Friedman's Window Closers

"This Is Not A Test"
WK10, Sunday 1/25/09, Op-Ed
By Thomas Friedman

We’re getting perilously close to closing the window on a two-state solution,” writes Friedman, “because the two chief window closers – Hamas in Gaza and the fanatical Jewish settlers in the West Bank – have been in the driver’s seats.”

The settlers in the driver’s seat? What play is Friedman watching? In order to neatly make his little equivalence, Friedman disregards that settlement activity for the past decade has been seriously curtailed; the Israeli government is laying the groundwork for evacuating Jews east of the barrier – publicly debating compensation packages for those settlers, as well as dismantling no small number of outposts.

Yet Friedman writes “No Israeli government has mustered the will to take down even the [outposts]."

This is all happening while Abbas and his supposedly two-state minded party promote the right of return and deny the legitimacy of a Jewish state, which Friedman doesn’t mention. That Israel has no genuine partner for peace is just too hard to accept.

While Friedman rightly points out the danger of Israel allowing “independent Palestinian control of the West Bank, because a rocket from there can easily close the Tel Aviv airport and shut down Israel’s economy,” he pretends that soaring popularity for Hamas doesn’t mean resistance to Israel not only dominates Palestinian politics, but is the engine for it.

"Because without a stable two-state solution, what you will have is an Israel hiding behind a high wall, defending itself from a Hamas-run failed state in Gaza, a Hezbollah-run failed state in south Lebanon and a Fatah-run failed state in Ramallah. Have a nice day.”

A neatly packaged picture, but one mixing cause and effect. It’s because of all these failed terror states surrounding Israel – including the one based in Ramallah, that Israel has no prospect for a stable two-state solution.

Friedman writes that “it’s true Hamas just provoked a reckless war that has devastated the people of Gaza. But Hamas is not going away.” (Well, not with that attitude.)

A movement, willing to rain death and destruction on its own people to prove its commitment to armed struggle against Israel, Friedman thinks, can be “bought, cajoled and pressured.”

Israeli security measures within the West Bank are a result of a similar policy by Fatah to foment, or turn the other cheek to, anti-Israel militancy, and in the process hold back economic development and nation-building. The PA then points to these Israeli restrictions and yells loudly to the world that Israel holds up peace. Friedman is listening.