A very bright fellow, a dear friend of mine, asked me in
synagogue the other week: “Why do the Palestinians shoot rockets at
Israel if they know they will get blasted in return by far greater
firepower?”
“This is their fundraising season,” I replied. “The Salvation
Army rings bells. They shoot rockets.”
Little did I know at the time they would actually cease fire in
time for Thanksgiving. The Palestinian movement of liberation has
progressed since 1970 from Black September to Black Friday.
My victim dictum is borne out by events. Sure enough the bucks
are pouring in by the boatloads and Iran is thoughtfully
replenishing the materiel in time for Christmas. What could be more
fun under the tree than rocketry? Not to mention missiles under the
mistletoe.
But this time around the Palestinians have gotten the Cracker
Jack box with the special prize. The General Assembly of the United
Nations has seen fit to confer a new status upon the Palestinian
Authority, that of non-member observer state. The vote was 138-9 in
favor, with the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Palau leading the
opposition. (Palau is probably annoyed because they’re stuck
sitting next to the guy in alphabetical order. Still, it’s not as
bad as Ireland sitting between Iran, Iraq, and Israel all these
years.)
Let’s put aside the politics of all this, just for the nonce,
and relish the absolute absurdity. We are bestowing legitimacy upon
an entity that is already divided before it ever united. The West
Bank of the Jordan is a piece of land Israel conquered from Jordan
in the Six-Day War (although much of it had been granted to Israel
in the 1947 U.N. partition agreement). The Gaza Strip is an area
Israel took from Egypt in that same war. These parts of two
separate countries were united only in conquest by a third and are
now trying to merge into a fourth.
Well, perhaps merge is too strong a term. More like sub-merge.
These two segments are under two different governments. One is
controlled by Fatah and the other by Hamas, two organizations whose
hatred for Israel is exceeded only by their disdain for each
other.
What legitimacy does each one bring to the table? Certainly none
of the democratic variety. Yes, Fatah was elected in the West Bank
and Hamas was elected in Gaza. But that was years and years ago.
Their terms have long since expired and no one is even thinking of
having their dominance tested via plebiscite. So now the UN invites
new conferees from entities led by dictators? Come to think of it,
Hamas was not elected to total control but to a majority of seats;
they then kicked out Fatah and grabbed the rest.
Try this one on for size. A mere two weeks ago the government in
Gaza killed six people without a hearing on charges of
collaborating with Israel. They then had the bodies dragged through
the streets behind automobiles, presumably to discourage imitators.
We all got to watch the action live on the Web. Think of it! Two
weeks after primitive barbarian bloodthirsty atrocity performed on
video by the regnant officialdom and the United Nations jumped in
to reward this behavior.
Maybe the video of this ghoulish massacre got a lot of hits on
YouTube. That can certainly qualify a regime for recognition. In
the old days that kind of footage won you a trial in the Hague. Now
you get a case of Heineken instead.
Rhetorically all these responsible leaders still preach
destruction of Israel. They still target civilians for murder. They
still propagandize children to hate. They still teach that Israel
is responsible for September 11th. They continue to practice
terrorism and aggression to gain advantage. In any other context,
their behavior would provide an object lesson for how not to
structure a society. Instead they are rewarded.
“Will this bring the Palestinians to the peace table?” wonder
the pundits. Believe it or not, they are not kidding. The Western
mind simply cannot accept that these are murderers who relish
exsanguination over sanguinity. They have won everything by
violence; they see accommodation as surrender and cooperation as
betrayal. Now they have one foot in the United Nations. Perhaps
soon they will attain the prestige enjoyed by Palau…
