A Perfect Example
December 27th 2009 06:21 am
Over the last few days, a series of tragic events took place in Israel, with a net result of 4 unnecessary deaths, widows, orphans, vowed revenge, and heightened intensity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I think the series of the events is a clear-as-day representation of the conflict on a grand scale. I will provide a chronological recap of what occurred, but first here is some background information:
Israel has since built a barrier wall separating the West Bank from the rest of Israel, which it has come under intense international protest for (regardless of the fact that bombing attacks have dropped by 99% since its construction). The US has been in favor of supporting the Palestinian Authority, in hope that it will be able to secure the West Bank, and develop it into a great economy and living situation for Palestinians there. In fact, just the other day, the Obama Administration pledged $500,000,000 for the year 2010 to help train PA forces, and have even sent US personnel and equipment to assist. And away we go:
- In 2007, a series of deals were made between the PA and Israel, with US backing, whereas Israel would remove certain members of Fatah (the ruling faction of the PA) from its most wanted list, if the individuals swore not to return to terrorist activities. The deals were meant to bolster relations between the PA and Israel, so they could jointly fight Hamas and other Palestinian “extremist” factions (I put extremist in quotes, because I think the extremists are only slightly more extreme than Fatah themselves). Here is one such example.
- On Thursday, December 24 2009, a father of seven, school teacher was murdered in the West Bank, on his way home from work. His car was shot at 10 times in a drive-by shooting. Put yourself in his wife or any of his seven childrens’ shoes for .5 seconds to understand the magnitude of this awfulness.
- This is the Palestinian Authority’s first true test on the ground in the West Bank. How will they respond? Israel notifies the PA of the incident, and grants them 24 hours to conduct an investigation, and come up with a result.
- After 24 hours, the PA has not turned over any suspects or produced any real results in the investigation. Israeli intelligence by now has already determined the 3 perpetrators involved in the crime, and thus, sends a commando unit into the West Bank to apprehend the men. The Israelis surround the house, and call for the men to come out. After a gunbattle, and one of the men sending his wife outside, the Israeli commandos take all 3 men out, fearful of an escalation.
- It is soon after revealed that one of the 3 men were on the list of terrorists Israel removed from their wanted list in 2007. The initial attack is claimed by Fatah, and they vow swift revenge for the Israeli escalation of violence in the West Bank.
- Mahmoud Abbas (head of the Palestinian Authority) fiercely lashes out against the Israeli operation, claiming it is a clear indication that Israel is not interested in peace with the Palestinian people, because it had entered the West Bank and handled the situation on its own.
I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on here. My opinion is that Mahmoud Abbas is the one not interested in peace with Israel. If he were, he would have praised the Israeli operation for removing extremist terrorists, who clearly stood in the way of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Why exactly is he so outraged, and who is really to blame for this escalation of violence?
Meanwhile, 4 people are now dead, leaving widows and orphans with decades of suffering. Great job. Mahmoud Abbas has already started his usual complaining to the US that Israel’s intervention in these matters works against their training of the PA forces, and is a step backwards. I’m sure if Israel did nothing, and these 3 men were left alone to plot another attack in the near future, Mahmous Abbas would have been a much happier camper.
And in their usually biased fashion, Al Jazeera reported the incident as an Israeli raid of the West Bank, ending in the killing of 3 Palestinians, without mentioning a single word of the drive-by shooting on Thursday, or the deals of 2007. They also managed to bring up last year’s war in Gaza, obviously noting the large Palestinian death toll… they seemed to have forgotten to mention the 6,000 rockets shot into Israel for the 3 years leading up to the war, which was the primary cause of the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response was: “Our policy against terrorism is clear. We will continue to respond aggressively - against any attack on Israeli citizens and against any firing of rockets or missiles at Israeli territory.”
Had Fatah’s men not killed the innocent school teacher for no reason, the population of earth would be 4 greater than it is now. A perfect example. The cycle continues.
The Shin is in responded on 30 Dec 2009 at 12:57 am #
It seems to me that Israeli intelligence knew who these terrorists were even before the heinous murder of Rabbi Meir Avshalom Hai. Some of them had spent time in Israeli prison and they were found with a large amount of weaponry.
In one night Israeli forces found them and took them out but they were one night too late.
If Israel knows who these people are and their whereabouts they have no right to sit idly by while they plan and execute their horrific acts of murder against peaceful civilians. A country can not harbor terrorists. It must be proactive. Waiting for attacks that are bound to happen can not be the modus operandi of a country, especially one surrounded by hostile neighbors from within and from without.
One other point. When you explain the recent history of what is called the West Bank I believe it is very important to use the terms historically associated with that area. The area is ancient Judea and Samaria. It has been part of Israel from time immemorial. The ancient artifacts found all over the region date back to biblical times, including the time when Joshua first entered this land with the Tribes of Israel. When Israel reconquered that territory in 1967 the land was never wholly annexed but it is clearly part of greater Israel. On the ground there is little distinction between the “West Bank” and Petah Tikvah. The same water, electricity and mail services provided in “Israel” are the same in the cities of Judea. The IDF, Israeli police, roads and taxes all serve to benefit the regions citizens as they do in every other part of the country.