Not logical, Tom
Thomas Friedman's op-ed piece in today's New York Times, Bush's Mideast Sand Trap, has much logic and thought behind it. Mr. Friedman's thesis is that for us to push democracy on some but not all Middle East entities is not right. He is right, and makes the further point that the president seems to lack gravitas when he opines on democracy from the golf course. Fair enough.
The gist of the piece may be summed up by this: "The Bush policy today is to punish its enemies with the threat of democracy and reward its friends with silence on democratization." The "friends" is a reference back in the article to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. But, there is also a reference to Israel, which, given the theme of the article, democratization, seems odd. What it amounts to is a gratuitous attack on the Israeli settlements in disputed territory.
What is written is that Israel's "settlement policy" is, somehow, "empowering Palestinian radicals and weakening the liberals". I'm not sure what a Palestinian "liberal" is; perhaps these are the folks who want to stop suicide bombing because it hurts the intifada, whereas the "radicals" are those who believe it helps the intifada. It seems that both species of Palestinians refuse to come right out and talk about the morality of targeting unarmed civilians.
Hey, people, until there is a clear majority of Palestinians who condemn terrorism and don't parade in the streets when Jews or Americans are killed and don't lionize homicide bombers, the Israeli settlements might as well be on the moon for all they truly matter. What the Paleos really want is nothing less than the destruction of Israel. Those who believe otherwise have not been paying close enough attention.
Thomas Friedman's op-ed piece in today's New York Times, Bush's Mideast Sand Trap, has much logic and thought behind it. Mr. Friedman's thesis is that for us to push democracy on some but not all Middle East entities is not right. He is right, and makes the further point that the president seems to lack gravitas when he opines on democracy from the golf course. Fair enough.
The gist of the piece may be summed up by this: "The Bush policy today is to punish its enemies with the threat of democracy and reward its friends with silence on democratization." The "friends" is a reference back in the article to Egypt and Saudi Arabia. But, there is also a reference to Israel, which, given the theme of the article, democratization, seems odd. What it amounts to is a gratuitous attack on the Israeli settlements in disputed territory.
What is written is that Israel's "settlement policy" is, somehow, "empowering Palestinian radicals and weakening the liberals". I'm not sure what a Palestinian "liberal" is; perhaps these are the folks who want to stop suicide bombing because it hurts the intifada, whereas the "radicals" are those who believe it helps the intifada. It seems that both species of Palestinians refuse to come right out and talk about the morality of targeting unarmed civilians.
Hey, people, until there is a clear majority of Palestinians who condemn terrorism and don't parade in the streets when Jews or Americans are killed and don't lionize homicide bombers, the Israeli settlements might as well be on the moon for all they truly matter. What the Paleos really want is nothing less than the destruction of Israel. Those who believe otherwise have not been paying close enough attention.
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