Gaza again
The assault caused a "state of panic" among the medical staff and threatened children at a kindergarten for employees' children on the grounds, he said. Doctors treated three of the wounded as the battle continued.
Israelly Cool has a roundup of news on the fighting in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah. "Things are happening at a bloodcurdling pace, and it is very hard sometimes to keep track of all the terrorist vs terrorist goings on. Thus as a special service for Israellycool readers, I have summarized today's events in an easy-to-follow manner." Meanwhile in other news, "the European Union resumed aid to the Palestinian finance ministry yesterday, for the first time since the West launched an economic boycott of the Islamist Hamas government more than a year ago," according to Agence Presse France.
Only a few months ago, Hamas and Fatah factions met in Riyadh and swore by all that was holy to bury the hatchet to form a unity government. No one bothered to inquire where the hatchet would be buried. Two things are at issue in the Hamas-Fatah war. The first is the future of the "peace process". The second is the future of Palestine. The viability of the "peace process" descended from the Oslo Agreement is hanging by the most slender of fictions. A Hamas victory or fight to a draw would to all intents and purposes not only smash the "peace process" but all the diplomatic schemes which view the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian process as the heart of a solution. With the prospect of a peace with Israel taken off the table the risk of resort to war increases. What is worse is that "Palestine", if it ever existed as a viable proto-state, risks becoming fragmented among terrorist groups, each with its own external patrons. It is being divided into spheres of influence presided over by terror organizations acting as proxies for rogue states.
Of course the facts may make no difference at all. As the recent EU funds transfer underscores, the Left is already in a zombie-like trance with respect to this issue. Lips will continue to move, checks will continue to be written and limbs appear to move as if controlled by volition, but it's all on automatic. Any acknowledgement of reality will precipitate its complete collapse in certain ideologues, if that makes any sense.
posted by wretchardthecat at 6/12/2007 01:20:00 PM
6 Comments:
The problem is that the Palestinians have suffered forty years of failure under Fatah (PLO) and its conservative Arab backers in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Fourth generational warfare is not so difficult, just read a few books by Mao and Alistair Horne’s A Savage War of Peace and you if you still don’t get it you never will. And so the PLO never did quite figure out the difference between hijacking airliners and winning an unconventional war.
And just a few hundred kilometers up north the Palestinians got to sit back and watch Hezbollah kick Jew ass up and down the valleys of south Lebanon. And they are redneck ignorant poverty-stricken Shia to boot.
So what’s a Palestinian to do? Live under the Israeli jackboot or start backing Hezbollah-lite because one thing is for sure, the only more certain loser in the world besides Fatah is Bob Shrum, the 0-8 consultant that every Democratic candidate (and Republican partisan)loves.
So yeah, this war is going to last another decade at least. First Hamas will defeat the congenital losers of Fatah. Whether they can then move on and soundly apply some basic 4GW principles and defeat Israel is still up in the air. With Iran backing them, fresh off their assisted victory over the US in Iraq, the chances are pretty good they will.
Two things are at issue in the Hamas-Fatah war. The first is the future of the "peace process". The second is the future of Palestine.
Isn't the over-arching, all-important third thing - into whose pocket will aid money from the West and the Middle East flow? Both groups of terrorists are trying to kill off the other so they are left standing alive and ready to accept aid to "rebuild" their state. Which of course, per the example of the late great Arafat, means directly into their very own personal raggedy pockets.
Fourth Generation warfare is meant to defeat people who think like you, Kevin. It doesn't work against the Ethiopians, for example. But Fourth Generation warfare does one other thing: it spawns hostile factions endlessly.
One other thing it does is destroy its surroundings completely. Suppose the US were to topple every regime in the Arab world. Within a year all of them would be chaotic and would reduce the entire region to a cinder, all of its own accord. This of course is no victory for civilization, because civilization desires law, commerce and culture. But assuming for a moment that the hegemon did not desire these things in the Middle East, it could enlist "Fourth Generation" warriors to slit their own throats. They can be relied on to do it.
Wretchard is quite correct Kevin.
If you've ever read the Dashiell Hammett novel "Red Harvest" which is a thinly fictionalized account of his time in Butte Montana as a Pinkerton strike breaker, you can see that these types of gangsterized factions are simply not sustainable.
Israel tried a politically correct war with a deteriorated military, and lost to Hezbollah. Which unlike Hamas-Fatah, is a unified, high-trust organization with power and authority delegated downwards. Hezbollah is NOT a 4GW group. It is really more like a modern military, akin to the Condor Legion. It really is quite remarkable and will likely overrun the rest of Lebanon in short order because the Lebanese are divided, do not trust each other, and like all Arab states have militaries oriented around coup prevention rather than War fighting. Hezbollah need not fear a coup, it's masters are in Tehran, so it focuses solely on fighting to win.
But ... Israelis have seen their weaknesses, in the reserve system, tanks, air force, and logistics. That is being addressed. Unlike Hezbollah they have an air force. Quite a good one. They also very likely understand they face total annihilation and genocide should they lose. So versus say Hamas victorious in Gaza they won't be very gentle.
Europe and the Left will hate them anyway. Getting rid of Hamas (likely deporting the Hamasistan residents to Egypt) and forcing the issue gives them more freedom. Particularly a "take it or leave it" offer to the Fatah-West Bankers who see the Hamasistan folks just deported en-masse presumably with many casualties and an Israel that just doesn't care about much any more. An Israel that fears Iranian nuclear attack at any moment, and might initiate it's own preemptive strike.
The worst of all worlds but this is precisely what the Left wanted.
and watch Hezbollah kick Jew ass up and down the valleys of south Lebanon.
well call me a moron..
but...
last summer?
arabs killed 150 israels (citizens and soldiers) using 4400 rockets trying to kill as many as possible
israel killed 1000+ citizens and soldiers not trying to kill civilians and caused 12 billion in damage
today, there is a 35% increase in israeli births thanks to the hezbollah created drama of last summer...
so who kicked whos ass?
wio,
Seems to me Kevin and his type will not be satiated until they get to scream 'genocide'. Of course, at that point, they'd be dead too.
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