Palestinian Patience

"Parsing Gains of Gaza War"
A1, Monday 1/19/09
By Ethan Bronner

Midway through is a revealing quote from a 37 year old Gazan woman, Halima Dardouna. After charging that Hamas brought carnage onto its people, and questioning why they should stay in power, Dardouna asserts that “If I thought they could liberate Jerusalem, I would be patient. But instead they bring this.”

The point made by Dardouna is unfortunately left alone. This is a shame, since it serves as an entry point into a Palestinian mindset that has prevented coexistence.

Certain questions have to be asked:

If Palestinians were convinced that Hamas – or Fatah – could liberate Jerusalem (i.e. destroy Israel), what sort of life could be endured through patience?

A life of Israeli closures, checkpoints and military incursions in response to Palestinian attacks? As long as one day those attacks will lead to Israel’s demise?

An analysis of Dardouna’s comment would have explained not only the difficulty of Israeli deterrence [ostensibly a focus of the article], but the predicament of the Palestinians.