The Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip continues, but not without its problems as evidenced by the fierce resistance of anti-disengagement “activists” in Kfar Darom and elsewhere. As much as I believe that this entire evacuation is a colossal error of judgement on Israel’s part and personally side completely with the settlers who are losing their homes, I don’t for a second condone the actions of the resisters in Kfar Darom; the soldiers and police they assaulted in what they had to know was ultimately a futile attempt at avoiding eviction weren’t the enemy, they were civil and military personnel doing their jobs, as dubious as the nature of the assignment may have been. As I opined in a previous post, such behavior only serves to provide the real enemy with entertainment while demonstrating a divided Jewish population(remember the phrase, “divide and conquer?”). The arson episodes were no better than the terrorism of Hamas, and one would have thought well beneath the dignity of anyone raised in the traditions of Jewish belief. Those responsible should be prosecuted as criminals, not given any leeway due to enheightened passions.

Sunday’s evacuations include the last three Gush Katif settlements, during which the IDF anticipates more resistance.

With laundered clothes hanging to dry outside some of the homes and the sprinklers watering the manicured, neatly-cut grass, anti-disengagement activists piled up haystacks, wooden planks, garbage cans and a burnt-out car at the entrance to the settlement, which they planned to light up in an almost festive bonfire once the security forces arrive and try to enter the community.

Michael Matza has a column in Jewish World Review about a settler family’s last Sabbath in Gaza.

While Mahmoud Abbas{Abu Mazen} works to shore up the PA’s (his) authority in the Gaza Strip, Hamas assures one and all that pullout or not, nothing has changed.

But in a new challenge to Abbas, dozens of Hamas gunmen held a press conference in one of the main squares of Gaza City on Saturday, where they announced that they would continue to launch terror attacks on Israel even after the disengagement. PA policemen who arrived at the scene did not intervene.

“This retreat does not mean the end of our battle, but it is the beginning,” said one of the Hamas gunmen, who identified himself as Abu Obaidah. “Our battle with the enemy is long and will continue.”

And the greatest government blunder in the history of the State of Israel continues….

The evacuation of Israeli Settlers from The Gaza Strip seems to be moving a little more smoothly than anticipated, according to various Israeli military personnel, though there has been more than a little violence in response to the pullout. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made a plea to the settlers to blame him for the evacuation, not to take it out on the soldiers and police personnel who are merely doing their jobs, rightly saying that things are tough and stressful enough for them as it is. The soldiers and police involved in the evacuation have apparently(no excessive force complaints have been made public at this time) both professional and sympathetic in carrying out what has to be an utterly distasteful task.

Last update - 14:51 17/08/2005

PM to settlers: Don’t hurt troops over disengagement, hurt me

By Haaretz Service and agencies

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, beseeching settlers to blame him, not soldiers, for the diasengagement, Wednesday called the images of Gaza settlers being removed from their homes “heartbreaking,” and praised the restraint of both settlers and soldiers. Sharon appealed to opponents of the disengagement to avoid physical and verbal confrontation with the security forces. “I want to truly appeal to everyone, not to attack the police, the women and men soldiers and police . Don’t blame them. Don’t make it hard on them. Don’t hurt them, hurt me.”                                           There are some excellent links within the article. As far as some of the ads go, remember that Haaretz is Israel’s answer to the New York Times.         -”it’s Bush’s fault!”

Some of the more tragic occurences thus far have included this and this, and Israeli media seems to have skipped lightly over a couple of attacks by Palestinians that fortunately resulted in no injuries.

There is good streaming coverage of all military related aspects of the evacuation at the IDF’s website.

And of course, lurking in the background, is the specter of consequences for this entire foolish, unprecedented submission by the Israeli government to terrorism. 

If things hold up and violence does not accellerate, at least the Israelis will show the Palestinians that they are still one people, that this dumb move on the part of their government, despite uprooting so many Jews from their homes, will not drive a wedge between them that the terrorists can exploit.

This was, of course, to be expected, people are people and when their own government evicts them from their homes in order to give their land away to people who have been murdering their friends and family… There were bound to be dissenters who would resort to violence.

I can’t say I approve, nor can I say I disapprove. I know how disgusted I felt, here in San Francisco back when we invaded Iraq, watching hundreds of complete and total assholes blocking major street intersections in protest so that no vehicles… including ambulances… could get through. Throwing newspaper vending machines across streets, shattering store windows… I don’t know what it feels like to be in the position those evictees are in, but I can well imagine. I would be seething. In a previous post about the then pending Jewish evacuation of the Gaza Strip, I referred to it as Enemy Domain, which about sums it up.

But right or wrong, it’s unfortunate and it would be better if the Israeli Government reneged on the deal. It would be fine, the Palestinians have made a science of reneging on agreements they’ve made with Israel and there does, after all, come a time to draw the line.

I say ‘unfortunate’ because I think that there’s a strong chance things could accellerate to the point where Israeli police and soldiers clash with civilians, I say the Knesset should renege because should the settlers decide to take a stand, that clash between uniformed and non-uniformed Jews will not only provide amusement for the Palestinians, it will also send them a message that their terrorism has done far more than simply gain them territory, it has also violently divided the Israelis. The MSM will be sure to juice things up by assembling footage of isolated violent events into a package that depicts widespread chaos and massive government brutality and countries like France that have dreamed of an end to Israel will point to the video as an example of Israel’s “brutish, bullying, fiendish nature” or some such poppycock, “which has been directed toward the oppression of these poor, peaceful Palestinians whose land they stole.”

Meanwhile,

Settler leaders’ pledges for a non-violent resistance lasted only several minutes after the Sunday midnight closure of Kissufim Crossing. Hundreds of anti-disengagement youth attacked an IDF jeep outside of Neveh Dekalim, the largest settlement in Gush Katif.

Witnesses reported that the teens ransacked the contents of the jeep and burned it by the side of the road. Less than a half an hour later, they punctured the tires of an army vehicle. The vehicle’s crew reportedly remained inside, surrounded by rioters.

…. A group of approximately 500 youth marched out of the settlement west toward the Mor Bridge, in the direction of the Kissufim crossing leading out of Gush Katif. The youths jammed rods into the joints of the bridge and set down bent nails in order to shred tires of IDF troops coming to aid the disengagement.

Violence against IDF forces was not exclusive to Gaza - an IDF officer was wounded late Sunday night in northern Samaria during a clash between anti-pullout activists and soldiers who had put up roadblocks around settlements due to be evacuated.

My take is that this is a no-win. Sharon will stick to his guns, a lot of people will resist and the inevitable will occur. When the smoke clears, the only winners will be Fatah and Hamas.

Tomorrow is the official day for commencement of the Gaza Strip evacuation by Israelis, and the two principal Palestinian political parties are turning it into a circus, vying for control of the “spoils” of terrorism in a country whose parliamentary majority is so desperate for an end to terrorism that they’re grasping at the nonexistant straws of the Palestinians’ “word.”

Which word that is, I have no idea, because both Fatah(the Palestinian Authority’s party) and Hamas are not only arguing over whose terrorism was more responsible for the Likud party breaking an Israeli precedent and kowtowing to terrorists, but they’re also both promising more of the same(terrorism, that is) with their boasts that they’ve only just begun and will have control over all Israel before they’re done.

So what the hell are these Israelis thinking?

Hamas and Fatah are having a real outing over there

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The militant group Hamas came out of hiding yesterday to hold a mass press conference, distributing the phone numbers of 34 multilingual spokesmen in a fight for press exposure as Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip this week.
    Among Palestinians, the struggle is between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority — both of which take credit for successfully pressuring Israel to evacuate 21 Gaza Strip settlements and four West Bank enclaves.
    Determined to win the airwaves, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday inaugurated a special Gaza-withdrawal press center, complete with live-feed points for TV crews, a 24-hour text messaging service for news updates, maps and free hats and T-shirts.

Free hats and T-shirts. Who knows, maybe some all-beef wieners on the grill, some non-alcoholic beer and some live music, a personal appearance by Miss Semtex 2005…

This is just too friggin’ much.

Have Jason Alexander, Rhea Perlman, Danny Devito, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, pictured at right, spent a tad too much time in the fantasy factory?

http://www.jewishworldreview.com |(KRT) JERUSALEM — After honing his skills as a vampire, international spy and the Grim Reaper, sex symbol Brad Pitt is joining a cadre of other Hollywood stars to tackle a project that no one has ever pulled off: making peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Read the rest, LOL!

In about a week, the Israeli population will watch as their government supervises a mass eviction of fellow Jews from their homes in order to cede land to the Palestinians. This is land the Israelis captured while defending themselves against an invasion by their Islamic neighbors, an invasion that, had it succeeded, would have revisited the “Final Solution” strategy of the Nazis.

The Israelis who have fought for this turn of events are obviously either as lemmingly as our own U.S. liberals or simply dumb enough to believe that just because the Palestinians have lied to them or violated every single peace agreement  they’ve signed off on before, this time they mean it. Once they have Gaza, all violence will cease. Can you fucking believe that? No, let me say it with feeling: Can you Fucking believe that!!!!!!!?

The Knesset has approved what amounts to the construction of a giant terrorist armory and firebase at the expense of Israeli civilians’ homes. I suppose we could call that “Enemy domain.”

A column by Barry Rubin in the Jerusalem Post kicks butt.

Aug. 10, 2005 10:04  | Updated Aug. 10, 2005 12:50 The logic of the Middle East By BARRY RUBIN It cannot be repeated often enough that Middle East politics are not like those of other places. It make sense once one understands the region?’s history, politics and institutions, but the region often defies the logic that semi-informed outsiders expect. So… * There will be no decline in incitement or change in the public rhetoric of Palestinian officials speaking to their own people. Thus, of course, Israeli suspicions regarding their intentions will be reinforced. * The Palestinian movement will continue to be oriented toward conquest and revenge rather than nation-state nationalism. * No stable government with real control over the territory will be created in the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Authority will not even try too hard to do that. On the contrary, it will ignore the road map’s provisions about stopping terrorism and disarming radical groups and simply keep insisting on getting a state right away… What the hell do the Utopians in Israel believe they are accomplishing? We ought to send them every year’s installment of “I’ll hold the football, Charlie Brown, you come running up and kick it….”     No, dammit, I’m still not done!   Here’s an article in Haaretz about Netanyahu’s say on the subject: Netanyahu urges MKs to act to stop Gaza pullout By Gideon Alon and Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service In his first speech before the Knesset since resigning from the government Sunday to protest the disengagement, MK Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday launched a fierce attack against the government, urging lawmakers to join the struggle to thwart the disengagement plan. “Only we in the Knesset are able to stop this evil,” the former finance minister said. “Everything that the Knesset has decided, it is also capable of changing.” “I am calling on all those who grasp the danger: Gather strength and do the right thing. I don’t know if the entire move can be stopped, but it still might be stopped in its initial stages,” said Netanyahu.   Right, like that ever happens. The “Roadmap” is about to become a steaming piece of discarded rubble ignored by those who made it so….

I am really apprehensive about the Gaza Strip withdrawal.

It truly amazes me that the Israeli Knesset(the Jewish State’s parliament) has approved this, and that Ariel Sharon is a party to it.

Here are people who have something like 57(no, not the Heinz-Kerrys) years of experience dealing with the Palestinians.

Here are people who have to know that the Palestinians will use Gaza as an explosives and munitions storehouse, and to launch terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens.

Here are people(terrorists)–yeah, it’s this link again– who have no intention of sticking to any agreements they make. Below are some revealing excerpts from the Hamas Charter. Keep in mind that Hamas is rapidly becoming the most popular political party in the Palestinian existence.

Here are people who should know better. By giving the Palestinians the Gaza Strip, they are further endangering Israeli citizens.

When Palestinian groups start attacking Israel out of Gaza, every drop of Israeli blood spilled will be the fault of the Knesset members who approved the evacuation of the Gaza Strip. Their fault 90%, the terrorists’ fault 10%.

Because they should have known better.

Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.

“There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

And that is what concerns me.

I posted on this situation this past Friday, and yesterday, it would seem, Hamas decided to decline the Palestinian Authority’s kind offer of membership in their cabinet, which Mahmoud Abbas had hoped they would accept in time for both entities to work together on transitioning the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli evacuation, to Palestinian occupancy.

The Jerusalem Post has more.

Hamas’ decision not to join the Palestinian Authority’s cabinet poses a serious threat to the PA’s efforts to impose law and order in the Gaza Strip after Israel’s evacuation, PA officials warned on Tuesday.

….Hassan Yousef, a senior Hamas leader in the West Bank, said his movement prefers to hold parliamentary elections first before a national unity government is formed.

….”We are not interested in being in the PA just for the sake of it. We believe that the right way to do it is through elections.” Mushir al-Masri, a spokesman for Hamas in the Gaza Strip said his movement was insisting on the formation of a united national committee to run the affairs of the Palestinians after the withdrawal.

Hmmm, what do I read into this?

I think Hamas is being clever here, not as in sneaky(at least no more so than anyone engaging in politics), but as in smart.

a) Had they joined the PA’s cabinet, the Israelis might well have objected to the terrorist organization’s being part of the official mix and decided to delay the evacuation of Gaza, while the turnover of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians will be a phenomenon that will be in their best interests as it will present them with an independent subdivision on which they can stockpile weapons and from whence they can mount terrorist operations into Israel.

b) Hamas has designs upon taking the PA away from Abbas and Fatah and they realize that the most “legitimate” way of doing so in the current climate is by winning democratic elections. When they say they believe that elections are the only way to go, they are looking at the fact that they have become a popular political party and realize they could do better winning the votes of the people than suborning themselves to the Abbas faction by allowing themselves to be absorbed(keeping in mind that, as a “political party,” the terror organization has both gained legitimacy among the Palestinians and also won a hell of a lot of municipal elections).

If the Palestinians finally gain statehood and then Hamas takes over their government, they’ll be Terrorist Central, not only imposing Sharia law on their people but also intensifying the violence against innocent Israeli men, women and children.

I found this article  in tomorrow’s Haaretz online(time zones, remember).

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has invited the militant group Hamas to join his cabinet immediately so the two can jointly oversee the smooth handover of the Gaza Strip following Israel’s withdrawal under the disengagement plan this summer, a Hamas official said Friday.

Hamas is considering the offer….

WTF!!!?

What was it Abba Eban said, “The Palestinians never miss the chance to lose an opportunity,” or something like that?

Does Abbas really think the Israelis will maintain benevolent diplomatic relations with, let alone negitiate with a government comprised in part by a terrorist organization?

It seems like every time peace negotiations over there begin moving forward, the Palestinians find some way to sabotage them.

Predictably,

“Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization responsible for countless acts of senseless violence against innocent civilians,”(Israeli foreign Ministry spokesman Mark) Regev told the Associated Press. ”Hamas is no partner for us in any sort of political process. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution,” he said.

Did I say Mahmoud Abbas is a dumbass?

He’s got to be, unless….

….he’s doing this to forestall any Israeli concessions in order to prolong the violence, which would no doubt suit the al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and all the rest of the asshats whose only true ambitions involve killing Jews and causing whatever collateral damage(tourists, fellow Arabs, etc.) they can in the process.

Remember  this website?

It amazes me that there are still people out there who believe that Israel and the United States can deal with the Palestinians as though they were doing so with a civilized nation. The Palestinians themselves are demonstrating that they are incapable of maintaining any kind of stable govenment nor of controlling the activities of their terrorist organizations, who attack Israel whether there are peace negotiations on the table or not, whether Israel gives concessions or not. 

On the one hand, there’s the Palestinian Authority(P.A.), representing the PLO and led by Arafat successor Mahmoud Abbas. That body retains the same quagmire of massive corruption that it did under Arafat and exhibits a total lack of control over the plethora of terrorist organizations based among the Palestinians. 

On the other hand, there’s Hamas, the premier Palestinian terrorist organization cum political party that has built its constituency in large part by vowing to end the corruption in the P.A. They have been growing increasingly popular among the Palestinian voters and threaten to become popular enough to one day become the P.A.

Hamas and their cronies in the al aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Fatah,  etc continue their terrorism against Israel as Abbas purportedly tries to hold the peace talks with Ariel Sharon and the Bush Administration together, effectively sabotaging those negotiations a)because Sharon, and rightly so, refuses to make any concessions without including the cessation of hostilities in the package, and b)because Abbas’ credibility as the leader of his people is greatly diminished due to his admitted inability to curtail the activities of either the terrorist groups or the corruption in his own organization. He may not even be there for long, Hamas might become the party in power. Hamas isn’t interested in peace, their goal isn’t the Palestinian state envisioned by Roadmap advocates: They want the whole potato knish. They would like nothing more than a bloodbath in which they murder every Jew in Israel(fat chance), according to their charter.   

And they are recognized by a significant percentage of Palestinians as a viable political party!

An article in the Jerusalem Post about the summit meeting just wrapped up between Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas, titled Palestinians deem summit a failure,  says

….Palestinian leaders expressed frustration over Israel’s insistance on linking major concessions to the cessation of violence. 

WTF! Are they saying that Israel should just accept the butchery of its citizens as just a run of the mill, day to day, inevitable, “not to worry, old man” cost of doing business with the Palestinians? There’s the problem right there, the Israelis are not dealing with those of a modern human mentality that can be reasoned with, they are dealing with evil people who see nothing wrong with killing the innocent and embrace doing so with as much emotion as they might experience over going to the bathroom.

If I wasn’t totally convinced before, I am now. The only way there will ever be peace between Israel and the Palestinian people will be after Israel has exercised an extreme military option. You cannot negotiate peace with any success when the other side doesn’t want it. When the other side is dominated by bloodthirsty people who couldn’t care less what they agree to nor what treaties they sign(it is acceptable practice, according to their beliefs, to lie, as long as you are lying to infidels) and who have no compunction about killing themselves in order to murder your people.

Sure, there are many Palestinians, some of whom I have met, who want peace and friendship with Israel and who despise both corruption and terrorism, but they seem to be a considerable minority to judge from the actions of their community.  I truly believe that when members of a given community become a danger to those of other communities, the community in question is engendered with a responsibility to clean its own house or be held accountable for the actions of its bad seed.

Sharon is absolutely right in insisting that peace on the Palestinians’ side of the equation be part and parcel of any agreements he signs off on. 

You can’t install the software of peace when there are too many broken links on the site.

Israel has offered, and ceded, a lot more concessions to the Palestinians than they’ve received in return, even releasing convicted terrorists from prison. The Israelis have set a date for razing Jewish homes in Gaza, displacing something like 7500 residents, sparking internal political turmoil as intense and disruptive as the Iraqi debate is in the United States. Most of what the Israelis get in return for concessions are further demands.

In a column in Jewish World Review, Richard Chesnoff writes

….There’s growing talk that the Bush Administration, impatient over lack of viable movement toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement, may soon trash longstanding American policy and authorize limited U.S. diplomatic contact with Abbas’ chief rival and Israel’s worst enemy: the Islamic terrorist organization known as Hamas.

Talk about potential disasters!

No kidding! I refer you again to the website about  Hamas.

This extremely dangerous diplomatic turn may be precipitated in part by growing fear in the administration that Yasser Arafat’s heir doesn’t have the stuff needed to make peace happen and by frustration with Sharon’s internal political woes.

It’s also hard for both President Bush and Secretary of State Rice to ignore hard facts on the West Bank/Gaza ground. Abbas’ PLO continues to lose popularity while Hamas gains. During recent Palestinian municipal elections, the group campaigned on a clean government platform and won nearly half the municipal councils at stake!

So, what’s wrong with talking to Hamas? A lot. As Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy recently put it, “Hamas is more than just a party with which we disagree, it is a terrorist organization responsible for the murder of hundreds of Israelis, Americans and citizens of many other countries.”

I don’t  concur with the basis for Mr. Chesnoff’s speculations, but the premises he offers are indeed food for thought. What I don’t see happening is the Bush Administration opening up polite diplomatic dialogue with a terrorist organization. Terrorists are our enemy and their only ambition is our destruction. Once again, Hamas Charter.  Pay particular attention to the two lines that say, 

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.  

How, or even why for that matter, does one attempt to negotiate with people who uphold such a covenant?

No, I don’t see Condie Rice sitting down with somebody like Hasan Yusuf to pursue “meaningful” diplomatic negotiations.

                                                      **********************

So we have these two sides to the Palestinian political structure, one that can establish control among neither its members nor its constituents, that being the P.A., and one that is dedicated to murdering as many innocent people as possible in the name of God, both vying for control of a Palestinian state. The Party of Murder is gaining, the Party of Confusion is losing.

Yeah, I know, I’m not even a little bit PC, I tend, in fact, to be downright blunt, so:

Being completely realistic, there are only two possible conclusions where the question of peace between Israel and their Palestinian neighbors are concerned.

1. Peace talks underscoring bloody violence forever, or

2. That extreme military option I mentioned above.