tumbled by sol chrom

How many times have we seen this movie before? It starts and ends the same way, and everything in the middle never changes except for little details. Israel will pound the crap out of Gaza which, if you haven’t ever been there take my word for it, is one of the hellholes of the world. Hamas will breathe defiance; the other Arabs (and now Turkey) will rhetorically support Gazans. And then, the status quo ante. Of course, if Israel would seriously negotiate with the Palestinian Authority and try to reach an agreement, it would further maginalize Hamas, but the Netanyahu government and its harder-line coalition partners don’t even want to talk. A recent interivew by Abbas, the PA leader, was stunning in that he said he didn’t want to live in his old city, which undercut the Palestinians long-held and ridiculous demand for the “right of return.” Moderate voice in Israel saw this as a serious step; Netanyahu, predictably, dismissed it.

Wake me up when it’s over. This Israeli=Palestinian story is the most over-covered in the world. Things happen, but nothing ever changes. Talk to me about the rest of the Arab world; anything but this crappy, endless dispute, and our over-the-top, Israel always right government of ours, backed by the editorial pages of all the major newspapers.