In fact your first thoughts were right: this is a big setback for peace. Admdit it at long last. The Palestinians have to disarm and put in corner those suicide guys--they do not operate alone--or there is to be no Palestinian state. Simple as theat. Now you can blame Israel etc all you want, but the fact is simple: suicide bomber worked against the new Palestinian govt.
freddie | 02.26.05 - 6:41 pm | #

Like the Jewish Authority disarmed the Irgun and the Stern Gang instead of using them to its own advantage? Oh, I'm sorry, I was thinking of Superman's Bizarro World, where everything is backwards--never mind!
Montag | 02.26.05 - 7:26 pm | #

Freddie - you seem to define peace as a condition whereby only Palestinians are being killed by Israelis.
Mark Elf | Homepage | 02.26.05 - 7:34 pm | #

I find myself somewhat in agreement with freddie here.

Things in life are seldom fair or equal. If the Palestinians are to proceed with their role in the setting up of the pseudo-state bantustands (state-lite) in the hopes for something better than what they have now then certain things will be required. Among other things they include a cessation of Palestinian violence while living with a certain level of Zionist violence – including dead children.

Implied (ok more than implied) in this line of reasoning is the rather inaccurate assumption that Palestinian violence is coordinated and controllable; as opposed to being caused by extreme long-term humiliation and degradation of an entire peoples. If the Zionist state is unable to control its storm troopers, it is a far stretch to assume that a broken government and a peoples that have been under viscous assault for decades will be able to do a whole lot better.

"The Palestinians have to disarm and put in corner those suicide guys"
Freddie – aren't these tasks are mutually contradictory?
edwin | 02.26.05 - 8:25 pm | #

Montag:

Disarming the Irgun and Stern Gang is EXACTLY what the Haganah did, to the point of shooting at them when it was necessary.

Mark's reaction just goes to show that he is infinitely crazier than a Palestinian living in Rafah. It's the old cracy-Westerner syndrome. Maybe he'll ask himself why the first reaction of a Palestinian in Rafah is to condemn, and his first reaction is to think about petty politics.
Anonymous | 02.26.05 - 8:37 pm | #

"Israel" has no RIGHT to tell the Palestinians what to do (including disarming the "terrorists") to arrive to a state based on 1967 borders. Those lands are not up to negotiation to begin with, as they were occupied by "Israel" in violation of international law.

What is up for negotiation is 1948 lands (although I still disagree, as the takeover was based on genocide and deportation of innocent civilians rather than a war between armed factions).

By your standards, "Israel" should've never become a state... need I remind you that "Israel" was the father/mother of modern terrorism? Oh yes, that's something that the "Israelis" would love to forget (in addition to the Lavon Affair)... They were, after all, "freedom fighters"........ not terrorists....
Dan Marsden | Homepage | 02.26.05 - 8:48 pm | #

Disarming the Irgun and Stern Gang is EXACTLY what the Haganah did, to the point of shooting at them when it was necessary.

There was a 'civil war' of a kind between left and right in the Zionist movement in the 40s, over the question of co-operating with the British, but the Irgun/Stern gand fought alongside the Haganah in the 1948 war, and then disbanded as they turned themselves into the Likud. Former terrorists like Begin and Shamir (who had offered his services to Hitler) faced no problems from their past career when politicians.
James O | 02.26.05 - 10:08 pm | #

Exposing media lies for Israel is hardly petty. The fact is that, as terrible as this latest atrocity was, it was retaliation for Israel breaking the ceasefire...several times.
Mark Elf | Homepage | 02.26.05 - 10:31 pm | #

My originial assertion was correct, in that the Jewish Authority was pre-state and the Haganah was post-state. In fact the Irgun battalions constituted 20% of the Haganah when they were incorporated into it. This is precisely what Abbas wants to do with the Palestinian militant groups, incorporate them into his security forces instead of trying to stamp them out. Once again, the Palestinians are applying the lessons learned from Israel!
Montag | 02.26.05 - 10:31 pm | #