Monday, August 28, 2006

WHY CAN'T THE PALESTINIANS LEARN?

By Tony Sayegh

This has become a recurring theme for my commentaries because I am frustrated and angry that the Palestinian resistance movement is either incapable of learning, or worse, more interested in politics and show than real resistance. The latest Israeli air strike yesterday in Gaza killed 8 Palestinians and injured 18, many with serious injuries. That event by itself, sadly enough, is not news anymore. What was striking about it is that 4 of those killed belonged to the security force, which the "ministry of interior" deployed in Gaza after Hamas formed the "government." Three more were Hamas fighters. Apparently an Israeli drone spotted the concentration of this security force and an air strike was ordered. How stupid can you be? You are fighting an existential guerrilla war against an enemy who is sworn to your total destruction and who slaughters your people on a daily basis, and you allow "security forces" in uniform and in formations to be hit from the air like sitting ducks! This was not the first and will not be the last such example.

At a time when Hizbullah has demonstrated what organized resistance can do, there is no excuse for this incompetence on the part of Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups. On the political side, virtually the entire "cabinet" and most of Hamas' MPs are in Israeli jails. Hamas has now resorted to urging the "international community" (oh how I hate this term) to put pressure on Israel for their release. Get real, Hamas! Are you a liberation movement or are you following Arafat's disastrous policies that led to this state of pleading and groveling?

Some will say that the situations of Hamas and Hizbullah are different. Agreed. However, since the situation of the Palestinians is much worse than that of the Lebanese, those who lead the Palestinian resistance have to excel even more than Hizbullah. Hizbullah, which had by far more military muscle than Hamas, did not have "security forces" with concentrations in the open in south Lebanon to be killed by Israeli air strikes. There was no army, police or any other structure of the state to be easily destroyed in south Lebanon. Why is it then, that the Palestinians who are nowhere near having a state are burdening themselves with all the trappings of a non-existent state? Parliament, ministries, ambassadors, etc. Who are we kidding? The situation that Hamas finds itself today was very predictable, even before Hamas decided to participate in the elections. I was of two minds about those elections, but now I see the wisdom of those who boycotted the elections, on the grounds that the elections and the so-called Palestinian Authority were a product of the Oslo accord which has caused the Palestinians a great deal of harm.

I am posting an article by Andrew J. Bacevich, in which he maintains that the Arabs and the Muslims kept losing wars to the West (including Israel) as long as they fought wars along the lines copied from the West. Namely, a modern army equipped with Western military equipment that took years to accumulate and billions of dollars, but was destroyed by Usrael in a matter of days. The Iraqi army was destroyed in 1992 with virtually no US losses! It can't get much easier than this, from the Usraeli point of view. According to Bacevich, the last stupid war the Arabs fought was in Iraq in 2003. Since then, the resistance in Iraq and Hizbullah in Lebanon, have shown that the mightiest military powers can be defeated and humbled only when you fight them on your terms not theirs.

The time is past due to dissolve the PA and all its structures. It is time to learn from Hizbullah and to get serious about resistance. Security and counterintelligence have to be ensured by a secret and organized structure from the district level to the village level and to the level of the entire West Bank and Gaza. If the puppet Abbas insists on continuing with his puppet and subservient government and his pathetic "peace process," then let him do it on his own. Expose his role and the role of his "security" forces as collaborators with Israel. Enough of this "national unity government" hogwash! This is not the time for any government; we are far from the time when a real government can be formed. If Hamas doesn't dissolve the PA and if it continues this muddled approach to resistance, then the motives of Hamas will become suspect and its credibility will greatly suffer.

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