"This is the price of Israel’s decision, backed by an ignorant Bush administration, to unilaterally withdraw its troops and settlers from Gaza more than two years ago -- undermining pragmatic Palestinian leaders in the process."

Ahh...James Bennet...bringing his blame Israel narrative from the New York Times to the Atlantic.

What a guy.

Posted by David | March 2, 2008 4:35 PM

So Bennet is opposed to withdrawal from illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza-- declared illegal by Israel, before you start questioning the legitimacy of that claim-- and that makes him insufficiently pro-Israel?

Yet more evidence of a national conversation on Israel gone absolutely mad.

Posted by Freddie | March 2, 2008 4:47 PM

how about pointing out that more than 100 Palestinians [mostly civilians including more than a dozen children] were killed in gaza over the past week, just to put this whole "pulling Israel into a gruesome fight in Gaza" in perspective.

Posted by moe | March 2, 2008 4:52 PM

Didn't Einstein define "insanity" as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? Everyone in the West demands that Israel exchange land for peace, and the last two times it has done that, it has gotten neither. Israel gave Gaza to the Palestinians -- and they still shoot rockets at Israel from there.

And as for Bennet's claim that it's Israel's fault that Hamas controls Gaza: That's complete nonsense. Fatah was the recipient of copious amounts of money, weapons, and training from the CIA. Despite all that, they retreated from Gaza after barely a fight from Hamas. The reason is that Fatah is a notoriously corrupt group of 'business class revolutionaries" and their hangers on. No amount of deference by Israel or money from the West will change that.

The bottom line is that the Palestinians elected Hamas knowing full well what that organization stands for: war. So let them have it. You can't force peace on those who would rather have war.

Posted by Juan | March 3, 2008 2:35 AM

"how about pointing out that more than 100 Palestinians [mostly civilians including more than a dozen children] were killed in gaza over the past week, just to put this whole "pulling Israel into a gruesome fight in Gaza" in perspective."

Thanks for pointing that out. All the more reason for Hamas to stop trying to start a war with Israel by shooting thousands of rockets at Israel cities. There's no way in hell we'd restrain ourselves if Canadian troops or irregulars were firing rockets at Buffalo from Toronto, or if Mexicans were firing rockets at San Diego from Tijuana. We'd bomb the shit out of them, and there would be a hell of a lot more casualties on the other side of the border than ours. Why should we expect Israel not to respond to this act of war from Gaza?

Posted by Fred | March 3, 2008 3:01 AM

I'm not a political scientist, so maybe that explains why I find this commentary largely incoherent. It seems to contain a number of allusions to previous arguments that this author considers "in the can".

Problem is, that he is alluding to matters of opinion, not fact, and I think it's telling that he doesn't bother to explain how Hamas "started a war" for those of us who are trying to find facts. Did they lob bombs or what? It's a mark of American empire building that some people seem to think Democracy is designed to elect pro-American leaders. Sometimes the people want Democracy, even if they disagree with the Americans. The Palestinians shouldn't be categorized as "starting a war" simply because the government of any other country doesn't like their choice of leader. In America we don't bomb California because they voted for Hillary or Arkansas because they voted for Huckabee! I think that this assertion is so elementary that it is astonishing how often our foreign policy is conveniently discussed so as to leave it out.

Posted by malian | March 3, 2008 3:47 AM

"The Palestinians shouldn't be categorized as "starting a war" simply because the government of any other country doesn't like their choice of leader."

True. But launching rockets against another country is to start a war with them. And that's what Hamas has done, continually, from Gaza. Years ago, this was used as an argument for Israel to uproot its settlements from Gaza and cede the whole territory to the Palestinians. It did so, and Hamas continues to launch rockets against Israel from Gaza. None of what I have just written here is in dispute.

Posted by Fred | March 3, 2008 7:47 AM

What we're seeing here is what the Germans call a "Totentanz." The Palestinians will continue to attack, because their minimal rights are suppressed on a daily basis. The Israelis will counter-attack ever more viciously, prompting more attacks.

Bottom line: the Palestinians have nowhere else to go,and the Israelis (probably) will not kill them all, let alone dent their birthrate. The Israelis can always move to Los Angeles. Eventually, Israel will start losing all but its most fanatical, talented young people will look elsewhere for a normal life, and it will become a non-viable state.

Posted by denis | March 3, 2008 8:20 AM

"The Israelis can always move to Los Angeles," according to Denis. Really? "Never again" to Israelis is a result of the massacre of European Jews who had no place to go, in large part because no one would take them in. What is wrong with the Palestinians and the Israelis living side-by-side in two states?

The Welsh manage to get along with the English; the Scots manage to get along with the English; even the Irish now get along with the English. Why is it the Arabs can't seem to get along with the Israelis?

Is it because the Arabs are led by the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots, including al Qaeda, and Hamas is descended from the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who was a Nazi collaborator and helped staff the death camps?

The Palestinians like to claim their quarrel is with Zionists only, not Jews, but they never hesitate to kill Jews anywhere in the world. So, Israel is fighting a people who think it is all right to kill Jews.

And, if some Palestinians are killed or maimed when the Israelis fight back, wouldn't it occur to someone in Palestine that the thing to do is to stop killing Israelis whenever the spirit moves them?

The world is apparently quite ready to allow Hamas and its allies to continue its war against Israel. If the world wants Israel to stop defending itself, let the world stop Hamas from killing Israelis and Jews anywhere first.

Posted by Hamm Sailhardy | March 3, 2008 9:56 AM

No one can really defend the cruel apartheid Israel has imposed on the Palestinians, which has nothing to do with the massacre of the Jews in the last century. The intolerable conditions Israel imposes on these people is the reason for their attacks which is why "the Arabs can't seem to get along with the Israelis."

And it's quite obvious that many other nations, including the US, would take Israelis in. Germany has accepted several hundred thousand Jews from Russia, for example. A few things have changed since the last century!

The Israeli nation can only be sustained by massive US military and economic support, yielding decades of ever-increasing antagonism to the US from the Middle East peoples. Time to humanely relocate the Israelis and begin the healing process with a foreign policy that makes sense and is in America's interest..

Posted by denis | March 3, 2008 10:43 AM

"and Hamas is descended from the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who was a Nazi collaborator and helped staff the death camps?"

Actually, it's Fatah that has the connection to the Grand Mufti, who was Arafat's uncle.

"No one can really defend the cruel apartheid Israel has imposed on the Palestinians, which has nothing to do with the massacre of the Jews in the last century."

How is the situation in Gaza in any way "apartheid"? There is no legitimate reason in the world for the Palestinians there to launch rocket attacks at Israel, after gave them 100% of the land in Gaza that the Palestinians demanded.

The Palestinians are, for the most part, a nihilistic people who are defined by their existential conflict with Israel and can't take "yes" for an answer. They have never had to suffer the consequences of total war, due to the continual restraint practiced by Israel, so they have never seen the benefit of peace.

Posted by Juan | March 3, 2008 1:16 PM

Seriously, please wake up, no one CARES who the Grand Mufti was and who he collaborated with.

Apartheid fits the situation: the Palestinians are confined by Israeli occupation forces to specific areas, their travel is strictly limited to "their" areas, just like in South Africa. And it's the stated policy of the Israeli state to limit citizenship to Jewish people, to maintain a Jewish state, to the exclusion on a large body of residents who have occupied the territory for centuries. A racial definition of citizenship. The vanishingly small number of non-Jews allowed citizenship is strictly window-dressing.

Your characterization of the Palestinians is the kind of racial stereotype we're all familiar with. Happily, America is discarding such primitive notions (those happy but shiftless blacks, drunken Irishmen, confused Chinese, etc. ad nauseam) and stepping into the 21st century (finally!). So much for "nihilistic" Palestinians.

I think your Israeli friends are stuck in a rather distasteful past: racial and national stereotypes paired with a superiority complex. These are self-destructive illusions. The Iranian president can seem like he's trying to doom the Israelis to destruction, but they're actually the ones implementing it.

Posted by denis | March 3, 2008 1:59 PM

To me it seems obvious that the Hamas militia that shoots rockets at Israel does not necessarily act on anyone's orders. It seems more likely that leaders like Abbas would prefer to maintain enough legitimacy to negotiate. See the current issue of Vanity Fair if you are looking for more detail: it describes how Bush and Rice collaborated to try and advance a civil war to overthrow the democratically elected government.

I think it's naive to assume you know who instigated the conflict in any Third World region. There is always the stench of US involvement. In Pakistan for example one of my in-laws (highly unstable, sociopathic, addicted to drugs) has been carrying out hits for the CIA since 9/11. Do you hear that on the evening news? It just confirms that we should eye the official explanation of every such event (Bhutto's assassination...) with extreme skepticism if not suspicion.

Posted by malian | March 3, 2008 4:42 PM

Denis, I'd like to relocate you to Iran...would that be okay? I mean, since you're all for relocating an entire country of Jews, why not yourself? And do us all a favor, NEVER COME BACK, you miserable sack of crap.

Posted by Adam | March 3, 2008 6:06 PM

Please remember that when Israel left Gaza it merely removed it's settlers and military. No one and nothing goes in or out of Gaza without Israel's permission. It's a large open air prison. Where is the dignity in having to beg Israel for it's food, water, medicine, and energy.

If the US had Canada or Mexico surrounded in the same prison like environment, I would understand why rockets might fall into Buffalo or El Paso. What Hamas is saying by their rocket fire is negotiate with us and let us live like real human beings. Hamas has offered Israel a 50 year Hudna which is merely a face saving way of saying lets have peace with Israel. Hamas has also stated that if the Palestinian people agree to a peace agreement with Israel in a plebiscite, Hamas will go along. Israel's answer is Nyet!!!!!!

What the Hell do we expect Gazans to do? Stop firing rockets and Israel will once again ignore Palestinian statehood. Anapolis is a joke. Olmert says he can't discuss borders since that would involve a border in or around Jerusalem. He can't discuss outposts or settlements. Israel is just playing a game to forestall peace until they get all the land they want and the Palestinians are surrounded into city wide "reservations". That's the term I heard Boim use in a Synogogue talk in Ariel.

Let's have a reasonable sized Jewish homeland called Israel and a reasonable sized Palestinian state. Except for the crazies on both sides, it isn't that difficult a division to make.

Posted by jdledell | March 3, 2008 7:50 PM

The US is not omnipotent. Perhaps US pressure might have changed Israeli decisions regarding Gaza but he does not know this. Israelis might be forgiven for viewing their Gaza experience as a test before 'uprooting West Bank settlements' in an attempt to remove remaining obstacles to peace. Bennet may well believe that Hamas is 'sui genris' and that all other Palestinians; the less religious perthaps, less besotted with resentments and hatreds, less pathologically self destructive, would show gratitude towards any non-symbolic act by Israel and reciprocate by ceasing trying to kill Jews. That many do not have his confidence and see in his approach an unending series of agonizing appeasement's followed swiftly by more demands and attacks is might be a symptom of a kind of psychological malady or distortion of reality rooted in group identity think or perhaps JB is an ass.

Posted by joe | March 3, 2008 9:38 PM

It was shameful how the US/EU completely choked Gaza of funding right after the election.

Who would've thought Hamas was going to fight to prevent a Fatah coup?

Posted by tg | March 3, 2008 11:19 PM

"Seriously, please wake up, no one CARES who the Grand Mufti was and who he collaborated with."

No one? Those who remember care. And those who don't will never understand why Palestinian self-destructiveness, barbarism and nihilism is inextricably tied to the Nazi roots of their movement and identity as a people. It is their curse and the cause of their self-imposed misery.

"No one and nothing goes in or out of Gaza without Israel's permission."

Israel doesn't control Gaza's border with Egypt. What goes through there is between Egypt and the Palestinians.

Posted by Juan | March 4, 2008 12:13 AM

Dear Adam, the thoughtfulness and erudition of your comment has astonished me. It's typical of those who are full of hatred and aggression.I hope you get to see a therapist, you need help.

Posted by denis | March 4, 2008 7:53 AM

Juan, your idea that the Palestinian rebellion is somehow tied to the Nazis is a historical fiction, and one of the pseudo-arguments that many Israelis use to justify their barbaric treatment of these hapless people. The cause of their rebellion is forceable removal from their land and a draconian apartheid system that wants a Palestinian Bantustan rather than a viable Palestinian state.

Posted by denis | March 4, 2008 7:58 AM

I read all the comments and the bottom line is that Israel evacuated all occupied land in Gaza and continues to be hit with rockets over the border. Yet Israel still supplies Gaza with basic utilities! Israel can't win no matter what it does. It left Gaza, and rockets still rain down; it tried 24 hour suspensions of electricity, and was condemned while rockets still rained down; it works with Abbas toward a final settlement, and rockets still rain down; so it takes military action and is condemned again---while the rockets keep coming down.

Why doesn't Egypt---which controls the Rafah border--take over trusteeship of Gaza like it had from 1948-1967? Let Egypt stop the rockets and police Gaza while Israel and the PA hammer out a final agreement. Implementing the agreement can be done in the West Bank first, letting Gaza be addressed at the very end. Nothing else has worked so this seems as viable a plan as any.

Posted by Marc V | March 4, 2008 11:08 AM

Marc V:

Asking Egypt to re-involve themselves in Gaza won't go anywhere. They have already rejected that. It isn't their responsibility.

Israel needs to negotiate a cease-fire with Hamas, the freely elected Palestinian government. One can't want , even demand, democracy -- and then reject the voters' choice.

Doing so will put israel in a much better position. Once Israel negotiates with Hamas, all the international pressure will switch to Hamas to stop the rockets.

Posted by denis | March 4, 2008 11:17 AM

Denis, every word you write is a lie including "and" and "but." In what way is letting an organization with a militia run in an election a recognized form of democracy? The U.S. forced Israel to allow the elections, so why should Israel now have to suffer the consequences and negotiate with Hamas. Israel accepted the Palestinian Authority on the basis that it accepted Israel's right to exist and renounced terror. Hamas refuses to abide by past agreements, so why would their word be more trustworthy in the future.

Here's your biggest laugher: "international pressure will switch to Hamas." That is an outright lie. The Arab world will never switch pressure to Hamas no matter what they do, no matter how they violate any agreement. And as long as there are people like you around neither will the West.

The ceasefire offered by Hamas (which they insist include the West Bank) is purely an attempt to improve their military situation and extend their influence to the West Bank so they can shoot rockets into the center of Israel. Hamas has made it clear that they only abide by agreements as long as they "serve the interests of the Palestinian people." Using Mohammed as their model, they feel free to break any truce they sign.

Posted by McQueen | March 8, 2008 4:59 PM

"The Israelis can always move to Los Angeles," according to Denis. Yes yes yes yes yes yes. Palestinians don't want war, they want their land, and just because everyone feels sorry for Jews because Hitler threw them in ovens is not a reason for America to automatically take their side. Also, Jews are being Nazis to Palestinians at this time, discriminating them for America to sit back and enjoy the show.

Posted by none ya | November 18, 2008 5:34 PM