Gaza Q&A

Why doesn’t Israel just pull out of Palestine and leave them alone?

That is an easy one. Israel will leave when the Palestinian Authority disarms their terrorists. The Palestinian Authority will disarm their terrorists when Israel pulls out. Somewhere along the line somebody is going to have to compromise. So far Israel has made many concessions while Palestine has made none. Each time Israel gives away more land the response has been more violence.

Israel does not want to control Palestine. Palestine has been the bane of Israel’s existence for 60 years. By being “the occupier” Israel is obligated to provide electricity, food and water. Without Israel’s economic assistance Palestine would have starved decades ago. Their Arab neighbours are not interested.

Palestine was offered sovereignty in 1947 but the Arab League refused. Israel practically begged Jordan to take over Palestine in 1968 but they refused. Israel offered to leave Gaza and almost all of the West Bank in 2000 but Palestine refused. Arab countries seem to think that it is more advantageous for them to leave Palestine as an occupied state. And it is. There is a reason all those Palestinian refugees in camps have never been integrated into those countries’ societies. Since 1948 only Jordan has ever made any Palestinian refugees citizens of its country.

It is not a control issue. When Israel gave Sinai back to Egypt they were happy and there was peace. When Israel gave part of Golan back to Syria they were not happy but there was peace. Every time Israel gives some land to Palestine there is more violence. As soon as Israel pulled out of Gaza, Hamas took over and terrorism escalated. If history is any indication, pulling out of the entire West Bank would lead to a bloodbath.

Election Day

There have been some complaints about how ugly the campaign has been but it is pretty tame compared to some other countries. We just cannot compete with the personal attacks in the American and Zimbabwean elections. Those people accuse each other of the worst things they can imagine. And unlike recent elections in Palestine and Zimbabwe, none of our candidates have been tortured or killed. Not so much as a beating. This election has been pretty boring.

Party Politics and You

The party banners
(right to left, because that’s how we do it in Hebrew)
Ra’am, Gil, Hadash, Balad
Yisrael Beiteinu, HaIhud HaLeumi, Yahadut HaTorah HaMeukhedet, Meretz-Yachad
Kadima, Avoda, Likud, Shas

The Big Election

I’ve been following the endless circus of the American presidential election the way somebody’s fascinated with the aftermath of a 12-car pile-up on the highway. But now I’ve bigger fish to fry.