Now this is news: Arab League to visit Israel

And the moderates just keep on snatching headlines.

CNN reports:

The 22-country Arab League will send envoys on a historic first mission to Israel this week to discuss a sweeping Arab peace initiative and how it might prop up embattled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli and Arab diplomats said Sunday.

The announcement came the same day Israel's Cabinet approved the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners, hoping to bolster Abbas in his power struggle with the Islamic militant Hamas.

An official League visit would be a diplomatic coup for Israel. The League historically has been hostile toward the Jewish state, but has grown increasingly conciliatory in response to the expanding influence of Islamic extremists in the region -- a concern underscored by Hamas' violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last month.

Jordan's foreign ministry said the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers would arrive in Jerusalem on Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other Israeli officials.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the foreign ministers would lead an Arab League mission to Israel to discuss the Arab peace plan, which would trade full Arab recognition of Israel for an Israeli withdrawal from all lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war and the creation of a Palestinian state.

"This is the first time the Arab League is coming to Israel," Regev said. "From its inception the Arab League has been hostile to Israel. It will be the first time we'll be flying the Arab League flag."

The mood in Israel

According to the New York Times, that is. Some excerpts from today's article, "Israelis Ask, What Have We Gained Since the '67 War?"

There is a debate about what kind of country Israel is, about the impact those 40 years of development, immigration, war, settlement and occupation have had on the dreams of those who chose to make their lives here. And there is a widespread feeling that both left and right are out of answers.

The left says that Israel must reach out to the majority of Palestinians who want a two-state solution and that the right is too despairing about the possibility of reaching peace.

The right, which remains somewhat more popular, believes that the left was seduced by the dream of normality in the 1990s, after the Oslo accord with the Palestinians, and that the siren song of peace and coexistence is softening the Israeli character.

Israel, the right says, will never be like other countries both because of Jewish history and because the neighborhood is getting more threatening, not less, with radical Islam and a nuclear-ambitious Iran. Israelis cannot sit around Tel Aviv cafes and let their children avoid serious military service.

As the Times continues:

Ari Shavit, an influential columnist, is obsessed with the fear that Israel is losing not just its values in a more capitalist and corrupt era, especially in its collective caring for the poor and the disadvantaged, but also its edge in an increasingly dangerous region.

Last summer’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon showed the increasing mediocrity of the military and the political leadership, Mr. Shavit said, while challenging the ethos of the new hedonistic, modern Israel. Many here, he said, think they are living in a poor European country like Greece, instead of in the Middle East.

“Can the mall defend itself?” he asked. “The gap between the inspiring economy and society, and the dysfunction of the state is becoming impossible. There are admirable achievements in the private sphere, and in the public sphere, decay.”

Israeli society showed itself resilient in the face of Hezbollah’s rockets, he conceded, even as the cabinet and the military command seemed irresolute. But he is worried about the trend.

“Postmodern yuppies can’t deal with this region,” Mr. Shavit said. “You gain respect by understanding how the neighborhood behaves, and conducting yourself in a way the neighborhood respects.”. . .

“This idea that we could settle all the land and somehow absorb all the Arabs into Israel, it has cost us a lot, morally and politically,” he said. “You can’t have occupation as a permanent state. That’s why Israelis say: ‘No more messianic ideas. Let’s divide the land.’ ”

The other side of this, as the Times reports, is how Palestinians now feel:

For Palestinians, of course, the 1967 war was another disaster, but a secondary one to the formation of Israel in 1948, said Khalil Shikaki, a Palestinian political scientist. The year 1948 is known as Al Nakba, the catastrophe; 1967 is Al Naksa, the setback. But since it brought Israeli occupation, it helped shape the Palestinian cause.

“Ironically, it started our march toward independence and statehood,” Mr. Shikaki said. “Unfortunately the price was the occupation of our own land. Israel is seriously thinking of ending the occupation, which you couldn’t say five years ago. But is a Palestinian state closer?”

Nasser al-Kidwa, a former foreign minister for the Palestinians and a nephew of Yasir Arafat, sees fragmentation all around. The last 40 years of occupation, he said, “have seen a serious disintegration of Palestinian society.”

The middle class is emigrating, youth dreams of leaving and the economy is dying, Mr. Kidwa said. “We are clearly the weaker side, the destroyed side,” he added. “We can’t do things on our own now, and I’m ashamed to say it. There’s a grand catastrophe in the making here.”

If there were optimists to be found, the Times apparently couldn't locate them.

Palestinians once again blowing an opportunity for statehood

But it's all Israel's fault. Well maybe the Arab countries and the international community also share some of the blame.

The London Times reports:

Gaza was on the brink of civil war last night as violent clashes between Palestinian factions spiralled out of control.

Neither Hamas or Fatah which recently formed a unity government seem to be able to stop the fighting. As the Times goes on to report:

Last night Palestinian politicians cautioned that if the violence continued, it would not only trigger the collapse of the Palestinian unity Government, but could also spell the end of the Palestinian Authority itself.

President Abbas is said to have told his Cabinet on Monday night: “This is my Government and if it falls, I will fall with it.” As the Times speculates:

Such a scenario would strip the occupied territories of official Palestinian rule. Israel, as the occupying power, would then be forced to resume full control of the West Bank and Gaza.

. . . “The message is the Palestinians cannot rule themselves. This fighting will only end if a third party takes over,” said Ibrahim Abrash, a political analyst in Gaza.

Once again the Palestinians seem to be intent on proving what Israel's then foreign minister Abba Eban said back in 1973 after another failed peace agreement: "the Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.


Update: Silly me, I got this all wrong. This has nothing to do with Palestinians missing opportunities: "The Israelis are behind all these events," as Hamas' political leader Abu Marzouk told the Associated Press.

Arab countries and the international community also share some of the blame, Abu Marzouk goes on to say: "It's illogical that the Arabs stand idle watching the Palestinian arena while it's on the verge of explosion under the siege. ... This is a constant pressure that has led to a real explosion."

As the AP reports:

Abu Marzouk singled out Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, for criticism. "He was one of the main instigator for these events because he is continuing his siege of the Palestinian people and had boycotted Palestinian elections," the Hamas official said.

Hamas: Don't believe al Qaeda

We're still committed to Israel's destruction.

Reuters reports that Hamas is objecting to yesterday's criticisms by al Qaeda that it is, "[now] serving U.S. interests by agreeing to respect past Palestinian peace accords with Israel":

"We will not betray promises we made to God to continue the path of Jihad and resistance until the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine," Hamas said in a statement, in a clear reference to Israel as well as to the occupied West Bank.

Al Qaeda second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said in an Internet statement on Sunday that by agreeing last month in Mecca to respect earlier agreements forged between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, Hamas, now the ruling party in the PA, had betrayed its original purpose to restore the land that is today Israel back to the domain of Islam.

Saudi Arabia had brokered the Mecca accord in hopes that it would bring about an end to the inter-Palestinian fighting that has claimed the lives of some 90 Palestinians in recent months.

As far as Zawahiri was concerned, however, the Mecca accord was no more than "an American scheme....to remove the biggest reason for Muslim hatred (of the United States), namely the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"They [Hamas] have ditched the movement of martyrdom operations ... for a government that plays with words in palace halls," the al Qaeda leader said in his Internet statement.

In response to Zawahiri's criticisms, Hamas issued a statement saying:

"Zawahri's recent statements were wrong ...Hamas is still the group you knew when it was founded and it will never abandon its path."

Hamas was apparently referring to the principles it set out in its "founding covenant."

In Article 11, for example, Hamas spells out exactly why it can never accept a permanent Jewish state in the land it calls Palestine:

The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day.

I personally don't think you can even begin to understand the Palestinian-Israeli conflict until you read the Hamas charter in its entirety. The covenant will give you a flavor of why Hamas believes that the Jews must be opposed. For example, there are the reasons stated in Article 22:

For a long time, the enemies [i.e., the Jews] have been planning, skillfully and with precision, for the achievement of what they have attained. They took into consideration the causes affecting the current of events. They strived to amass great and substantive material wealth which they devoted to the realisation of their dream. With their money, they took control of the world media, news agencies, the press, publishing houses, broadcasting stations, and others. With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests. With their money they were able to control imperialistic countries and instigate them to colonize many countries inorder to enable them to exploit their resources and spread corruption there.

You may speak as much as you want about regional and world wars. They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making
financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it.

And there's more. In Article 28:

The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion. It does not refrain from resorting to all methods, using all evil and contemptible ways to achieve its end. It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism andaccording to its instructions. They aim at undermining societies, destroying values, corrupting consciences, deteriorating character and annihilating Islam. It is behind the drug trade and alcoholism in all its kinds so as to facilitate its control and expansion.

But again, read the whole thing. It will explain a lot. And don't forget, this is the charter of the organization that now controls a majority of the seats in the Palestinian legislature.