If the Palestinian Authority CANNOT keep Al Qaeda out of Gaza, then Gaza's status is now like that of Belgium during the World Wars. The U.S. would be free to invade Gaza to fight Al Qaeda at any time just as Britain and France and the U.S. were entitled to enter Belgium to fight Germany. If the Palestinian Authority WILL NOT keep Al Qaeda out of Gaza, then it has just declared war on the United States. Belgium, of course, had no choice once the Nazis invaded. But the Palestinian Authority does have a choice and responsibility in the situation.
Now this sounds interesting. But this is not just idle thought; Kaplan goes on to briefly outline the actual legal basis for this:
Under international law, a neutral country not party to a war between belligerents is not allowed to harbor enemy combatants from one of the belligerents. Doing so willingly demonstrates the neutral party is now a party to the conflict. International law defines “the rights and duties of neutrals and belligerents in time of armed conflict are not mere legalistic rhetoric--they represent a carefully balanced relationship in which neutrals do not interfere with the policy goals of belligerents in exchange for a broad immunity from the violence used to attain those goals by belligerents. Impartiality intends to prevent the actions of a neutral nation from giving unbalanced support to one belligerent at the expense of another. The law is the codification of sound policy decisions and the military principle of economy of force. Absent the law, the logical consequences would not be much different.”
Sounds promising, and we had our 60 seconds to fantasize about it.
But no one seriously thinks such a thing is going to happen.
Dream on...
The Taliban were required to hand over Bin Laden and refused. The US invaded (rightfully so) and,in addition to defeating Al Qaeda, also removed the Taliban from power who were shielding Al Qaeda Bases or at best allowing their presence in Afghanistan.
Just imagine the US invading Gaza, defeating Al Qaeda, removing the PA from power...
The problem is that the US equates the PA with Iraq, not with the Taliban. If years of terrorism did not alienate the liberals with the Palestinian Arabs--not even after the murder of Americans--then how difficult would it be to excuse Abbas' failure to deal with Al Qaeda? Secretary of State Rice has already created the precedent of reacting to Abbas' apparent weakness with calls for further support.
Besides, even according to a dream scenario, Gaza would not return to Israeli control, the Palestinians would still demand their own state, and the world would still be talking about the need to get back on track with the road map.
But it's nice to dream.
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