Hamas won the election, which means that the peace process is over.
Well, actually, no – that’s not what it means.
It means that we can stop pretending that there was a peace process.
There was no peace process.
Fatah, while talking peace and partnership, spent the last several years creating ever newer and more bizarre terror structures, while pocketing the money which the Europeans threw at them. Hamas, on the other hand, actually did something about education and welfare. So it isn’t surprising that Fatah lost big-time.
Perhaps the money we gave Fatah to boost their electoral chances went into pockets instead.
What is surprising is that there were no alternatives to Fatah except Hamas.
You’d think, after all those years of European love, education abroad, expats working and doing business in the wider world, and international recognition, that Palestinians would want to stay engaged with the only folks who actually supported them: Europeans.
[Europe is where all the love came from baby, and the money. See, the Europeans were getting a little tired of Israel and the Jews and their own 1940-1945 collaborator-guilt, and maybe, just maybe, resented a pissy little country that actually won wars - Something Europeans haven’t been very good at these past few decades.]
Nope. Sorry.
Palestinians would rather remain firmly in the Arab world and destroy Israel.
They’ll have to rely on Iran for funds in the short-term, because most European governments will initially be somewhat averse to financing a radical Islamic terror organization (other than Saudi Arabia, that is).
And the Arab governments will of course maintain their usual level of generous funding (meaning next to minus nothing, cheap bastards).
So once the petty cash under the bed of each warlord in the Palestinian territories runs out, violent desperation will set in, unless brother Ahmedinejad puts his money where his mouth is (boy, talk about filthy lucre!).
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THE FUTURE
In the long term, it is certain that the European countries will one by one put their blinkers back on, and decide to deal with Hamas, because “there is no one else, really”, and “one must face reality”, and the election was the “legitimate voice of the Palestinian people”, and “the Israelis should at least TRY TO GET ALONG with their neighbors”.
Oh, and most Western European countries have opposition parties which will do well in elections now that the current governments have been compromised by their association with the United States (real, perceived, or imagined), and most Western European countries have substantial Moslem minorities who must be appeased lest they become destructive - we wouldn't want a repeat of the Paris riots, would we? Especially because Amsterdam and Berlin look so nice in summer!
[Perspective: Holland has nearly a million Moslems, and less than fifty thousand Jews. France has over five million Moslems, and about 800 thousand Jews. Germany has millions of Moslems, and a few hundred thousand Jews. The situation is the opposite in Russia and the Ukraine, where Jews outnumber Maghrebis by a staggering proportion. But Russia and the Ukraine are not exactly your most philo-Semite countries to begin with........]
Besides, doing business with the Palestinian territories is a form of “engagement” (and very profitable, as well as ‘progressive’).
Also, as I may have hinted earlier, Europeans love Palestinians while being a little "frustrated" with Jews, Israel, Americans, and MacDonalds.
So I’m taking bets on which European country will be the first to break.
My guess is Norway, though the Netherlands and France are close seconds.
Belgium is also likely - remember that wave of anti-Semitism two years ago?
Or how about that violence in Antwerp last year? Or the molotov cocktails?
Or that stupid law-suit against Sharon?
If Berlusconi gets voted out of office, the Italians will probably have a love-fest with Hamas.
The Scandinavians of course will do what is politically correct, meaning they’ll be among the first to throw money at Hamas.
[It's a queer take on neutrality, which often means making money off of all sides no matter how unappetizing some of one's business partners. All justified with impeccable double-speak.]
The Spaniards will transparently play both sides, the Germans will talk seriously and humourlessly about ‘ze oppression of a people’, and the Brits will pull the usual smarm-meets-opportunism bull-pucky.
The Eastern European wing of the EU will funnel arms and ammo - that seems to be their forte, and it provides employment for their gangsters and mistress-funds for their politicians. They're rather an immoral lot, I'm afraid.
ON THE OTHER HAND...
But heck, I may be wrong.
The Dutch may be the first.
Way ahead of everybody else.
Reading the reader-comments posted underneath articles in Dutch newspapers on the internet today depressed me beyond measure (the Dutch are, by and large, self-satisfied arrogant know-it-all opportunists and bigots, with strong anti-American and anti-Israel leftist tendencies fuelled by resentment and "sociaal bewogendheid"). Buncha pissant Calvinists.
I am farklempt, and hence may be misreading the situation.
I am keen to hear your thoughts.
Please, comment. Vent. And spew.
Discuss among yourselves.
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2 comments:
Most of them aren't Maghrebinians, but there are an estimated 14 to 23 million Muslims in Russia. I've also seen the figure 11 million Muslims in the Ukraine, but I'm not sure about the accuracy.
But there's no doubt they outnumber Jews in both countries.
Germany is a bit different from France etc. They have some 100.000 Jews, mostly irrelevant in public life, but very important for the country's self-image.
And the overwhelming majority of Germany's three (or so) million Muslims are Turks. (Most actually are, as Germany is very reluctant to convey citizenship, and the others are seen as Turks as well, not Germans, even third-generation immigrants.) Religious radicalism is less a problem than among French Maghrebinians, and Arab, not Muslim, nationalism doesn't apply. Could change, though.
Shalom Lipman,
I deliberately used the term Maghrebi to highlight that the Muslim population of Western Europe consists largely of North Africans (and Turks, yes, and Turks - but the Turkish element has done more to integrate, and tend to be better future citizens - a generalization, I admit, but one based on both reading and personal observation).
The Islamic population in Russia and the Ukraine, whether insurrectionist or not, is destined to catch it in the pants as much as the Jewish population.
Most Russians I know in SF are marginally anti-Semitic (many of them nevertheless are also marginally Jewish), but virulently anti-Muslim.
Your comment had much more nuance than my post. I'm afraid I was still steaming over the reader comments on the site of the Algemeen Dagblad. All the usual stuff: Jewish Lobby, American imperialism, evil empire, anonymo panstvo, poor oppressed little innocent Palestinians versus evil Israeli daemon Jews, etcetera.
One (!) commenter took it up for Jews, and got slammed from several different sides.
There was also one commenter who selectively quoted from the Talmud - not a quote you haven't seen, we've all seen the same selective quotes (crap, we can all go through each other's writings selectively, and paint the other in the harshest terms based on those excerpts).
Normally I identify as Dutch (Dutch American, ninth generation in the new world), or at least identify myself with the Dutch. But there are times when I despise the lot of them, and wish ill on their society and their venomous self-righteousness.
Now is one of those times.
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