While marketing gurus in Israel and the United States ponder the proper methodology for “rebranding” the Jewish State to make people think better of it, the Palestinians continue to eschew ad agencies and rely on The New York Times. That’s the only way to explain the Gray Lady’s curious dispatch today, which claims that the Palestinians have put away their decades-long predilection for violence and become disciples of Mahatma Gandhi.
According to the Times’s Ethan Bronner, “Senior Palestinian leaders — men who once commanded militias — are joining unarmed protest marches against Israeli policies and are being arrested.” How inspiring! It would seem that finally the Palestinians have decided to beat their swords into plowshares and find a way to live with Israel. “It is all about self-empowerment,” said Hasan Abu-Libdeh, the Palestinian economy minister. “We want ordinary people to feel like stockholders in the process of building a state.”
But rather than Fatah focusing on improving life in its putative state or encouraging peaceful people-to-people exchanges with their Jewish neighbors, the whole point of this allegedly non-violent action is to merely carry on their struggle against Israel without all the bad press associated with suicide bombings. Hence, the “self-empowerment” that Minister Abu-Libdeh is referring to is a campaign to boycott the goods produced by Jews who live in the territories and for the tens of thousands of Palestinians who work in and around the settlements to give up their jobs. As for the non-violent “protest marches,” they are directed at Israel’s security fence and consist of throwing stones at any Jews present and attempts to damage or destroy the barrier that was erected to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from crossing into Israel and committing mass murder. How any of that empowers ordinary Palestinians in any way is left unexplained.
If there is any change of tactics on the part of Fatah, it is only because Israeli military actions in the West Bank and the erection of the fence have effectively taken the terrorist card out of the P.A.’s hand. Take down that fence and terrorism becomes an attractive option again for a movement that continues to vie with Hamas for popularity in a political culture that continues to value the shedding of Jewish blood over the building of an economy.
Thus it is hard to escape the conclusion that even the most attractive manifestation of Palestinian nationalism is still obsessed with expunging any manifestation of Jewish life around them. Far from a “third way,” as Bronner claims it to be for Palestinians who are frustrated with the “failure” of either terrorism or diplomacy to achieve their goals, the new tactic seems to be merely a way of creating pressure on Israel to lower its guard and make terrorism a bit easier. And if their goal was merely to declare a Palestinian state (as Bronner says Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad wants to do in 2011) what is the point of the ongoing obsession with eradicating the scattered Jewish towns and villages in the West Bank as a precondition for statehood? Apparently, the notion of sovereignty is only meaningful for them if every Jew has been thrown out of the territory.
More to the point, diplomacy hasn’t failed the Palestinians. Rather, it is the Palestinians who have failed to embrace the diplomatic option as 17 years of peace talks have proved that their leadership isn’t interested in taking yes for an answer since they have repeatedly refused Israel’s offers of a state in the West Bank and Gaza, including a share of Jerusalem. The last refusal came in 2008 when the same PA that now claims to be pursuing non-violence turned down Ehud Olmert. Thus, the attempt to convince the world that this is an argument about settlements or the fence (which, as Bronner notes, has made of the village of Bilin an international tourist attraction for celebrities, such as Rajmohan Gandhi or Martin Luther King III, who want to get a little attention for bashing Israel) rather than an ongoing existential struggle against any manifestation of Zionism, is absurd.
“Second, the Obama camp hasn’t come up with anything approaching a decent excuse for Obama backing out of his visit with the troops.”
McCain’s. Ad. Is. A. Lie.
http://tinyurl.com/5t735p
Then again, I recently discovered that Mz. Rubin writes for the American Spectator. Wasn’t this the same outfit that suggested the Clintons were such animals, they put crack pipes on their Christmas trees?
I’m no Clinton supporter, but that ought to tell you something about the kind of writer, and person, Rubin is.
Bet you all didn’t know this, but General Irshad Manji, the CANADIAN poster girl for all things Islamophobic, lesbianic and Obamaniac said to Fareed Zakaria that yes, Iraq had improved but that IT HAD NOTHING, BUT NOTHING, to do with the surge.
The General reckons that, long before GWB’s momentous decision the sheikhs in Anbar had decided to divorce Al Qaeda, and had used that group’s preoccupation with the American buildup of troops to strengthen its own forces and then got rid of Al Qaeda without help from the Americans.
General Manji gleaned this information from close friends–she didn’t say how many–who have been travelling regularly to and from Iraq lo these many weeks.
And that, said General Manji, is why Obama is correct in saying that the surge didn’t work!
Hey Jay no guilt by association. Gosh — I wonder what you would say about Obama and Bill Ayers…. Can you provide a link to that bit about the American Spectator suggesting the Clinton’s put crack pipes on their Xmas trees. I must have missed that one.
“I’m no Clinton supporter, but that ought to tell you something about the kind of writer, and person, Rubin is.
Or, you could read any of her many many posts here and you’ll find she’s consistently incisive, interesting and intelligent. I eagerly second nokarmahere’s request for a link to the alleged crack-pipe article.
“Bet you all didn’t know this, but General Irshad Manji, the CANADIAN poster girl for all things Islamophobic, lesbianic and Obamaniac said to Fareed Zakaria that yes, Iraq had improved but that IT HAD NOTHING, BUT NOTHING, to do with the surge.
The General reckons that, long before GWB’s momentous decision the sheikhs in Anbar had decided to divorce Al Qaeda, and had used that group’s preoccupation with the American buildup of troops to strengthen its own forces and then got rid of Al Qaeda without help from the Americans.
General Manji gleaned this information from close friends–she didn’t say how many–who have been travelling regularly to and from Iraq lo these many weeks.
And that, said General Manji, is why Obama is correct in saying that the surge didn’t work!”
The General is wrong. A hint: Try some reputable sources, avoid Fareed Zakaria.
Perhaps ignore my comment about Mr. Zakaria. I had him confused for someone else.
Jay;
Wow. The Jed Report and Andrea Mitchell. What amazingly reliable sources. Why don’t you just link to Obama’s website to “prove” McCain is lying?
Your Anointed One was told he couldn’t bring his official campagn staffers or his unofficial capaign staffers in the press to his prearranged glad-hand photo-op at the military hospital. He could bring his Senate aides, but he would have to use DOD photographers. Campaigning at military bases is supposed to be illegal, as he and his unctious staff know full well.
He responded by figuratively giving the finger to the wounded vets. After all, he hadn’t been able to turn his previous “diplomatic” trips to bases in Iraq and Afghanistan into media driven Obamessiah revivals, so why waste time on wounded vets in Germany–men he isn’t fit to breathe the same air with–if he couldn’t exploit them to advance his campaign? Screw them. He canceled the visit to the hospital that HE scheduled and arranged a fawning press conference while he preened in his hotel’s luxurious gym.
I’d say the vets dodged a bullet, the same way America will in November.
He didn’t cancel his visit to a Hezb’allah hospital in Lebanon. He’s a man honor and has his priorities in order, after all.
Obama and his disciples are the ones peddling a lie (again.) There are two kinds of Obamatons. Those who know how unprincipled and dishonest their false Messiah is but don’t care, and those who think he really does walk on water. Which kind are you? Are you lying in his service, or are you a deluded fool?
Graham, I’m guessing you were born without a funny bone, or an irony detector!