Welllll here we go.
It may be easy for someone to say that Arafat is a thug and that "whatever country he rules" (I didn't know there was more than one) suffers from his rule if you take things in a momentary snapshot view. Without looking at the big picture, it is hard to see what is really going on, especially if you listen to the admittedly calm and collected Israeli talking heads. Arabs are an emotional people and they do not play well on TV.
Let me first say that Israel is a real state, one with every right to exist. The extremist Arab viewpoint that it must be annihilated is wrong and must be disavowed. The fact is that Arafat himself has disavowed it - he has embraced the right of Israel to exist. All Arab states have also vowed to recognize the state of Israel in return for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
How did Israel become a state? Through the immense largess of the United States. At this point Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid, Egypt is second. The amount that those two states receive is more than double the amount of all other states in the world combined. Israel received nearly 7 billion dollars in aid last fiscal year. That is 19 million dollars a day, nearly twice what the Soviet Union used to pump into Cuba. Since 1949, nearly 86 billion unadjusted dollars in direct aid have been given to the state of Israel. See <
http://www.wrmea.com/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm> for details
I do not begrudge the investment. It made it possible for the country to survive and it has a fairly robust economy and decent standard of living. It is the only functional rechtstadt in the region. The only problem is that its idea of rights stops at its borders.
There is certainly the element of religious culture involved in the problem. Both creeds have a Hammurabian code of justice, eye for an eye and all that. They have been involved for so long poking each other's eyes out that no one knows who started what first. The recent deplorable bombing in Jerusalem is retaliation for the summary execution of "suspected" Hamas activists which was a pre-emptive strike motivated by the need to retaliate for the last bombings. Some Israeli Talking Head on "Hard Talk" on BBC said "You can't expect us to do nothing when our citizens are attacked, can you?" Retaliation for retaliation for retaliation.
The growth of movements like Hamas are directly connected to the economic situation in the inner cities. After the Oslo accords, there was a chance to support Arafat and build a civil society leading to a state, but instead he was given a little bit of money and left to his own devices. It was enough money for him to hang himself. Claims of corruption are real, but they are as much the fault of the uninterested giver as the receiver. Tell me that the 89 billion given to Israel didn't end up lining the pockets of the power elite. But the money kept coming. In Palestine it did not and so Hamas and Jihad and Al Aqsa grow.
Arafat is a clever manipulator, not a nation-builder, so why wasn't he given the help he needed. He was hung out to dry.
In the meantime, Israel has continued to colonize the west bank. In spite of the Oslo promise to reduce settlement activity it has expanded in pace. Israel at present controls the water in Palestine, it controls the high grounds and its highways crisscross the territories making simple travel from one village to another an odyssey for many Palestinians. Take a look at the maps on the website of the Foundation for Middle East Peace <
http://www.fmep.org/maps/>
Don't forget that every settlement has a highway connecting it to the "mainland" and that highway cuts across farms and properties and in many cases it is fortified and patrolled. Combine with that the fact (yes, fact) that the present government in Israel has the inclination to take over the whole of the west bank and deport the Palestinians to the most densely populated strip of land in the whole world, the Gaza strip and you may understand why these people fight tanks with rocks.
The point is that if you want a viable Palestinian state that can overcome the radicals and the resentful elements that make up Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs, the only way to do it is to build a strong economic base in a Palestinian State (while at the same time controlling the excesses of the Israeli right wing). It will take the concerted effort of the West to invest both economic and mental capital in the Palestinian people. Give the young people in Gaza the opportunity to get and keep a good job, the ability to buy a car (even getting married in this part of the world is impossible without significant cash) and they will reject the bogus claims of the politicoreligionists who presently get them to strap on a bomb and blow things up. The people here are not stupid, only hopeless. Becoming a bomber is a way to secure an income for your family. That is the war to be fought.
(sorry, no website, this is first hand knowledge, it is a fact)
I'm getting too long for this forum. I hope that if you didn't get all the way through that you'll at least see the tag.
Every state has had their Hamas, the Black Panthers, The Red Army Brigade, Bader Meinhof. When a state exists, it can combat and overcome such rogues. If there is no state, there is no hope.
Simply (yes Toast simply because it is a paradigm shift that is simple - the work of course is not) understand that the Palestinians have an inalienable right to their life, their liberty and their pursuit of their prosperity, that Israel has gone beyond the pale in its crackdown and plays the role of tyrant in the region. The US, which created Israel, has a moral obligation to reign her in. Buy back the settlements, let the residents choose to stay in Palestine or go back to Israel. If they choose to stay in Palestine, they do so under Palestinian law, just as do Japanese in the US. Set up a legitimate Palestinian state and support it economically, politically and morally. Whether that includes Arafat or not is immaterial.
PS- yes toast, there has to be two winners and that means someone has to come and show the two how to win/win.
PSS - Al Aqsa brigade could be seen as a necessity in the highly charged factional environment that is the Palestinian society
sorry to be so long winded, and there is still so much more to be said (and done)
) paradigm shifts.
