but he embraced it and turned it to his advantage when it became politically unstoppable."
And so Sharon moves forward, however slowly, on his plans to leave Gaza, complete the barrier and consolidate portions of the West Bank. He is not waiting to talk to the Palestinians.
Palestinians contributed to Sharon's political ammunition with a one-two punch when terrorists killed a Palestinian youth, 15, and then tried to blame his death on Israel, officially, to the United Nations.
On July 22, militants sought to fire rockets into the Israeli town of Sderot from the yard of a home in Beit Hanoun. When the family sought to stop them, the terrorists killed Hassan Jamil el-Zaneen, 15. At the time, the Palestinians dubbed the youth "a martyr," but what really happened was amply publicized. There's more.
A little over a week ago, Reuters news service reported that Hassan was counted among the 59 Palestinian "martyrs" who had been "killed by the Israeli occupying forces" between July 8 and August 6 in a letter that Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian UN observer, sent to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
This blatant series of events would not surprise Sharon, considering his words to Bennet: "This area here, it's an empire of lies. It's an empire of lies. They look into your eyes and lie. It's very hard for you to understand. It's very hard for us to understand. But that is the situation here. Therefore, you have to be careful. Here, in this region here, declarations, speeches, words, are worthless."
Whatever you think of Sharon, how can you dispute even that statement?
Their conduct plays neatly into the hands of Ariel Sharon, who makes clear in a New York Times Magazine article that he is advancing a separation strategy rather than bothering with a negotiated settlement.
In the thick of the prime minister's unilateral steps, newspapers were plastered with these headlines: "Militants' blast kills 2 Palestinians by Israel checkpoint"; "Thugs disrupt gathering of Arafat critics"; "Homeless Palestinians seize government office in Gaza"; "Yasser bungled Gaza slay probe"; "Arab Bank funneled terror funds - suit."
With these kinds of headlines, how can they be trusted to govern their own state?
The worst of it occurred Wednesday, August 11, when a terrorist killed two fellow Palestinians, and seriously wounded a 6-year-old child and three Israeli border police officers 200 yards from a checkpoint at the northern edge of Jerusalem. According to news accounts, officials said that Israeli soldiers approached a suspicious car when a bomb in a backpack-like bag exploded by the side of the road.
A terrorist leader, Zacaria Zubeidah, actually telephoned an Associated Press reporter and explained that the bomber was headed for a destination in Jerusalem and was forced to abandon the bomb as police moved in. "We found ourselves forced to detonate it at the spot," he said.
In the hospital emergency room, a Palestinian victim rationalized over what his brethren did to him. "I don't want to blame them," said Rateb Abu Fkhaideh, 47, who was treated for a leg injury.
"Why are you defending them?" asked Nader Omar, 35. "They are wrong. We should raise our voice against them. These guys don't use their minds." Two others nodded in agreement.
The next day, Thursday (Aug. 12), several dozen homeless Palestinians seized control of the governor's office in protest of the Palestinian Authority's failure to ease their plight after their homes were damaged or destroyed by Israeli troops. Yusef Shaat told the Associated Press, "Our houses have been demolished, we have no homes, no beds, no clothes - and nobody from the Palestinian Authority comes to see us."
Maybe Shaat was not aware that PA leader Yasser Arafat was too busy diverting anywhere from $900 million to $5 billion to his own uses.
Saturday, 100 out-of-work university graduates took their turn by raiding a PA building in a Gaza refugee camp demanding that the Palestinian leadership find them jobs. "We have asked all those in charge and all the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council to find a solution for our situation by finding us jobs, but no one is listening to us," explained protest leader Shadi Shaath.
Then, on Sunday, columnist Jeff Jacoby described in The Boston Globe how Arafat suppresses unflattering news by closing down newspapers and threatening or even employing violence against journalists. When Palestinians danced in the streets to celebrate the deaths of 3,000 Americans in the 9-11 attacks, an Arafat aide told the Associated Press's Jerusalem bureau that if footage of the street-dancing is aired then "we cannot guarantee the life" of the cameraman. Reporters were warned last month that they would be severely punished if they covered clashes between rival Palestinian groups in Gaza.
Khaled Abu Toameh, an Arab reporter for The Jerusalem Post, said earlier this year as quoted by Jacoby, "People in the rest of the world? do not get an accurate picture of what happens in the region. Partly to blame are foreign journalists who allow themselves to be misled? The bulk of the blame rests with the PA, whose tyrannical approach and control of the media creates an atmosphere of intimidation and fear."
These examples of thuggery, neglect, incompetence and corruption discourage confidence in the Palestinians' qualifications as a viable peace partner at the same time that Sharon pursues his disengagement plan, which in essence means separation from the Palestinians. Sharon and his lieutenants make no bones about that direction in a Times magazine article by James Bennet, who just completed a three-year stint covering the Israeli conflict.
Sharon understands the political reality, Bennet writes: "Israelis might not believe they could negotiate a peace, but they also did not want their children to continue dying to protect a few settlers in Gaza. Sharon initially opposed a West Bank barrier, but he embraced it and turned it to his advantage when it became politically unstoppable."
And so Sharon moves forward, however slowly, on his plans to leave Gaza, complete the barrier and consolidate portions of the West Bank. He is not waiting to talk to the Palestinians.
Palestinians contributed to Sharon's political ammunition with a one-two punch when terrorists killed a Palestinian youth, 15, and then tried to blame his death on Israel, officially, to the United Nations.
On July 22, militants sought to fire rockets into the Israeli town of Sderot from the yard of a home in Beit Hanoun. When the family sought to stop them, the terrorists killed Hassan Jamil el-Zaneen, 15. At the time, the Palestinians dubbed the youth "a martyr," but what really happened was amply publicized. There's more.
A little over a week ago, Reuters news service reported that Hassan was counted among the 59 Palestinian "martyrs" who had been "killed by the Israeli occupying forces" between July 8 and August 6 in a letter that Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian UN observer, sent to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
This blatant series of events would not surprise Sharon, considering his words to Bennet: "This area here, it's an empire of lies. It's an empire of lies. They look into your eyes and lie. It's very hard for you to understand. It's very hard for us to understand. But that is the situation here. Therefore, you have to be careful. Here, in this region here, declarations, speeches, words, are worthless."
Whatever you think of Sharon, how can you dispute even that statement?