The more things change the more they stay the same

Submitted by John W. McGinley (United States), Jan 27, 2006 at 17:39

Your arguments about the premature character of the West's -- and President Bush's in particular -- advocacy of democracy in the Middle East is well taken. Fine. Other than that, the Hamas victory has several advantages. It gives the Europeans less of an excuse to pander to the previous government's inability to disarm the terrorists. Now the terrorists ARE the government. It clears the air. The Israeli government made an error in allowing Arabs in East Jerusalem to vote at all in this elelction, even if Hamas were not on the ballot. All of Jerusalem, including East Jerusalem, is the undivided capital of Israel and of Israel alone. The deputy-Prime Minister's waffling on this voting matter was a mistake. But with Hamas in power it will be easier to back away from the mistake.

What Israel must do now is to continue the process inaugurated by Sharon of disengaging from the Palestinians and forming the final borders of Israel on its own. Now more than ever it is clear the Israel does not have a competent partner for peace. And that is all right. For peace will only come when the Palestinians get their act together and they are at least a decade away from such. In the meantime Israel must act in its own interest. And it bodes well that President Bush has made it loud and clear that Hamas is not a worthy partner for the peace process.

In all of this I would feel more confident if the defense minister were the heir-apparent to Sharon. Like Sharon, he is crisp and unambiguous in his attitude towards the terrorists. Frankly -- altough he is not as bad as any of these -- I see a person a bit too willing to compromise in the present deputy Prime Minister. There are shades in him of the disaster perpetrated upon Israel by people such as Peres, Rabin, and Barak back when the delusional Oslo accords were the frame of reference for these things.

John W. McGinley

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