Wither the Roadmap for Peace in the Middle East…

Just months ago, I published this article heralding the peace agreement brokered by the United States between the Israelis and Palestinians as “one giant leap for peace in the Middle East.” But anyone reading news reports coming out of that region today can be forgiven for asserting now that that agreement merely promised comfort to fools.

Perhaps….But that was then. Here’s the latest:

This picture shows Israeli tanks gathering in familiar formation early this morning – preparing for an assault on the Palestinian territory of Gaza that is now in full onslaught….

I support Israel’s right to exist, unreservedly. However, I am not one of its more-Jewish-than-Jews supporters who believes that Israel can do no wrong in its dealings with Palestinians and other adversaries (passive or aggressive) in the Middle East.

Therefore, I have no qualms about criticizing Israel for dispatching warplanes to bomb bridges and power plants in the Gaza Strip, or about condemning it for dispatching warplanes to invade Syria’s airspace to buzz the home of its president, Bashar al-Assad – just “to send a message.” (Incidentally, if you’ve ever heard the sonic boom jet-fighters deliver, you’d know that Assad received that message – to reign in Palestinian terrorists in Gaza – loud and clear.)

The face of Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit (19) that launched warplanes and tanks into the Gaza Strip…

After all, no matter how justified the Israelis think they are to invade Palestinian territories because Palestinian terrorists kidnapped one of their soldiers on Sunday, or how much they suspect Assad of supporting the kidnappers, these aerial assaults and ground offensive constitute a misguided and unnecessarily provocative reaction. Especially since the Israeli government’s spokeswoman declared, emphatically, that the only reason for this “extreme (military) action” was “to bring Gilad home”. But clearly this is analogous, at least apropos Assad, to the Americans sending F-16s to buzz the home of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because they suspect Iran of supporting the Iraqi insurgents who have kidnapped and killed so many American soldiers….

Of course, it’s critical to appreciate the context here. Since there can be no doubt that if the politically-pragmatic Fatah faction had won last January’s elections to govern the Palestinian territories, Israel would not have reacted so aggressively to this kidnapping. As it happened, the politically-untenable Hamas faction won. And because it refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist (side by side with a newly independent Palestinian state), the U.S. and EU withdrew the financial support that has sustained the livelihood of most Palestinians for decades.

But here’s where this latest conflagration gets complicated, which is rather like saying here’s where things get a little heated in the Negev desert: It’s undeniably foolhardy, if not suicidal, for the Hamas government to refuse to recognize Israel. And, though harsh, it’s entirely reasonable for the U.S. and EU to withdraw their support as the only way to leverage their political outrage.

Moreover, this U.S.-led financial boycott unwittingly “exposed” the hypocrisy amongst Arab and Islamic nations that have consistently criticized the U.S. for supporting the Israelis at the expense of the Palestinians. After all, if there were any substance and moral conviction behind their criticism, they would have stepped into the breach and rendered financial aid to the Palestinians.

Unfortunately, this boycott coupled with the failure of Hamas sympathizers to support its impoverished government is arguably the proximate cause of the (still) percolating civil war between Fatah and Hamas and resurgent terrorist activities that led to the recent spate of suicide bombings in Israel and the kidnapping of Gilad.

Nevertheless, instead of launching this assault, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert should have enlisted the help of the Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas – who happens to be the current president of the Palestinian Territories – to secure Gilad’s release. And, given international consensus that a Fatah government is preferable to one headed by Hamas, this kidnapping could have served as an auspicious pretext for Israel to provide covert support to Fatah to help it prevail in its internecine struggle with Hamas. Because only then will the Palestinians have a government that enjoys the full faith and credit of the U.S., EU and Israel, and one that can begin to build the democratic institutions and economic infrastructure for their sustainable development.

As it stands, however, I see no end to this cycle of violence (between Palestinian factions for control of the territories and from Palestinian terrorism precipitating extreme Israeli reaction). And, even though their ancestors were able to penetrate the walls of Jericho to make it to the promised land, the Israelis seem to think that there’s no way Palestinians or other foreign enemies can penetrate their walls to “wipe them off the map”.

NOTE: Palestinian militants seem utterly inured to all out assault from Israeli armed forces. And the Hamas government seems utterly powerless to harness their militant rage, which makes Israeli seizure of Hamas leaders, as reported today in the Washington Post, seem at best a strategic and incendiary blunder.

In fact, the militants’s response to PM Olmert’s threat to take extreme action against them was to taunt the Israelis by proudly announcing their kidnapping of an Israeli settler from the West Bank who, according to breaking news from AFP, they have now executed.

Alas, if the American quagmire in Iraq has taught us anything, it is that all the military might in the world is incapable of defeating a determined insurgency…where it lives.

Israel, Palestinians, Gaza Strip