For peace between Israel and the Philistines each side must have a government with an honest intent to represent its own tribe and to negotiate in good faith with the opposing one. This seems self evident, and we will assume it is so.
This writer believes Israel’s two year blockade and the December holocaust in Gaza demonstrates that Hamas is the only qualified government, and that the United States and Israel must allow it to negotiate. Instead, the negotiating has been done by the Palestinian Authority (formerly the Palestinian Liberation Organization), which the people rejected two years ago in a free election. Corruption has been exposed at the very top of the PA, just as it was in Yasser Arafat’s PLO, a blow to the PA, and affirmation for Hamas.
Israle’s reputation for honesty in office is worse. A Google search on the words “Israel corruption” turns up no less than 688 articles containing the exact phrase. A broader search reveals thousands of articles in Israeli publications about graft and criminal acts at the top of every administration in Israel’s history. Ehud Olmert stands officially accused of massive financial misdeeds. Ariel “The Butcher” Sharon slipped into a coma three years ago; his crimes can be more easily forgotten if he is kept on life support for the next 10 years.
From its very beginning, the Likud has a history of constant wars on its neighbors, and it has campaigned on more war. Israel’s wars have destroyed two smaller, more helpless neighbors–Lebanon and Gaza–in as many years; occupation and division have destroyed the West Bank. The 2009 coalition government’s Avigdor Lieberman publicly boasted that the US Government will do anything Israel wants it to do. He wants to bomb Iran tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the noble and historical ancient Philistines, who populate two provinces but have no nation, are led by two separate and opposing movements, each claiming to represent the people: the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
Americans are constantly reminded that the PA leaders are well-meaning but bumbling drones who don’t cause much trouble and are ready to compromise for peace; Mahmoud Abbas seems to be just such a drone…dull, pliable but honest. But we are learning that Mr. Abbas is a profiteer, like his predecessor, Yassar Arafat.
Hamas has faults. It has often dealt violence when faced with violence. Some, including American Arabs with long memories, believe Hamas was at one time backed and funded by Israel in order to create a counterbalance to PLO growth and power. This was probably true at one time, but it does not matter now because it is clear from the Gaza holocaust that Israel has a bulls eye on every Hamas leader, who must be dedicated to want the job. Hundreds have been killed and arrested, so it is safe to say these were not Israeli agents. Organizations change.
It is also well known that PLO leaders were at times protected by the USA government. The Philistines only supported the PLO as long as there was no one else. It is natural they would turn to Hamas because the PLO had a long history of losing ground every year while its leaders became more wealthy.
We Hold These Truths listened to Jimmy Carter when he said the election that brought Hamas to power in 2007 was legitimate and represented the will of the people. His team had talked to the voters. Carter said democracy demands that the world recognize Hamas and let the people work out their own problems. Carter stood for self-determination–a decidedly American principle, and some Israeli’s now agree.
We went a step farther after the December annihilation of the Gazans, when we stated Hamas appeared to be an amazingly efficient and accepted governing body, functioning under impossible conditions. We based this conclusion in large part on Hamas’ development of the tunnel system that is saving the lives of the men, women, and children in the gulag called Gaza.
What more can a government do than help its citizen feed and care for themselves under impossible conditions? For their life-saving efforts, many Hamas leaders and their families have been systematically hunted and killed by Israelis. Whoever and whatever Hamas is, it has support because it delivers. We said this on January 1st, in The Lie That Justifies Mass Murder: “Hamas Hit Us First”, and its time to repeat it.
Recent developments:
Now there is new cause for every one of us to reject the corrupt PA, a fresh scandal that seems to prove our point. The Jerusalem Post’s story about obvious corruption in the Abbas family forced both embarrassment and reality on those who have wondered about the leadership of the Palestine Authority, America’s choice to rule over the Philistines.
Yasser Abbas has emerged from nowhere as the wealthy 46 year old Canadian son of Mahmoud Abbas. Mahmoud was a long-time assistant to former PLO President Yasser Arafat and named his son after his boss. The son did right well, making millions with various enterprises operated in his father’s jurisdictions.
Yasser not only admits to complicity with the hated Israelis, but according to The Jerusalem Post, “one of his smaller companies, Falcon Tobacco, has a monopoly over marketing US-made cigarettes like Kent and Lucky in the West Bank and Gaza Strip…”
Think of it, 1.5 million Gazans are locked inside a canary cage with food coming in through tunnels, and Abbas’ son enjoys a franchise to sell them American cigarettes.
Yasser’s interview with The Jerusalem Post tells much about how the PA deals secretly with Israel. Yasser is proud of it and sees nothing wrong. Asked if he was doing business with Israelis, Yasser replied:
“How can you get merchandise into the Gaza Strip if the Israeli and Palestinian ministers of economy don’t talk to each other? …Most Palestinians collaborate with Israel, while the rest live on the rain.”
In the wake of his son’s scandal, Mahmoud Abbas is now trying to paint himself to be more firm in his stand with Israel. Today Arutz Sheva, Israel National News service, carried a story, Abbas Refuses Jewish Israel, by Malkah Fleisher, in which Abbas seems to have suddenly found his missing backbone.
“Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas openly refused Monday to recognize Israel as a Jewish State. The statement came as a direct slap against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s insistence that such an acknowledgement is a necessary condition for “progress” in final-status talks….
“A Jewish state, what is that supposed to mean?” Abbas asked at a speech Monday in Ramallah. “You can call yourselves what you want, but I don’t accept it and I say so publicly.”
Malkah Fleisher concludes this about control of the PA:
“The Ramallah-based Abbas government has been propped up by the United States and Israel since the PA’s first democratic election in 2006, in which the Hamas terrorist organization won almost twice the number of parliamentary seats as Fatah. Both Israel and the United States rejected the election results, and instituted Fatah leader Abbas as PA “President,” calling him a “moderate” alternative to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and political bureau chief, Khaled Mashaal, who is based in Damascus…
Israel has also thwarted several assassination attempts on Abbas by providing intelligence to Ramallah-based PA officials before the attempts could take place.”
While the Gazans “live on rain” deprived of the simplest necessities such as rice and beans that must be smuggled in through tunnels, the PA president’s son can get American cigarettes in by dealing with the hated Yahood, who just killed 1400 Gazans with American-made weapons of mass destruction. Gazans with cash can get Lucky cigarettes to corrupt their lungs and to fatten the wallet of Abbas’ son, but Israelis will not allow baby formula or drugs in.
No wonder the Gazans respect Hamas and despise Abbas’ Palestine Authority.
Our own story, “The Lie That Justifies Mass Murder” provides the background for this one, and details Hamas‘ enormous and seemingly impossible accomplishment in keeping most Gazans alive while blockaded for two years. We quote a few paragraphs in hopes that you will take time to read it and give it wings. Unfortunately, it is all true that:
As a practical matter, Israel cannot kill all three or four million Philistines, although it has been officially considered. And, Likud politicians will do it if they can….
Israel’s objective, instead, is to eliminate Hamas, so they can once again control the Philistines, as they have in the past, by controlling its leaders… Israel, with the help of the USA, trained Yasser Arafat to be its kind of Arab leader and helped him to become a billionaire…
The PLO’s role was that of a controlled terrorist…controlled in that it made lots of press, but never really gained any constructive ground for the Philistines…
Hamas is the lawfully elected government of Gaza and the West Bank as well…
Israeli and American officials lie about Hamas routinely, it’s strictly business to lie, and they are not ashamed when they are caught…
American Arabs have recenty told me their family members in Gaza for the first time appear emaciated in cell phone photos. This is forced starvation, and time is running out. Please make Gaza a priority in your life.
Notes:
The Lie That Justifies Mass Murder: “Hamas Hit Us First” by Charles E. Carlson, Jan 01, www.whtt.org/images/PW-20090102-HamasHitUsFirst.pdf
PA officials scandalized at disclosure by Abbas’ son of vast personal fortune: https://whtt.org/index.php? News=2&id=3023
2 Roots of Christian Zionism (Bookstore) HYPERLINK “http://eshop.cp.whtt.org/eshop.php?id=22”
http://eshop.cp.whtt.org/eshop.php?id=22
