20 June 2007

Good writing

This blog does not usually concern itself with the Middle East, but I can wholeheartedly recommend Jonathan Freedland's analysis of the Palestinian situation in The Guardian today.

He sets up his straw man:

On the West Bank shall arise Fatahland, soon to be showered with cash from the very western tap that stayed shut as long as Hamas were in the picture. President Mahmoud Abbas will not only receive money but multiple goodwill gestures from Israel: an easing of roadblocks, cooperation on security, a glimpse of the "political horizon", meaning the prospect of negotiations aimed at an eventual Palestinian state. If things go well, a high-ranking Israeli government official told me yesterday, Israel could once again return chunks of West Bank territory to Palestinian control, as it did during the Oslo process.

In Gaza, meanwhile, would fester the new land of Hamastan, an Islamist-ruled hellhole shunned by the rest of the world, starved of all but the most emergency humanitarian aid. Where Fatahland would feel the warmth of the west's open arms and deep pockets, Hamastan would know only its cold shoulder. Pretty soon Palestinians would draw the obvious conclusion. As that Israeli government insider puts it, "They'll understand that moderate policies bring home the bacon, while the other road brings only pain."


and then thoroughly demolishes it. Read the whole thing.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"The sounder approach is surely to recognise that Hamas is now a fact of life in Palestine ... It simply makes no sense to pretend that it does not exist."

Okay.

Hi HAMAS, you exist by the way, but I'd rather not give you any money.

Palestinians get to pick their leaders and we get to decide not to fund the theofascists that they elect. That's the wonder of democracy.