Once again, we are asked to decide if the struggle against Islamic fascism, exemplified by their use of terror as a tactic, is indeed a war, or should more accurately be known as a series of disconnected, modified police actions.
There are reports today that, perhaps buoyed by their "success" in THE KIDNAPPING OF GILAD SHALIT, another Palestinian group affiliated with Hamas claims to have kidnapped a young Yeshiva student, Eliyahu Asheri, on the West Bank. For those with short memories, Hamas now runs the Palestinian government.
It appears that the attack which led to Shalit's abduction was well planned and coordinated and involved months of preparation, while the kidnapping of Asheri seems to have been an abduction of opportunity.
Hillel Halkin, in the New York Sun, describes the abduction of Shalit for what it is, An End To Ambiguity; the attack was not a terror attack:
It was in fact anything but that. If terror consists of randomly killing and maiming non-combatant civilians for the purpose of sowing fear and insecurity, Sunday's raid, carried out by the military wing of Hamas, was the antithesis: A well-planned and well-executed attack on a strictly military target that was chosen long in advance and reached through the laborious digging of an underground tunnel half-a-mile long.
Why, when geologists can detect relatively minor underground tremors deep in the earth, Israeli scientists have been unable to develop equipment to detect the digging of tunnels, which have been widely used by Gaza Palestinians for the smuggling of weapons and occasional raids on Israeli positions, is a question in itself. What is not in question, though, is that if Israel and the Palestinian Authority are in a state of war, the attack in question was a perfectly legitimate act of war.
He suggests that the Israeli government treat this as an act of war and proceed accordingly:
Israel should therefore say to this government: "The charade is over. While we are willing to negotiate through neutral parties a prisoner exchange involving Gilad Shalit, we are also declaring war on you. From now on we will treat you as any country treats another country it is at war with. We will close all our borders with you, cease providing you with all services, and consider any branch of your government, any of its members, and anyone on your side contributing to your military effort, legitimate war targets. We will do our very best to avoid harming civilians, and we will expect you to do the same, but anyone else, from Prime Minister Ismail Heniya down, is from now until further notice a legitimate target. And when you're ready to sue for peace-and-quiet, let us know."
Unfortunately, Israel, even if it wanted to react appropriately, does not have a free hand. Israpundit quotes a report from Debka that Condaleeza Rice is counseling caution:
From Washington, Israel’s reaction to the kidnap of Gilead Shalit is viewed as overly excited, if not hysterical, and certainly not grounds for embarking on total war against the Palestinians. Likewise, the concentration of Israeli armored strength on Gaza’s border appears not only unnecessary but counter-productive in that it reduces prime minister Ehud Olmert’s room for maneuver in negotiating the Israeli hostage’s release.
The big difference here is that when the American military blunders, it is admitted, freely debated in the national discourse and attempts are made to repair the damage. Israelis find it hard to admit to military mistakes, despite the testimony of the soldiers involved, and are counting on a massive operation to rescue the missing soldier to make up for the IDF fiasco at Kerem Shalom.
The abduction of Gilead belies the assurances Olmert and his Kadima party gave the electorate months ago that security was improving, the Palestinian terror war was waning and the pull-back from the Gaza Strip was a success and a lever for future West Bank withdrawals.
The illusory "peace process" depends on Israel getting their soldier and their student back intact, yet the Palestinians, indeed, Islamic fascists in general, have rarely shown themselves able to defer the gratification of torturing and murdering Jews and other infidels in the service of any particular real-world benefit.
Will these abductions be the trigger for real war? If history is any guide, probably not; yet if it doesn't serve as the trigger, the logic of the Arab paranoid conspiracy dictates that they will need to escalate until they finally receive the all-out attack they so richly desire.
According to the recent Pew Survey on How Muslims Think as summarized by Daniel Pipes in the New York Sun, far too many Muslims continue to blame others, Jews, Americans, the West, for their failures. They continue to deny their own responsibility for the plight of Muslim societies. As such, since they have no responsibility and widely believe in various conspiracy theories to explain how the Americans and the Jews keep them down, their behavior will be dictated by such beliefs.
The Palestinians are the poster children for Arab dysfunction.
The paranoid belief that someone else is keeping you form the success you so obviously deserve and would have if not for their nefarious efforts, requires you to attack your enemy in order to protect yourself. It is psychologically necessary to maintain the conspiracy and act in accordance with the conspiracy.
Sadly for all involved, this will continue until the Palestinians are unmistakeably defeated. Since there has never been any indication that any Palestinian leader has ever been willing to defeat those who wish nothing more than to kill the enemy and "liberate" their land (so they can plunder as they destroyed the greenhouses in Gaza once the Israelis left), the job will eventually be forced upon the Israelis.
On the larger question of the Arab world's inability to throw off the shackles of victimhood and their struggle over the necessity of remaining paranoid victims of a powerful other (America, the West), that battle is being fought in Iraq and sporadically in Europe. Time will tell if their need to hold onto their victimhood requires them to provoke retribution on a scale which will finally and completely end this war they have been waging against the modern world for the last 100 years.
Alexandra, at All Things Beautiful, understands that there is no other end point for the Palestinians except victory or defeat.
Hamas militants need the violent clashes to continue. It's what they do. It's their day job, paid for through myriad and seedy channels under the general auspice of 'Holy War', namely Jihad.
They have no choice but to escalate. All that remains is to see what provocation (more kidnappings, poison gas attacks, a nuclear weapon) will it take before the Israelis respond with real war.
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