Soccer Dad

Criticism and fury signifying nothing

From the Baltimore Sun:

Gaza Evacuation Raises Tensions, Level of Violence
In the wake of the evacuation of Jewish residents of Gaza in the summer of 2005, Israel has been severely weakened. Residents of nearby Sderot are now regular targets of Qassem rockets. Then the terrorist group Hamas won national elections last year. In the summer of 2006, Hamas terrorists, emboldened by the Israeli withdrawal and the election launched a raid accross the border into Israel killing soldiers and kidnapping Cpl Gilad Shalit.
In the meantime greenhouses that were supposed to help provide Arab residents of Gaza with a livelihood were destroyed.

No, that wasn't what the Baltimore Sun reported, this is:

West Bank plan for settlement raises hope, fury
It took thousands of Israeli soldiers and police armed with riot gear and bulldozers to pull Yosi Hazut and hundreds of his neighbors from their hard-line Jewish settlement of Shirat Hayam during Israel's tumultuous and expensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

Now Hazut and other former Gaza settlers want to build again in the Palestinian territories. This time they plan to construct a settlement in the cinnamon- colored hills of the Jordan Valley in the West Bank.
...
But Hazut's ambitious building plans have drawn fury from the Palestinians, criticism from the United States and the European Union, and possibly set the stage for the next showdown between the Israeli government and Jewish settlers.

Two weeks ago, Israel's Defense Ministry granted Hazut and other former Gaza settlers permission to build 30 new homes near Maskiot, an abandoned Israeli army outpost that is now used as a campus for a religious, pre-military school.

Damn. Those building plans have "drawn fury" and "criticism." How awful.

What about the results of that expensive withdrawal? Well it takes the reporter John Murphy until the 13th of 29 paragraphs to tell us:

But the public support for more settlement evacuations has diminished since last summer. The abduction of an Israeli soldier in June and continued rocket attacks by Palestinian militants forced Israeli soldiers back to Gaza less than a year after the celebrated withdrawal. A few weeks later, Israel returned to Lebanon - after ending its occupation there in 2000 - in pursuit of Hezbollah militants who abducted two other Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

That's not the complete story but it's enough to demonstrate once again that Israeli concessions are never enough. Israel withdrew from territory and expelled its own residents from the area. "Militants" affiliated with the terrror group that was electorally supported by the Palestinian population continue attacking Israel in a varitey of ways and the news is that Israel's going to allow a "settlement" to be built? Who does Murphy think he's kidding?

At what point will the media, the diplomats and the politicians demand the first responsibility from the Palestinians? No not the first promise. There have been plenty of those - all broken. No, accepting territory doesn't help the "peace process" if the territory isn't secured. No, negotiating doesn't help the "peace process" either if the negotiations are not accompanied by a good faith effort to fulfill existing commitments.

Until then we can continue to look forward to much "criticism" of and "fury" at Israel, signifying impotence.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Blogdigger tags: Israel, Baltimore Sun, John Murphy, Maskiot, Shirat Hayam.

Posted by SoccerDad at January 12, 2007 2:22 AM