« How Bad do you Want to Cut? | Main | "White and Nerdy" »
September 21, 2006
Breakthrough? Try Miracle Eh...Never Mind
Palestinian government to recognize Israel.
UNITED NATIONS - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday that the planned national unity government will recognize Israel.If true, this is amazing. Not sure what the repercussions will be in the Mideast. First thing that will happen, though, is that the sanctions against the Palestinians will likely end. What happens then is really up to them. I hope they take the opportunity given by this news.The Hamas-led Palestinian government has refused to recognize Israel, end violence, and honor past agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Abbas heads.
UPDATE - Well that didn't take long.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Friday he will not recognize a government that recognizes Israel - his clearest statement yet on the terms of sharing power with the moderate Fatah movement.This guy's refusal to get with the program will likely give a lot of Palestinians the excuse they need to reject it.Haniyeh spoke a day after moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas indicated that a coalition government of Hamas and Abbas' Fatah would recognize the Jewish state.
"I personally will not head any government that recognizes Israel," Haniyeh said in a mosque sermon in Gaza City on Friday, laying out his group's positions.
Driving to work this morning, I listened to an interfaith discussion with a Catholic, a protestant, a rabbi and a Muslim (yes, it sounds like the setup for a joke). The host asked them for reactions to the Pope's speech. All but the Muslim said that Islam needs to engage in self-examination over the issue of violence in faith.
The Muslim guest deflected the question by saying that all faiths had their share of violence, and especially the Jews, who inflict violence in Palestine upon the settlers there. He never explicitly rationalized the violence - just provided context for it.
That seems to be the answer on a greater scale, as well. When asked to deal with the violence in their midst, many leaders in the Muslim world point to the Jews, or to the United States or to history that shows them as those who have suffered. I have never heard a political or religious leader in the Mideast unconditionally condemn religious violence. There's always that context.
My bubble of optimism from last evening has been burst with the news from Hamas and by the discussion I heard this morning. The Muslim world doesn't need to let go of violence - they need to let go of past grievances and end the cycle of perpetual victimhood. Nothing excuses violence against innocents - and all of the finger-pointing in the world won't dismiss that fact.
Another UPDATE - Krauthammer has a good column on this and related issues today.
Posted by slublog at September 21, 2006 10:10 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.slublog.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2595
Comments
Not to be too downbeat but I'll believe it when I see it.
The way Hamas feels it could be real civil war before it happens.
Posted by: harrison at September 21, 2006 11:10 PM
Its meaningless. Recognizing them has nothing to do with wanting to destroy them. Hitler had embassadors all over europe.
Hamas needs C.A.S.H. If they have to say they "recognize" Israel, then they'll do it to get the international welfare trough filled up again. It won't change their tactics or approach one iota.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at September 21, 2006 11:16 PM
I'm trying not to be a pessimist, but yeah...I have my doubts. As much as I hope the Palestinians can make the most of this opportunity, their history doesn't give me much hope.
Posted by: Slublog at September 21, 2006 11:23 PM