Joel Brinkley, former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times, currently a professor of journalism at Stanford University, wrote a commentary published in a number of newspapers. Brinkley both misrepresents recent events relating to Hamastan/Gaza and fails to recognize the obvious implications of information he obtained first hand.
We include excerpts below along with some salient comments.
Among other sources, the full text of Brinkley's commentary is available at www.tri-cityherald.com/987/story/77089.html.
Email may be sent to Brinkley at brinkley@foreign-matters.com.
We include excerpts below along with some salient comments.
Among other sources, the full text of Brinkley's commentary is available at www.tri-cityherald.com/987/story/77089.html.
Email may be sent to Brinkley at brinkley@foreign-matters.com.
You'd almost think the leaders of Hamas had hired a brilliant political consultant before they blew down the Egyptian border fence in January.
[One almost wonders whether Brinkley was one of those "brilliant political consultant(s)."]
…
Like every Arab state, Egypt professes great concern for the Palestinian cause.
[Brinkley is actually correct in his argument that Egypt really doesn't give a d**n about the Palestinian Arabs. Gaza languished under Egyptian occupation between 1948 and 1967. The only recent time the lives of the Palestinian Arabs in what is now Hamastan actually improved was the period between when Israel got stuck with Gaza in 1967 and the outbreak of the first intifada in the late 1980's.]
Every day, the state-controlled press fills its pages with tales of Palestinian suffering. As an example, just before the fence fell, the Cairo newspaper al-Ahram lamented, "Gaza is now effectively cut off from the world, plunged into darkness and hostage to the whims of Israel's air commanders and their weapons."
[Israel never stopped supplying power to Gaza and it was Hamas which, to make propaganda hay, turned off its own generating plant and shut the lights in a small part of Gaza even though it had sufficient fuel to continue to run the plant.]
…
If anyone holds any doubts about Egypt's true view of the Palestinians, consider what happened when Israel and Egypt made peace after Israel's capture of the Sinai and Gaza in the Six-Day War. In 1979, Egypt negotiated the return of the Sinai. As for Gaza, Egypt refused to take it back.
[Fortunately for the Palestinian Arabs who were better off with Israel in control; unfortunately for Israel.]
For months, Hamas has been firing rocket volleys over the Gaza border fence into Israel. Most fall harmlessly in the desert, but the attacks terrify and occasionally injure citizens of Sderot, a small town west of Gaza. In response, Israel has cut fuel and other supplies to Gaza.
[Hamas and its co-conspirators (the countless other Arab terrorist groups in Gaza and the West Bank) have been steadily launching Kassams at Sderot not just for a few months, but since 2000. They've launched thousands during that period, including more than a thousand in 2007 and about 200 in a period of just a few days before they destroyed the border between Gaza and Egypt.
Despite this, Israel has continued to supply Gaza with fuel, power, food, medicines and other supplies, only briefly stopping the delivery of fuel for a few days. Gaza can also import necessities through Egypt and thus Israel has no legal or moral obligation to provide for the very people who continually attack it.
One may consider the following analogy: Suppose terrorists governing Long Island had launched more than 6,000 Kassams at New Haven last year. (New Haven is about six times the size of Sderot, so 1,000 Kassams launched at Sderot correspond to about 6,000 launched at New Haven.) One can be certain New Haven would not be supplying food, fuel and medicines to Long Island.
To not supply those firing at you is not "collective punishment;" it's simply common sense.]
Despite this, Israel has continued to supply Gaza with fuel, power, food, medicines and other supplies, only briefly stopping the delivery of fuel for a few days. Gaza can also import necessities through Egypt and thus Israel has no legal or moral obligation to provide for the very people who continually attack it.
One may consider the following analogy: Suppose terrorists governing Long Island had launched more than 6,000 Kassams at New Haven last year. (New Haven is about six times the size of Sderot, so 1,000 Kassams launched at Sderot correspond to about 6,000 launched at New Haven.) One can be certain New Haven would not be supplying food, fuel and medicines to Long Island.
To not supply those firing at you is not "collective punishment;" it's simply common sense.]
The United States largely endorses this strategy. And within the administration, many hold the expectation that Israel's collective punishment will drive Gazans to realize that their lives are growing ever more miserable the longer Hamas holds power.
…
In the Middle East, after 41 years of occupation and confrontation, it is now patently clear that Palestinians react to collective punishment by standing ever closer to their leaders and growing ever more angry with Israel, leading to more terrorist attacks. Unlike Washington, Israel realizes this - though at times Israelis seem to reach wistfully for the easy answer.
[The so-called "occupation" effectively ended in 1994 with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority and Israel completely left Gaza more than two years ago. The "confrontation" continues only because the Palestinian Arabs prefer war and terrorism to peace and prosperity.
There is only one reason Arab terrorists in Gaza continue to attack Israel. See below.]
There is only one reason Arab terrorists in Gaza continue to attack Israel. See below.]
…
Hamas sent Mahmoud Zahar, who once told me, "From our ideological point of view, it is not allowed to recognize that Israel controls one square meter of historic Palestine."
[This is the key to the entire conflict. The same basic position is enshrined not only in the Hamas Charter, but in the charter of Fatah, the supposedly "moderate" terrorist group led by Mahmoud Abbas.
Brinkley amazingly includes this quote but ignores the obvious implication: Peace is impossible as long as both Hamas and Israel exist.
The choice is clear, especially since for Hamas Israel is merely the immediate enemy and, ultimately, it looks to destroy America and the rest of Western civilization as well.
Brinkley recognizes that that half-hearted attempts to isolate Hamas (while continuing to supply Gaza and looking the other way as the supplies are turned into bombs and weapons smuggling goes on virtually unimpeded via Egypt) have failed.
It's long past time to get serious.
It's perhaps symbolic that Brinkley's wrongheaded commentary appeared the same day Arab terrorists attacked in Dimona.
Early reports indicate the terrorists were among those who crossed from Gaza into Egypt when Hamas destroyed the border, illustrating the real purpose of that action: the cross-pollination of terrorists in Gaza and the Sinai.
The long-planned action had nothing to do with the phony, staged blackout; it had to do with enhancing the capabilities of the terrorists, both within and outside Gaza.]
Brinkley amazingly includes this quote but ignores the obvious implication: Peace is impossible as long as both Hamas and Israel exist.
The choice is clear, especially since for Hamas Israel is merely the immediate enemy and, ultimately, it looks to destroy America and the rest of Western civilization as well.
Brinkley recognizes that that half-hearted attempts to isolate Hamas (while continuing to supply Gaza and looking the other way as the supplies are turned into bombs and weapons smuggling goes on virtually unimpeded via Egypt) have failed.
It's long past time to get serious.
It's perhaps symbolic that Brinkley's wrongheaded commentary appeared the same day Arab terrorists attacked in Dimona.
Early reports indicate the terrorists were among those who crossed from Gaza into Egypt when Hamas destroyed the border, illustrating the real purpose of that action: the cross-pollination of terrorists in Gaza and the Sinai.
The long-planned action had nothing to do with the phony, staged blackout; it had to do with enhancing the capabilities of the terrorists, both within and outside Gaza.]
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