"A Question That Sometimes Drives Me Hazy..."

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?

Albert Einstein

Abraham H. Miller's article, The Palestinian-Israeli War, conjures up that question:

When it comes to the Middle East most observers don't process data, they process denial. When almost immediately after Oslo, Arafat stopped in a Stockholm mosque to repudiate the Accords and was subsequently caught, he denied what he had said. Those who could not see beyond Oslo were eager to accept his denial. When the PLO did not formally change its position on Israel's existence, those who wanted to believe it had done so, simply saying that the formalities didn't make a difference.

According to Miller, the reason that Daniel Pipes makes people so angry is because they just cannot deal with his answers. Pipes refers not to a conflict or a problem, but to a war--a Palestinian-Israeli war:

Pipes forces you to give up the ether of confusion that has been created around this war. And most people cannot bear to part with it. Compelled to think in ways that are different, they get angry.

Pipes thereby challenges his audience to face reality. His paradigm requires that we look at the Palestinian-Israeli War as it is, not as some may wish it was.

As Pipes explained, the reality is that diplomacy hasn't worked. Oslo made the situation worse because it was based on the premise that in the end if you could provide the Palestinians with equality and autonomy and the Israelis with recognition and security, you could have peace. You can't have peace as long as the Palestinians believe that ultimately they can and will destroy Israel. Then, Oslo becomes not a means to peace but a means to attaining strategic advantage.

And of course no one--not the UN, not the EU, not the US, and not even Israel--is giving the PLO the slightest reason not to think that their current course of action is going to get them what they want.

Which of course is why--

The Palestinian Authority has yet to comply with even one agreement they have signed since the Oslo Accord. They have violated the Oslo agreement, Oslo II, and the Road Map. Each agreement required the PA to disarm its terrorists and to empower its “security forces” to protect the safety of Israelis as well as Palestinian Arabs.

As for the agreement itself:

Use of the Rafah crossing will be restricted to Palestinian ID card holders and others by exception in agreed categories with prior notification to the GoI and approval of senior PA leadership.

Israel gets notified; the PA gets to approve.

The GoI will respond within 24 hours with any objections and will include the reasons for the objections;

The PA will notify the GoI of their decision within 24 hours and will include the reasons for their decision;

Israel gets to give their objections--after which the PA will let Israel know what they decide to do, thank you very much.

These procedures will remain in place for a period of 12 months, unless the 3rd party delivers a negative evaluation of the PA running the Rafah crossing. This evaluation will be done in close coordination with both sides and will give due consideration to the opinion of both sides.

Kinda makes you giddy with optimism, doesn't it?

And as IMRA points out

Text: Palestinian Official: No live video feed from Rafah (despite agreement)

Agreement says:
"-A liaison office, led by the 3rd party, will receive real-time video and
data feed of the activities at Rafah and will meet regularly to review
implementation of this agreement, resolve any disputes arising from this
agreement, and perform other tasks specified in this agreement."
Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing - General
http://usinfo.state.gov/mena/Archive/2005/Nov/15-381874.html

Palestinian official says:
"Meanwhile, the director of borders and crossings, Salim Abu Safiyyeh,
asserted that there won't be any live video streams to the Israeli side via
the surveillance cameras installed in Rafah terminal, pointing out that even
the joint control room will not receive these live feeds, and will be only
for the presence of the third party that will monitor the borders."

Not exactly an auspicious start.

This agreement is crazy.

And it doesn't take an Einstein to figure that out

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