Israeli Lies and American Gullibility

Henry Siegman has a terrific article in The London Review of Books called "Israel's Lies." Here's the link:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n02/sieg01_.html

Israeli leaders lie about any number of things but lately their lies about Hamas to the Israeli and American peoples show a great deal of what can only be termed chutzpah (Yiddish has some great words, doesn't it?). The lies are so easily disproven. For example, the lie that Hamas violated the truce is very easily disproven. Israel violated it on November 4--notice the date. The whole world was watching the American elections so it was a great time for a sneak attack. The truce, largely adhered to by Hamas, was also supposed to see the gradual loosening of the Israeli strangulation of the Gaza Strip's economy. This, of course, is an additional violation by Israel as Israeli leaders declined to loosen their grip an iota. Hamas refused to renew the truce because of the November 4 assaults and Israel's failure to comply with the terms of the agreement regarding a little economic freedom. They wanted talks to re-negotiate a new truce. Instead they got a brutal air war and ground invasion. Most Americans are completely clueless about these events--beginning with the strangulation of Gaza. You often hear Americans say something like 'well, if the Mexicans were sending rockets into our territory, we'd respond.' They have no idea of the context. The comparison is apples and oranges. The U.S. has not sealed all of Mexico's borders. We haven't kept taxes rightfully belonging to Mexico. We don't drive Mexican fishers back onto land. We haven't made them dependent on us for gas, electricity, etc. and then withheld these things from them. The situation is not the same for all that Israel and her apologists would like for Americans to believe that they are the same.

So why is the Israeli propaganda machine working so hard to convince Israelis and Americans that Hamas is completely at fault and is a 'terror organization' linked to Al Qaeda (in fact, they despise each other)? This quote from Siegman is telling:

"It is too easy to describe Hamas simply as a ‘terror organisation’. It is a religious nationalist movement that resorts to terrorism, as the Zionist movement did during its struggle for statehood, in the mistaken belief that it is the only way to end an oppressive occupation and bring about a Palestinian state. While Hamas’s ideology formally calls for that state to be established on the ruins of the state of Israel, this doesn’t determine Hamas’s actual policies today any more than the same declaration in the PLO charter determined Fatah’s actions.
These are not the conclusions of an apologist for Hamas but the opinions of the former head of Mossad and Sharon’s national security adviser, Ephraim Halevy. The Hamas leadership has undergone a change ‘right under our very noses’, Halevy wrote recently in Yedioth Ahronoth, by recognising that ‘its ideological goal is not attainable and will not be in the foreseeable future.’ It is now ready and willing to see the establishment of a Palestinian state within the temporary borders of 1967. Halevy noted that while Hamas has not said how ‘temporary’ those borders would be, ‘they know that the moment a Palestinian state is established with their co-operation, they will be obligated to change the rules of the game: they will have to adopt a path that could lead them far from their original ideological goals.’ In an earlier article, Halevy also pointed out the absurdity of linking Hamas to al-Qaida.
In the eyes of al-Qaida, the members of Hamas are perceived as heretics due to their stated desire to participate, even indirectly, in processes of any understandings or agreements with Israel. [The Hamas political bureau chief, Khaled] Mashal’s declaration diametrically contradicts al-Qaida’s approach, and provides Israel with an opportunity, perhaps a historic one, to leverage it for the better.
Why then are Israel’s leaders so determined to destroy Hamas? Because they believe that its leadership, unlike that of Fatah, cannot be intimidated into accepting a peace accord that establishes a Palestinian ‘state’ made up of territorially disconnected entities over which Israel would be able to retain permanent control. Control of the West Bank has been the unwavering objective of Israel’s military, intelligence and political elites since the end of the Six-Day War.[*] They believe that Hamas would not permit such a cantonisation of Palestinian territory, no matter how long the occupation continues. They may be wrong about Abbas and his superannuated cohorts, but they are entirely right about Hamas."

Democratically elected Hamas will aim for a better deal for the Palestinian people and one Palestinians can and will live with. It is just like the contention of Hamas leaders that it is not up to a political party to recognize Israel but up to the Palestinian people. When Hamas offered to pur it to a referendum they knew exactly how Palestinians would vote (they would have voted to recognize Israel). In fact, if we look closely at Hamas over the past several years we will find a group that has actually tried to act in the interests of the Palestinians. Arab politicians that try to act in the best interests of their people. Imagine that.