It is hard to beat Hamas leaders when it comes to overblown rhetoric intended to infuriate the zealots in Israel. Hamas called Prime Minister Netanyahu's recognition of a two state solution "a freak offer" and said that it would never give up armed struggle against Israel. Netanyahu has returned service by telling the German foreign minister that the West Bank cannot be "Judenrein" a Nazi era expression meaning "Jew free". Pro-Zionist supporters in the US have provided a chorus by irresponsibly labeling the removal of illegal settlements in the West Bank "ethnic cleansing". Both sides have to stop using their rhetorical brickbats if any solution is to be reached based upon the accepted principle of two separate homelands for the Arabs and Jews in the Levant. Only then will the killing stop. Could it be that the current set of leaders are more interested in the miserable status quo than peace? The Jews are represented by a far-right Zionist coalition, and the Palestinians have a dysfunctional dyad of Hamas and Fatah as their representatives. But to paraphrase one of our less successful public servants--you go with the leaders you got.
Friday, July 10, 2009
War of Words
It is hard to beat Hamas leaders when it comes to overblown rhetoric intended to infuriate the zealots in Israel. Hamas called Prime Minister Netanyahu's recognition of a two state solution "a freak offer" and said that it would never give up armed struggle against Israel. Netanyahu has returned service by telling the German foreign minister that the West Bank cannot be "Judenrein" a Nazi era expression meaning "Jew free". Pro-Zionist supporters in the US have provided a chorus by irresponsibly labeling the removal of illegal settlements in the West Bank "ethnic cleansing". Both sides have to stop using their rhetorical brickbats if any solution is to be reached based upon the accepted principle of two separate homelands for the Arabs and Jews in the Levant. Only then will the killing stop. Could it be that the current set of leaders are more interested in the miserable status quo than peace? The Jews are represented by a far-right Zionist coalition, and the Palestinians have a dysfunctional dyad of Hamas and Fatah as their representatives. But to paraphrase one of our less successful public servants--you go with the leaders you got.