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The historical picture of relations between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East hasn't always been so full of comity and good will. And, unfortunately, by the time the Mufti of Jerusalem made an alliance with the Nazis- among other things, allowing the recruitment of an Arab branch of the Waffen SS (the Nazis had branches in all of their satellite nations)- in the 1930s, the attitudes of Arabs in the region toward Jews had hit a low point.
Unfortunately, the present-day attitude of Hamas toward Jews seems to be even worse.
Amy Tuteur, MD has been accused in this discussion of being a "Zionist propaganda troll" more times than she's posted, I believe.
In her last post, she refrained from offering any comments of her own, but simply posted some articles from the Charter of Hamas. I encourage readers to page back and read it. If they do, they ought to get an inkling that no amount of Israeli concessions will earn an iota of good will with the popular government of Arab Gaza. It's spelled out very clearly. Read it. That's what an "uncompromising position" looks like.
Hamas' stance on the issue is that they will settle for nothing less than the destruction of Israel. If there are "reasonable moderates" in Hamas who feel differently, they have no business in an organization with a charter like that. (But if they left and attempted to begin their own alternative movement, they'd be branded as traitors and executed by the extremists who hold the actual power- much like every Arab leader offering any conciliation toward the Jews of Israel for the past 60 years.)
I take Hamas at their word. Others around here seem to prefer wishful thinking.
Now, why any polity like that should expect so much as a grain or rice or a watt of electricity from a country they've sworn to total annihilation is beyond me. They should get their own electricity. They've gotten billions of dollars in aid- but Hamas isn't interested in creating a country in Gaza. That equates to defeat, for them. They're in full-on passive-aggressive terror mode, until they get all of Palestine. And as far as I can tell, Hamas has a consensus of popular support from the general population. However enforced.
It's a terrible judgement for me to make, but as a result of that consensus, the way it plays out, the only "innocent bystanders" in Gaza are the children. For the rest, those who aren't swords are shields.
Their kids are consigned as cannon/propaganda fodder. Because the Cause is so Just. (Read the terms of the Hamas Charter again.)
And the blockade against them is maintained not only by Israel, but by Egypt as well. Now, why is that?
I think it's because the Egyptians don't have any more use for a country on it's border that's run by fanatical radical Islamic zealots than the Israelis do.
It all makes for horrific footage for the cameras. But the Gazans appear to me to be in the grip of a mass religious hysteria that has resigned themselves- and their children- to mass martyrdom.
The responses of outrage are pretty much what the "Gaza martyrs" are looking for. Maureen O'Donnell's reaction to the claims that Hamas fighters were hiding in the UN school that was bombed is to scoff at the idea, for instance.
40 children dead. It's dreadful. But the idea that Hamas soldiers could never, ever seek sanctuary in a school full of innocent children in unfortunately naive. By all appearances, they've made that sort of thing an integral part of their strategy and tactics. I suppose it helps the moral fortitude of Hamas guerillas that they're convinced that all of the dead have gone directly to Islamic Paradise. Although I'm not sure how they explain the maimed.
Lastly- by now, I guess I've earned a place as a "Zionist propaganda troll"...I encourage the readers and lurkers to read through the entire comment section, and count up every poster in this discussion remotely sympathetic to Israel along with their number of posts, versus the posters condemning Israel, and their number of posts. Hopefully, that will provide a measure of perspective on the whole "Zionist propaganda troll" thing.
