"Mr. Sharon is saying that the Gaza disengagement is not part of the Road Map, it is an alternative. We can only hope this will be an eye-opener for the American administration." - chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
Whenever I hear someone assail Israeli policies, I am tempted to ask: "Where were you four years ago when this senseless war started, daddy? Perhaps you would dispute the claim that the Palestinians initiated this conflict, but did you make any effort to end it when it was building up? Did you speak out against it then?"
At best, perhaps, some did speak out at great personal risk. Those who did certainly deserve our respect and likewise deserve to be heard now. Maybe others kept silent because they were scared of bodily harm. Who can blame them?
At worst, they did not care because they did not feel they were personally affected. Why should we care how they feel now? Or, perhaps, they openly supported the Palestinians' war against Israel. If they expect any of us to take them seriously, they have got to be kidding.
Push has come to shove on levels political and personal, especially in recent weeks. Yasser Arafat and his lieutenants regularly decry Israeli policies and ordinary Palestinians complain about not only Israel, but also about their fellow Palestinians. In other cases, Palestinians will criticize Israel without reservation and temper their words about their brethren, presumably out of fear.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, balked on September 15 when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Aharonot that he does not expect his Gaza pullout plan to revive the moribund Middle East peace plan known as the Road Map.
As the New York Times reported, Sharon said, "It could very well be that after the evacuation, there will be a very long period in which nothing else will happen. Israel will continue its war on terrorism and will stay in the territories that will remain?. Today, we are also not following the Road Map. I am not ready for this."
Erekat responded that Sharon's comments "validate our fears" that his plan is to consolidate Israel's hold on the West Bank and discard a two-state solution. He stated in the aforementioned quote that Sharon's Gaza withdrawal is an alternative to, and not part of, the Road Map.
Actually, Erekat misrepresents Sharon's statement. Sharon said that Israel is not following the Road Map "today." It may be that the prime minister has decided against ever considering a two-state solution, but it is a stretch to reach the conclusion that he definitively stated this.
Even so, most Israelis probably don't care what Sharon meant by that comment. They might care about the prime minister's intentions if Arab leaders had not squandered their credibility as a peace partner and as able to operate a government.
As of Friday, at least 995 Israelis and foreigners died in this senseless war that the Palestinians started. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in a raid on a Gaza settlement on Thursday. Two border police officers were killed on Wednesday after a young Palestinian woman detonated a bomb near a bus stop in Jerusalem. A 24-year-old Gaza woman, also an American citizen, died after her home was shelled by Arab terrorists. Sixteen perished in the August 31 bus bombing in Beersheba.
Interestingly, catching Arafat in a fundamental lie can be attributed to what many supporters of Israel would consider an unlikely source: Dennis Ross. The former Middle East chief envoy for ex-Presidents Bush and Clinton reported in his new book The Missing Peace that Arafat lied about Israel's final offer for an independent Palestinian state.
Ross presents two maps side by side: One allows for a contiguous state (the real final offer) and the second splits up the state into three separate pieces (Arafat's version). Arafat's version was actually close to Israel's initial offer, and Arafat even lied about the scope of that. With 18 days left in office, President Bill Clinton met with Arafat at the White House on January 2, 2001, in a last-ditch attempt to generate an accord with Israel and Arafat demanded changes that Israel would never accept. "He was prepared," Ross wrote, "to take the good part of the package for him, and redo the parts that required him to give."
Of course, we knew what Arafat and his lieutenants did when the conflict started. After all, they started it.
In Beit Hanun, a 27-year-old farmer who gives his name as Jamil complained how the fight between Israel and Hamas resulted in the destruction of his orchards and hothouses. Israeli troops raided the town after terrorists fired rockets from Beit Hanun (in Gaza) into the Israeli town of S'derot, where two residents were killed. Jamil's family was caught in the middle.
You can't blame Jamil for being angry at both sides and for remaining anonymous in a Jerusalem Report article. He asked that his real name not be used because he "doesn't want problems with Hamas." However, he is dismissive of the price Israelis must pay for this war. Of the 4-year-old boy's death in S'derot, Jamil said, "Sure it's sad. But what about the children killed here every day?" Citing the death of a 6-year-old boy, he asked, "Who cares about him?"
And: "The guys who launch the Kassams from here don't care. They come, fire and go home to sleep in their houses. They're not from here. And if a Kassam does land on an Israeli house, how much damage does it do, compared with the damage they've caused here? We've lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property. But unlike in Israel, nobody compensates me."
What about coordinating the townspeople to work in tandem with Israel to rid themselves of the Hamas interlopers?
They did consider that. German mediators had sought to arrange a meeting on the issue between Beit Hanun Mayor Ibrahim Hamad and S'derot Mayor Eli Moyal. Hamad reportedly declined to participate.
To take an educated guess, Hamad was probably threatened. Whatever the reason, what is Israel supposed to do if even well-intentioned Arabs won't cooperate?
Whenever I hear someone assail Israeli policies, I am tempted to ask: "Where were you four years ago when this senseless war started, daddy? Perhaps you would dispute the claim that the Palestinians initiated this conflict, but did you make any effort to end it when it was building up? Did you speak out against it then?"
At best, perhaps, some did speak out at great personal risk. Those who did certainly deserve our respect and likewise deserve to be heard now. Maybe others kept silent because they were scared of bodily harm. Who can blame them?
At worst, they did not care because they did not feel they were personally affected. Why should we care how they feel now? Or, perhaps, they openly supported the Palestinians' war against Israel. If they expect any of us to take them seriously, they have got to be kidding.
Push has come to shove on levels political and personal, especially in recent weeks. Yasser Arafat and his lieutenants regularly decry Israeli policies and ordinary Palestinians complain about not only Israel, but also about their fellow Palestinians. In other cases, Palestinians will criticize Israel without reservation and temper their words about their brethren, presumably out of fear.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, balked on September 15 when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Hebrew-language daily Yediot Aharonot that he does not expect his Gaza pullout plan to revive the moribund Middle East peace plan known as the Road Map.
As the New York Times reported, Sharon said, "It could very well be that after the evacuation, there will be a very long period in which nothing else will happen. Israel will continue its war on terrorism and will stay in the territories that will remain?. Today, we are also not following the Road Map. I am not ready for this."
Erekat responded that Sharon's comments "validate our fears" that his plan is to consolidate Israel's hold on the West Bank and discard a two-state solution. He stated in the aforementioned quote that Sharon's Gaza withdrawal is an alternative to, and not part of, the Road Map.
Actually, Erekat misrepresents Sharon's statement. Sharon said that Israel is not following the Road Map "today." It may be that the prime minister has decided against ever considering a two-state solution, but it is a stretch to reach the conclusion that he definitively stated this.
Even so, most Israelis probably don't care what Sharon meant by that comment. They might care about the prime minister's intentions if Arab leaders had not squandered their credibility as a peace partner and as able to operate a government.
As of Friday, at least 995 Israelis and foreigners died in this senseless war that the Palestinians started. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in a raid on a Gaza settlement on Thursday. Two border police officers were killed on Wednesday after a young Palestinian woman detonated a bomb near a bus stop in Jerusalem. A 24-year-old Gaza woman, also an American citizen, died after her home was shelled by Arab terrorists. Sixteen perished in the August 31 bus bombing in Beersheba.
Interestingly, catching Arafat in a fundamental lie can be attributed to what many supporters of Israel would consider an unlikely source: Dennis Ross. The former Middle East chief envoy for ex-Presidents Bush and Clinton reported in his new book The Missing Peace that Arafat lied about Israel's final offer for an independent Palestinian state.
Ross presents two maps side by side: One allows for a contiguous state (the real final offer) and the second splits up the state into three separate pieces (Arafat's version). Arafat's version was actually close to Israel's initial offer, and Arafat even lied about the scope of that. With 18 days left in office, President Bill Clinton met with Arafat at the White House on January 2, 2001, in a last-ditch attempt to generate an accord with Israel and Arafat demanded changes that Israel would never accept. "He was prepared," Ross wrote, "to take the good part of the package for him, and redo the parts that required him to give."
Of course, we knew what Arafat and his lieutenants did when the conflict started. After all, they started it.
In Beit Hanun, a 27-year-old farmer who gives his name as Jamil complained how the fight between Israel and Hamas resulted in the destruction of his orchards and hothouses. Israeli troops raided the town after terrorists fired rockets from Beit Hanun (in Gaza) into the Israeli town of S'derot, where two residents were killed. Jamil's family was caught in the middle.
You can't blame Jamil for being angry at both sides and for remaining anonymous in a Jerusalem Report article. He asked that his real name not be used because he "doesn't want problems with Hamas." However, he is dismissive of the price Israelis must pay for this war. Of the 4-year-old boy's death in S'derot, Jamil said, "Sure it's sad. But what about the children killed here every day?" Citing the death of a 6-year-old boy, he asked, "Who cares about him?"
And: "The guys who launch the Kassams from here don't care. They come, fire and go home to sleep in their houses. They're not from here. And if a Kassam does land on an Israeli house, how much damage does it do, compared with the damage they've caused here? We've lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property. But unlike in Israel, nobody compensates me."
What about coordinating the townspeople to work in tandem with Israel to rid themselves of the Hamas interlopers?
They did consider that. German mediators had sought to arrange a meeting on the issue between Beit Hanun Mayor Ibrahim Hamad and S'derot Mayor Eli Moyal. Hamad reportedly declined to participate.
To take an educated guess, Hamad was probably threatened. Whatever the reason, what is Israel supposed to do if even well-intentioned Arabs won't cooperate?