Mideast Media Sampler 06/01/2011

From an email from DG:

1) Thomas Friedman's Lost Decade

In the Bin Laden Decade Thomas Friedman starts with his premise:

Visiting the Middle East last week, and then coming back to Washington, I am left with one overriding impression: Bin Laden really did a number on all of us. 
I am talking in particular about the Arab states, America and Israel — all of whom have deeper holes than ever to dig out of thanks to the Bin Laden decade, 2001 to 2011, and all of whom have less political authority than ever to make the hard decisions needed to get out of the holes. 

I am going to skip down to his section about Israel, I'll leave the critiques of the rest to others:

Israel has the same problem. The combination of Yasir Arafat’s foolhardy decision to start a second intifada rather than embrace President Bill Clinton’s two-state peace plan, followed by the rise of Bin Laden, which diverted the U.S. from energetically pursuing the peace process, gave the Israeli right a free hand to expand West Bank settlements. There are now some 500,000 settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  

Absent some amazing Palestinian peace overture, and maybe even with one, I do not see any Israeli leader with enough authority today to pull Israel out of the West Bank. So, for now, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Bin Laden both win: In the short run, Bibi gets to keep the West Bank, with 300,000 Jews occupying 2.4 million Palestinians. And in the long run, Bin Laden helps to destroy Israel as a Jewish democracy. 

Notice that the so-called Aqsa intifada is termed "foolhardy."

The problem, is that Friedman ignores everything else that has gone in Israel during the past ten years. At the time of 9/11, Israel had been under attack by the combined terrorist forces under Arafat's command for a year. The this terror war would peak in 2002. In May 2000, Israel completed a withdrawal from southern Lebanon, only to be followed byyears of terror attacks and threats against Israel's northern population. This went on until 2006 when Israel was finally forced to go to war against Hezbollah. In August 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza. Three years later, with Hamas ensconced as the rulers of Gaza, with Israel's southern population under attack, Israel was forced to launch Operation Cast Lead to defend itself.

The terror war of 2000 - 2004, the 2006 war against Hezbollah and Cast Lead all occurred after Israel took actions that Friedman endorsed. (Barak's offer at Camp David; the withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the withdrawal from Gaza.) All had disastrous outcomes.

If anything further Israeli moderation has brought about greater Palestinian rejectionism. Just like he refuses to acknowledge that the current Arab spring is breeding more extremism rather than moderation, he refuses to acknowledge that Israel's conciliation has not brought about reciprocal accomodation by the Palestinians. He can't acknowledge that in his first term, Netanyahu withdrew Israel from most of Hebron or that recently he dismantled many checkpoints. He barely acknowledges that it's the Palestinians who have now twice rejected terms that he believes everyone knows will bring peace. 

Now Friedman ignores this history and concentrates only the growth of Jews residing in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.

Since late 1995, the occupation was effectively over. Friedman can only wave his "end of Israeli democracy" flag by denying this.

You see to Friedman a Palestinian rejection of peace is only "foolhardy." However, to Friedman, for Israel to fail to satisfy ever changing Palestinian demands, is immoral. Friedman believes that as long as the Palestinians refuse to make peace, Israel is still an occupier and thus illegitimate. Oddly, Palestinian terror and incitement don't make Palestinian aspirations illegitimate.

For an excellent discussion of the perverse assumptions underlying Friedman's analysis, read Elder of Ziyon's Bursting liberal assumptions about the peace process.

If Friedman were honest he would at least consider what Yaacov Lozowick wrote about the 1967 Line. Instead Friedman would rather vilify Israel and absolve the Palestinians from any responsibility of making peace.

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