How to respond to 40+ Kassams over the weekend? Hmmm. How about:
Israel gave them land and they repaid with murder.
Is that good? Hey, that's the response I was recently "urged" (by a disengagement supporter) to make if/when the palestinians started launching serious attacks on Israel after the pullout.
Does it work for you? For me, not so much. After all, no murder (so far)*. And they claim it was their land to begin with. Israel, in their eyes, was finally forced to concede the point, that's all. What's to repay? Next?
Look what the [expletive deleted] Sharon brought on Israel.
That's the response I was urged not to make. I'd have to agree there. Sharon didn't bring these attacks on Israel. The blame for the attacks belongs with the perpetrators and their impotent and malevolent rulers. But then there's that pesky issue of facilitation and tacit encouragement. Hmmmm again.
According to Khaled Abu Toameh,
Most political analysts in the Gaza Strip . . . believe that Hamas had no other choice but to fire rockets at Israel after it had accused Israel of standing behind the Jabalya explosion.
It's an interesting analysis. Hamas is serious about winning control in the upcoming elections. It can't afford to take the blame for that little accident in Jabalya Friday. And blaming Israel without taking vengeance would make Hamas appear weak both to its constituents and to the PA. Tough situation.
But how did we get here? What was it Hamas was celebrating, again, when its parade was so explosively interrupted? Oh, right, the expulsion of Jews from part of "Palestine." Now I'll be the first to admit that Hamas is perfectly capable of adopting any excuse to launch Kassams. The cancellation of 'disengagement' would have served just as well as its implementation. But something has to be scheduled before it can be canceled. And it has to be implemented before it can be celebrated. So to say that Sharon has no responsibility whatsoever for the Kassams wouldn't be quite right either.
It's a dilemma. I'm glad I'm not the one who has to solve it. Tomorrow the Likud central committee will weigh the evidence and decide between its founder and its avowed principles. Either way, there will be splintering and realignment. Either way, there will be bitterness and recrimination. Is this any way to spend the last week of Elul? I think not.
Update: Founder trumps principles. Barely. Unfortunately, not a surprise.
*Update 2: And now we have murder, as well.
