The New York Times Just Doesn't Understand
AMERICAN FUTURE
Making sense of a world in turmoil
By Marc Schulman on Arab/Israeli Dispute
In an editorial, the Times complains that Israel's Prime Minister has over-reacted to Palestinian violence:
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" Nobody expected Israel to simply ignore Thursday's attack by armed militants in Gaza, who used explosives, grenades and automatic weapons to kill six Israelis and wound five others. Nor can it be expected to negotiate with Palestinian leaders who equivocate in word or deed about terrorism. But that is not the situation Israel faces, as someone as canny and experienced in these matters as Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, must surely recognize. Yet yesterday Mr. Sharon ordered all Israeli officials to cut off contacts with the Palestinian Authority until it acts to curb such terrorist violence."
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What should Sharon have done? Naturally, the Times doesn't say. Even worse, the Times evidently doesn't understand that, by closing down contacts with the PA, Sharon is increasing the pressure on Abbas to end the violence. If, as the Times asserts "Abbas has been clear and unwavering in his view that anti-Israeli violence has been and continues to be extremely harmful to the Palestinian cause," Sharon's non-violent response to Palestinian violence confirms Abbas' view.
While Abbas thinks violence is counterproductive, he's not willing to use force to stop it. According to Ha'aretz,
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In a meeting Friday with Arab Israeli lawmakers in Ramallah, Abbas said he would not comply with Israel's demands to use force against the militants behind the Thursday attack on the Karni crossing. Instead, he is expected to try to co-opt them by asking Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades gunmen, many of them former policemen, to return to their jobs, and by offering Hamas a say in decision-making.
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Good luck, Mr. Abbas. He must be made to understand that his unwillingness to use force to reign in the militants will undermine his authority, in addition to inflicting pain on Israel. If he doesn't stop the violence now, the militants will smell blood (figuratively and literally), and they will act to undermine his government, much as the Iraqi militants are engaged in a feverish effort to delegitimize the January 30 elections. Appeasing the militants is the path to civil war between the pro- and anti-peace Palestinian factions and escalating violence between the militants and the Israelis. The Times doesn't understand this, either. But Sharon does.
Targeted assassinations are wrong. The fence is wrong. And now, eliminating contacts with PA officials is wrong. For its detractors, every Israeli response to Palestinian violence is wrong. Just look at the Times. |
