Unmoved by the humanitarian crisis

<snip>

"From the perspective of Likud chief Benjamin Netanyahu, the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip proves that the right-wing stance was correct all along. Israel didn't have to quit Gaza in 2005 or withdraw from Lebanon in 2000, Netanyahu says. The conclusion of Netanyahu and National Union's Zvi Hendel is that Israel should not negotiate over either the Golan Heights or the West Bank, because Syrian President Bashar Assad is unreliable and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is weak.

Such a position makes it seem like rockets weren't being fired on Sderot when Israel was deep in Gaza, and Hamas wouldn't have taken control of the strip if the Gush Katif settlement bloc had remained in Israel's hands. Except that if Israel had not withdrawn from Gaza, the Palestinian fire would have been aimed at the settlers, and the Israel Defense Forces would have paid a heavy price to protect them.

But Netanyahu and Hendel are not moved by the death toll. According to their thinking, we will still be living by our swords in another hundred years. They are also unmoved by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. They think Israel was charitable toward the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza because the quality of their lives rose during the years of occupation.

But the facts indicate otherwise. In 1970, the gross national product in the West Bank was $250 per capita, and today it is $1,300 - five times as hi gh in nominal terms. During the same period, Jordan experienced 10-fold growth, going from $280 to $2,800.

Similarly, Gaza's GNP rose from $170 per capita in 1970 to $1,000 today, growing six times, while the figure in Egypt rose from $200 to $1,800 - nine times. In other words, the Palestinians' conditions under Israeli rule worsened compared with the region, not to mention the large gap between them and us. Israel's GNP per capita is 20 times larger than the Palestinians."

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Could you define:

Likud

Hamas

Who are:

Netanyahu

Hendel

And "why should I care"? I'm not trying to be "funny", it's just the truth about how much Americans 'know'/want to know/'why should we know care'....frankly, *I* don't care, but state your case ~ reasoned debate and all of that ~

Some *most* of 'us' don't know/understand

...questions and the machine will answer. These machines are hooked up to the Internet for your convenience. They are free to use. You need only be curious enough to ask them. And if you can read this message chances are very high that you are, in fact, on the Internet at this very moment.

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PB

Likud: The most right-wing of the mainstream Israeli political parties

Hamas: Palestinian political party/ faction. A (Sunni) Islamic religious party; the more extreme of the two main factions, both in terms of religious conservativism and opposition to Israel. Had been sharing power in Gaza with the other main faction, Fatah; but now the parties are in violent conflict, with a lot of Palestinians caught in the fighting and chaos, and Hamas appears to have won for the moment.

Bibi Netanyahyu: Leader of Likud (see above); former Israeli Prime Minister, and unfortunately quite likely to be elected again.

Zvi Hendel: Another Israeli politician; a member of one of the smaller right-wing parties in coalition with the Likud. Was a minister in Netanyahu's previous government.

Why should we care? Well, because there is a serious humanitarian crisis in Palestine, with Hamas currently inflicting a lot of violence on other Palestinians. An intelligent Israeli government (which Likud would NOT be, especially under Netanyahu) might possibly be able to do some things to ameliorate the situation.

Also because whatever happens in the Middle East tends to blow up to affect other areas.

Of course, no one outside the area is *compelled* to be interested - but then why post on this forum?

:)

seems like a foolish pursuit. It's not like Bibi is acting in a manner that his arab counterparts wouldn't act.

If the world imploded tomorrow as a direct result of his advice and policies, NuttyYahoo would take it to be proof that he was right all along.

that the Israeli right, such as Bibi, have seen their dire predictions of what would result from left wing policy initiatives come true. Pulling out of Lebanon brought a more deeply entrenched and supported Hezbollah who did not cease Katyusha attacks merely because of Israel's retreat. Leaving Gaza ended up truly resulting in a "Hamasistan," complete with increased Qassam attacks, the population overwhelmingly voting for Hamas, and even a Palestinian civil war. In short, the complete breakdown of law in Gaza... the opposite of what Israel wanted and what the left predicted would follow a Gaza pullout.

Hezbollah and Hamas validated Bibi's predictions and embarrassed the progressive left, proving all of their optimism to be the naiveté that Likud insisted it was. Fuck them for making the settlers' prophesies into a reality, and making mine look like foolish dreaming.

The left wing has never held power in Israel, nor have its wishes ever been followed in any particular. It is true that they opposed the two occupations that those withdrawals endeed, but it is those occupations that resulted in the present situation, not the withdrawals that ended them. There is no reason at all, except for wishful thinking, to consider that things would be better were the IDF still occupying Southern Lebanon or Gaza. The present situation is 100% the results of the pursuit of the policies of the right and the center.

Labor supported the occupations. Barak ended the mess in Lebanon, that doesn't make it a left wing policy initiative any more than Sharon deciding to end the occupation of Gaza does. Labor, if one must assign it a label, is the center or perhaps right-center.

Then what parties are left wing?

There are more "right-wing" parties than Likud too. But the whole one-dimensional left-to-right model is not very useful anyway.