ISRAEL – Can anyone tell me which of these statements is not true?

• Fatah, long-time sworn enemy of Israel, no longer sponsors attacks on Israel.
• Fatah poses no military danger to Israel.
• Fatah has accepted the right of Israel to exist; threats to obliterate it from the map have come from Iran, but that is not Fatah’s fault.
• Palestinians in general are among the best-educated and most democratic of Arabs.
• A democratic Palestinian State trading freely with Israel would greatly increase prosperity in both states, but especially in Palestine.
• Free, democratic and prosperous states do not in general cause conflict.
• A free, democratic and prosperous Palestine would cause ordinary people in Gaza and elsewhere in the Arab world to wonder why the hell they were bothering to support extremists and “terrorists”.  Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and Iran would have the ground cut totally from under them. The latter are terrified of anything free and democratic, so it is no wonder that their main aims are to foment disorder and chaos. Israel sometimes seems to play their game for them.

I believe all the above to be true, though am willing to stand corrected. And so the next question is, Why does Israel still occupy the West Bank and impose roadblocks on ordinary Palestinians trying to create some sort of normal and prosperous life for themselves?

It seems to me that Israel’s policy here is potty. In all walks of life, you encourage good behaviour (assuming you want progress, peace and prosperity). I am unclear how the good behaviour of Fatah in the last few years has been rewarded. On the contrary, there is endless talk as ever but little action on the ground.

One understands Israel’s existential fears, but the dangers no longer come from Fatah and Palestinians in the West Bank. They should and could become the allies of Israel.

Has Israel become so accustomed to battering its enemies with force that it cannot learn the humility of victory and take a longer vision?

The major sticking points?

• Jerusalem? This has to become a shared city in some form. Israel has no right to claim it as its own. We all share the planet; I can see no fundamental problem with sharing a city.
• The exiles? There has to be some sort of justice. We – I believe – empathize with Jews. We understand their fears for their existence. We support their right to exist. But they do not seem to empathize with those Arabs whose land was taken from them first in 1948 and then later by conquest. EMPATHY – this is sorely lacking in the current Israeli leadership.

The Aid Ship Fiasco? Once again, Israel is its own worst enemy. The critical thing is to establish the truth, so if Israel has nothing to hide then why does it not permit an independent enquiry?

It seems pretty clear to me that the majority of activists on the first ship were peaceful but you only have to have a few prepared to use violence and this will cause big trouble, which seems to have been the case here. And everyone knows that if Israel or Israelis are attacked then they respond with overwhelming force.

But “winning hearts and minds” CANNOT be done without the truth being known, and nobody who matters (ordinary Arabs, Iranians and Turks in particular) is going to trust an enquiry carried out solely by the Israelis. This is so obvious that one wonders if – as often seems the case – Israel has taken leave of its senses.

by Chris Snuggs