Jamie

Weinstein

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December 30, 2008

Hamas Proves Hope for a ‘Peace Agreement’ is Delusion

"Israel's air strikes in Gaza end any faint hopes that President-elect Barack Obama will take office with a clear path toward Middle East peace laid out before him," Ben Smith and Harry Sigel wrote in The Politico newspaper on Sunday. Anyone who had any "hopes," no matter how "faint," that there would be some type of peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians anytime soon should relocate to the Republic of Delusionstan.

For some time, there has been silly posturing by the current Bush Administration that peace was within reach between Israelis and Palestinians. In November 2007, the Bush Administration convened a peace conference in Annapolis, Md. with the goal of creating an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal in 2008. In November of this year, nearly a year after the Annapolis Conference, White House press secretary Dana Perino conceded the glaringly obvious: "We do not think that it's likely that it (a peace deal) would happen before the end of the year." What a surprise!

As Israel pounds Hamas terrorists in Gaza, the reality of the already crystal clear current predicament has become even clearer. It is impossible to create a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians when an organization that is ideologically committed to not only the destruction of Israel, but the destruction of Jews generally (read Hamas's charter), wields power. No amount of conferences, meetings, symposiums, talks, forums, seminars or tea parties will change that reality.

While "distinguished" members of the international community hurl invectives at Israeli actions to root out terror in Gaza, it is worthwhile to remind people of a few crucial facts.

1)   Gaza is not occupied by Israel. The Israeli government uprooted its own citizens from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and gave the Palestinian Arabs of Gaza a chance to prove that they could properly govern themselves. So far the results have not been very impressive (see number 2).

2)   Given the opportunity to choose their own government, the Palestinians overwhelmingly elected Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization. Whether this is because the majority of Palestinians are ideologically supportive of Hamas or because the ruling Fatah Party was rife with corruption, the fact remains the same: Palestinians chose the government they have.

3)   Hamas terrorists broke a ceasefire and resumed their barrage of indiscriminate Qassam rocket attacks against innocent Israeli men, women and children. No state can accept such a state of affairs.

You don't have a heart if you do not feel pain for each and every innocent Palestinian Arab who has suffered in Gaza. You don't have a brain if you fail to understand that those responsible for the suffering are the Palestinian Arabs themselves.

There are surely some uninformed but fair-minded observers of the conflict who see the gross disproportion in casualties and deaths between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs and draw conclusions accordingly. Yet, it must be remembered that the intent of Israel is to target Hamas terrorists while the intent of Hamas terrorists is to target Israeli civilians. There is no moral equivalence between the two strategies.

If Hamas had the same technology and military sophistication of Israel, the number of dead on Israeli streets would be uncountable. Israel has the military means to turn the Gaza Strip into a pile of rubble. They don't and they wouldn't. Israel has no desire to kill even a single Palestinian Arab civilian.

In fact, as commentator and retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters wrote in the New York Post Monday, so far Israel's air operation has the potential to be the most accurate in recorded military history. "Given the fact that Hamas adheres to the terrorist practice of locating command sites, arsenals and training facilities in heavily populated areas," Peters wrote, "the results suggest that the IDF – supported by first-rate intelligence work – may have executed the most accurate wave of air strikes in history, with a 15-to-1 terrorist-to-civilian kill ratio."

While Israel focuses on rooting out terror in Gaza, it should also keep its eye to the North. In Southern Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has put his terrorist fighters on alert. It is very possible that Hezbollah will use this current conflict as a pretext to reignite its own conflict with the Jewish state. (By the way, Israel doesn't occupy Southern Lebanon either. Can we stop the "occupation" causes terrorism rhetoric yet?)

Barack Obama should not expect to broker a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians anytime soon after assuming office. There is little he or any international leader can do to improve the prospects for peace in the short term. Peace will only be achieved when Palestinian leaders emerge who genuinely seek peace and are willing to fight terror. Until then, Israel will act to protect itself and its citizens.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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