Waiting for the sky to fall

Where's Chicken Little when you need a real paranoid conspiracy theorist???


So we presently find ourselves in the "shock and awe" aftermath of Palestinian elections (no pun intended....but you never know!). The popular thought permeating the international scene is that any Hamas led government must a) give up their arms (weapons), b) renounce their platform, that is, recognize Israel's right to exist and c) honor and commit to all international agreements signed by the PA/PLO over the past 4 decades. I would like to comment on these 3 pre-conditions to any international financial assistance, specifically the why and how....Why Hamas won't agree and how the international community can make them.

A) Put down the weapons, stupid!!!
Why......that's like asking Barry Bonds to continue to hit home runs, but he can't use his bat anymore. By taking the military/terrorist route, Hamas has proven themselves able to withstand Fatah's significant influence, and continue to receive aid from rogue countries like Iran. A weaponless Hamas is a pipedream; a silly suggestion that takes the focus away from the real issue here....HAMAS IS A TERRORIST ORGANISATION. Period. Why would they disarm?
How we can make them disarm.....First, it depends how you view the current conflict. If, as I, you see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a mere part of a greater conflict betweem Israel and the Arab world, then I would suggest IDF operations, continued targeted assasinations of those with terror ties and finally, treating Hamas as the group they truly are.....a terrorist organisation who happened to get elected, not as elected officials who "chose" the terror route.

B) Recognize Israel's right to exist (as a Jewish state in the Middle East....)
Why......This is pretty much what separates Hamas from Fatah. At least Fatah was willing to concede the fact that the Jews aren't going anywhere......ever. As I have mentioned in previous entries, we (Jews) do not like to swim. So, any attempt to "push us to the sea" will be fruitless. Hamas dropping this from their platform is as likely as Stephen Harper sticking to the Kyoto agreements and allowing Quebec to become its own country.....don't hold your breath. My question to you, dear reader, is would you rather deal with the enemy who will stab you in the back (Fatah), or the enemy that will spit and curse you to your face, then stab you repeatedly in the stomach (Hamas)??? Is this really a viable option?
How we can make them recognize Israel.....We can't. They won't. Why try? The worst thing we (everyone) can do is truly believe that Hamas is out there to improve the lives of Palestinians. That may be a consequence of their platform, but that is not their goal. They want the region void of Jews. Whether we leave of our own accord or they blow us up is irrelevant. For them, no Jew is a good Jew.

C) Uphold ALL international agreements already in place.
Why......Because they didn't sign them, why should they honour them? Hard to argue with logic like that, eh? Well, I will try. If that line was adopted by all governments worldwide, we would be facing a crisis of anarchy and chaos never before seen by human eyes. And if that isn't enough, by not upholding existing, negotiated agreements, Hamas opens a can of worms that will be hard to contain. If they are not bound to those agreements, then, is Israel still bound to those agreements? If not, then Hamas will find themselves in a pretty precarious position, with the full might and strength of character of Israel that history will remember as the guiding light representing a new dawn to an old, but not forgotten, conflict.

My predictions......
1) Things will stay quid pro quo for the next few months. The hudna will be respected and all will seem quiet and great and grand until......
2) Hamas, comfortable with their new political responsibilities, re-embarks on their mission of terror. Israel, hoping the calm would remain until at least after elections (March 28), retaliates, as acting PM Olmert tries to persuade the Israeli people that he, and not BiBi, is best qualified to run government and destroy the Palestinian terror infrastructure. Fortunately or not, I don't think the Israeli voters will buy it. If Hamas is stupid enough to engage in terror in March, they will be handing BiBi the Premiership of the State of Israel. In times of terror, who better to lead the country than an ex-military guy? How about an ex-military guy with experience as PM already? How about an ex-military guy with past PM experience and the kahones to move unilaterally and draw up Israel's final borders, recognized by the PA or not.

Hamas has a real opportunity here. Hamas can change her ways, protect her people, build a country from the ground up. They can literally save the Palestinian people from generations of squalor, poverty and intellectual hunger. Or, like the end of the Weimar Republic of Germany when Hitler ascended to power in 1932, these terrorists will use democracy as a means to an evil end. Democracy can save the world if used properly. It can also cover the world in a hazy fog of confusion, a thick mist of hate and a cold breeze of intolerance.

Either time will tell which route Hamas will take, or we push Hamas in the right direction and hope that blind hatred gives way to nation building. Can you guess which option I have my money on????

Democracy in action.....or is it?

So the Palestinians have exercised their right to elect their leaders, and must now live with that choice. But, as democracy is still more of an ideology than an applicable mode of government, it would behoove the Palestinians to try and understand the true nature of democracy. I thought I might help them out with that.

Last summer, a very smart Israeli analyst, Yisrael Ne'eman, said something about democracy that has stuck with me and that I agree with whole-heartedly. A true democracy can only be judged by how the leaders leave their post, not how they were elected. For examples let us look at a couple of other Middle East countries, namely, Iraq under Hussein and Egypt under Mubarak. While both claimed to function as democracies (Saddam claimed to have won 100% of the votes, Mubarak closer to 95%) given the mode of electing its leaders, neither can be true democracies as those "elected" to power could not lose their power or position. If we look at Israel's democracy in contrast, leaders are elected in a similar fashion to Iraq and Egypt (ballots, not bullets), but the elected leaders, knowing their time on the top of the political ladder is short, will work towards re-election by passing laws and starting new initiatives to build the country and unify her people. Then, once the ruling party's turn is done, we start the cycle over again. That, my friends, is democracy. So I would hope that the Palestinians hold their government responsible for representing their values and wishes. It is my belief that the Palestinian people yearn for their own state. A state with a responsible government that will improve the daily lives of her citizens. Arafat's Fatah failed time and again in that endeavour, which has led to gross dissatisfaction among the masses and to Hamas' stunning and shocking victory.

My next point was alluded to in yesterday's entry. Voting is just the beginning of a long and winding road towards democracy, liberty and freedom. In order to truly make this democracy successful, the Palestinian people need to understand that they are partners with Hamas in government, not their drones. They must work together in order to achieve those goals they pursue, otherwise, they will be no better off with Hamas than they were with Fatah. It is this partnership between citizens and state that defines one's success. This is a truly an opportunity, an historic opportunity, to leave the despair and hate behind and make the concerted effort to build a nation. The beauty is that the world would totally support it. Unfortunately, as long as Hamas calls for Israel's destruction, the building of Palestine will not commence. Building versus destroying.....that's the real question here. And it's the Palestinians choice to make and theirs to answer to. Israel will continue to seek peace and reconciliation, that constant will not change. In order to truly change the landscape of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Palestinians must choose themselves for once. And that would be a choice worth fighting for.

Have a good and safe shabbos.

They still want YOU dead.....

My friends,

2 elections this week...congratulations PM Harper and the whole of Canada for ever so gently putting our collective feet down on corruption and the Liberals. While I will, inevitably, comment more on the Tories still surprising win (see polls from 2 months ago), this blog entry is dedicated to the Hamas victory in the territories.

There are 132 seats in the Palestinian parliament, 70 of which just went to candidates flying the Hamas colours. Here's one sick and twisted example....One of the 70 candidates to win a seat is a woman named Miriam Farhat, also known as Umm Nidal. Farhat, in a video message, called on all sons and daughters of jihad to strap themselves with explosives and blow up Israeli civilians. That was yesterday. Today, this same terrorist is charged with the political responsibility of representing those who elected her. How sick is that? In Canada, we elect businessmen, lawyers and professors, and in the odd election, an entertainer here and a hockey player there, in the territories, the Palestinians were so fed up with Fatah corruption and inability to provide the most basic social services, they elected a well known terrorist group whose sole aim and goal is the destruction of the Jewish State and to push all the Jews to the sea. Well, newly elected leaders of the Palestinian people, I have a little secret to share with you....Jews don't like to swim. You can take my word for it or learn that particular lesson the hard way.... my gut (and history) says you'll go for the latter.

I am of 2 minds right now. On the one hand, I truly believe in democracy. I believe it is every person's right, nay obligation, to express themselves through voting. And I am happy that the Palestinian people have exercised that opportunity, no matter the result. But if the Palestinian people believe that voting is all democracy is about, they will learn some hard lessons soon. Some people will claim that this Hamas victory is a sign that the Palestinian people believe in Hamas' charter which calls for the destruction of Israel. I don't buy that. Like in all democracies, different people have different priorities when it comes to how they vote, and this Hamas win shows me, at least, that the Palestinian people are sick and tired of the corruption that has plagued Fatah and Arafat and his cronies since Oslo. Israelis have the right to live in peace and security, that is what they expect of their government. Well, Palestinians have the right to demand functioning hospitals and schools, running water and sewage systems, infrastructure and economy. Fatah could not deliver, so they have chosen to allow Hamas a chance to build what Fatah could not, a Palestinian state. To the Palestinian people, the fact that Hamas openly calls for Israel's destruction is not the sole reason for it being elected, it is simply a by-product of a successful campaign promising the social and welfare services that Fatah could not deliver. Unfortunately for the rest of us, it is not so simple.

Hamas is a terrorist organisation. They want all of us dead. You, me, my little sister living in Jerusalem, my friends in Tel Aviv and my family in the Old City. All of us, gone forever. Now they are in a much better position to accomplish their goals. They hope to achieve a similar government to that of President Ahmadinejad of Iran, one filled with flowery anti-Semitic rhetoric and whimsical modes of world destruction to prop themselves to the leaders of the Palestinian people and the Arab world. Their forray into politics, albeit successful, is still in its infancy. Perhaps their attempt at politics will lift the veil of terrorism and evil and give way to the cool yet warming breeze of reconciliation and peace? Ya, right....I won't hold my breath.

I wonder what Sharon would say to all this. Undoubtedly, he was prepared to tackle this problem head on and continue to lead the Israeli people and Jews all around the Diaspora into this new obstacle, but now, without his experience and resiliency, I feel lost. Who will now stand tall and lead the Jewish nation ahead? Will Olmert be able? Will this new Hamas reality push Israeli voters a little further right and give BiBi Netanyahu another chance as Prime Minister? Only time will tell. Time will also tell us where the winding road towards Middle East peace takes us next. How many stops will we make before we reach our desired destination? How much more blood will spill and soil that road? But the scariest question of all becomes what if we never reach our destination? At what point do we abandon all hope, quit leading idyllic lives and turn to deal with the reality that now presents itself? At what point does the glass turn from half-full to half-empty? It's a question we must all ask ourselves, no matter how scary the answer may be.