Any western aid to the Gazans should be controlled by an entity that punishes Gaza with non-democratic actions. If the Gazans don't like those restrictions then they don't get the aid. Also there should be a group that monitors any military installations and aid stopped immediately.
I still can't believe Schumer demanded new elections in Israel but not in Gaza (which hasn't had elections since 2006). In the end Gaza should be punished harshly like a country that lost a war. The Gazans elected Hamas as their leader. The Gazans still support Hamas and the Gazans celebrated Oct 7th in the streets. Why should the Gazans be rewarded? The Hamas leadership should be hunted down and put on trial or murdered.
Wow! What elitism! What naivete! Or do I repeat myself. I guess that Bari and Nellie feel an obligation to present a spectrum of opinions, even if they are, you know, morons.
First, the elitist failure. We in the US are reaping, finally, the destruction of society due to the tyranny of Progressive Elitism, as we have seen over the last two months. Yet, Feith still believes that governance by the (progressive) elites will be the salvation. He wrote, "They should use that money to empower a new elite in the territory."
Then the absolute folly that any Palestinian would step forward to govern according to Western ideals. First, Islam does not agree with Western ideals. Painfully obvious. It would be suicide, which he both acknowledges and then ignores. He wrote, "Palestinians agreeing to administer the reconstruction would need security for themselves and their families, who might have to be removed to safe places abroad, as the current Palestinian leaders would see them as enemies." Which husband/father would do this to his family? And is there any such thing as a safe place abroad? Ask Salman Rushdie's right eye.
The folly grows, as only a western progressive elitist can write with a straight face, maybe he even believes it, that somehow Palestinians who have been inculcated in the evils of Western ideals, will somehow adopt Western ideals. "The aid donors can draw on the talents of Palestinian engineers, medical doctors, and lawyers, especially Palestinians who have lived in the West and know firsthand the benefits of living under the rule of law." Really? Would any Palestinian be able to understand the concepts espoused in this paragraph?
Finally, this piece admits, at least indirectly, why any government of Palestinians will fail to achieve peace. Fieth admits that the current situation is not a failure of the state of Israel, but the specific goal of the Palestinian education system. "It should finance schools that teach useful skills rather than indoctrinating kids to become martyrs in hopes of destroying Israel and the West."
Articles such as this show the moral vacuity and political naivete of the Progressive Left when it comes to the eradication of Hamas and finding peace between Israel and its Muslim neighbors.
The Palestinians had their chance, after 2006, they had their chance to build their society, their cities, their ability to trade etc...then they chose terrorists from Hamas to run their government, Abbas had stolen so much money that he didn't want to argue the issue...sucks to be Palestinians...but like the folks in NY, you have to pay the price for the morons that you elect...when the Arab states will not allow Palestinians to move to their countries, why would we import them to MN and MI? Not shedding one tear for the decisions these people have made and will oppose any solution that brings any more of them to the US....
Throughout history, repressed people have physically fought back against oppressors, showing the world their will for self-determination. During many of these, the world has aided the people in that fight because we know, especially in the US, that our founding history is similar. When you don't fight for something, you don't fight to keep and protect it. This is the issue with the people of GAZA. They have not tried to rise up against HAMAS in any way, and the last time we handed them a government they did not protect it. Why would we expect different results now?
"The Gaza war is a chance for Palestinians, with outside help, to make a quantum-leap improvement in their politics and society. And that starts with leadership."
This I believe, is called a homily. Not to be confused with a strategy. His heart though, is in the right place.
Palestinians have developed a culture of victimhood. Their identity is they are victims. In Bethlehem there is an empty, beautiful housing development, but no one will move in. When the mayor was asked why they didn't make little efforts to clean up squalid neighborhoods, he replied that's not who we are. How do you change that?
The number $40 billion is being thrown around by the UN. No way that much gets spent without most of it going into tunnels. Governance first, money second. I can't see good governance coming from Hamas or anyone in the PA. As stated, UNRWA is also not an option. Seems like the only option is a coalition of Arab states who dislike the PA as much as Israel.
While I agree that Palestinians desperately need new and better government, the article is...delusional. Just find some Palestinians who don't support terror and know the benefits of living under the rule of law (read: who are friendly to the US and its allies) and just put them in power, give them a bunch of money with some vague strings attached, and maybe have them live abroad to avoid violence! The Palestinians will love it!
That this comes from someone who has already worked creating high level policy (in the Bush administration, no less) surprises me not at all. Our government seems pathologically unable to come to grips with our foreign policy failures since WWII. Putting in a puppet government is not a long term solution and, increasingly, its not even a short term solution.
I am not impressed with the quality of this article at all. It does provide a window into the mindset of our policy makers, though....apparently they are just as divorced from reality as they appear to be.
Were such a non-radical leadership cadre to be instated, their survival would be very much in doubt-- absent extended occupation and martial law. Gaza, in terms of depth of indoctrination, outstrips Nazi Germany-- "de-Hamas-ifying" Gaza would be a harder task than de-Nazification was. And the latter was accomplished only by decades of extensive economic support and military occupation. Moreover, the overall culture and infrastructure of education in post-WWII Germany was vastly more developed than that of Gaza and the West Bank. In West Germany, the West saw a future economic powerhouse as a stalwart ally as payoff for the enormous investment.
The occupation won't be accomplished with UN troops, either-- the occupation forces will face significant terrorist threats for an extended period. Couple continuous loss of human life with enormous financial costs, along with a questionable payoff at the culmination of the rebuilding process, and I am hard-pressed to propose a likely benefactor. No Arab country will step forward.
How can American and European commentators persist in projecting western ideals upon an Islamic culture that has demonstrated for generations that it has no interest in or respect for our values? Out of the trillions of petro-dollars that have flowed through Islamic states in the last century how much has been expended as investment to improve places within their sphere of influence like Gaza and how much has gone to finance a never ending stream of worldwide terrorism? Americans and Europeans have repeatedly taken in literally millions of Islamic refugees from places like Syria while wealthy Arab states did virtually nothing. America and Europe have opened their universities to tens of thousands of Islamic students for generations to no discernible mitigation of the chronic aggression of militant Islamic regimes and terrorist groups often led by western-educated Islamist extremists. A coalition of Arab states plus Egypt could have prevented an enormous portion of the collateral damage experienced in the current Gaza conflict by a combined effort of evacuation and humanitarian support but preferred to allow Gazan deaths to advance their anti-western and anti-israeli agenda. It strains credulity to suggest a pool of non-corrupt peace-promoting Islamic leaders exists from which to recruit a credible governance for Gaza.
Telling people what they need and how they should proceed hasn't exactly panned out in historical terms. You might be surprised that 2 + 2 = 4 to some of us. To others it is conspiratorial equation designed to oppress and conquer. We are in the era of deliberate obfuscation with the goal of a chaos that serves an ideological hubris. The greater one's sensibility the fiercer the resistance.
Who in the holy F thinks Doug Feith had anything worthwhile to say about anything on earth?!? (With the exception of Bari, apparently.)
Doug Feith told us Saddam Hussein had regular tete-a-tetes with Osama bin Laden. According the Pentagon's IG, Feith created fake intel assessments about WMDs, Saddam and 9/11, and all manner of bullshit.
And this man still has a soapbox???? Will Dick Cheney have his own TFP column soon? Are you fucking kidding me?
The idea of "encouraging the moderates" is a time-tested American policy that has consistently failed. In practice, it generally means writing checks to people whose main qualification is their willingness to say anything that will enable them to cash checks.
The two-state solution is still popular among everyone except Israel and the Palestinians – i.e., the only parties who are capable of implementing it.
It may be that the only really viable alternative is a return to the League of Nations' mandate system, with the goal of de-radicalizing the Palestinians through economic development, much like the Germans were de-Nazified after WWII. But instead of Britain and France having the mandate over Arab territories, Israel would have to pick it up.
This would be extraordinarily expensive and unpleasant, and would likely have to last for decades. But is there any other realistic option?
First off, Palestinians is a made-up term. The mantle of victimhood of the people who inhabit the West Bank and Gaza has been around since 1948, 75 years. Their claim to refugee status is an accepted norm by the western world and has served them well in obtaining all manner of handouts. Sadly, their leadership has either wasted it or absconded with it, see the tunnel network in Gaza. When Israel abandoned Gaza many years ago, the people destroyed the many worthwhile projects left behind. It's time the rest of us smartened up, and demanded they get off the dole and figure it out themselves.
Have Gavin Newsome run the place...he could do no worse than Hamas...look to California for his credentials!!
Any western aid to the Gazans should be controlled by an entity that punishes Gaza with non-democratic actions. If the Gazans don't like those restrictions then they don't get the aid. Also there should be a group that monitors any military installations and aid stopped immediately.
I still can't believe Schumer demanded new elections in Israel but not in Gaza (which hasn't had elections since 2006). In the end Gaza should be punished harshly like a country that lost a war. The Gazans elected Hamas as their leader. The Gazans still support Hamas and the Gazans celebrated Oct 7th in the streets. Why should the Gazans be rewarded? The Hamas leadership should be hunted down and put on trial or murdered.
Wow! What elitism! What naivete! Or do I repeat myself. I guess that Bari and Nellie feel an obligation to present a spectrum of opinions, even if they are, you know, morons.
First, the elitist failure. We in the US are reaping, finally, the destruction of society due to the tyranny of Progressive Elitism, as we have seen over the last two months. Yet, Feith still believes that governance by the (progressive) elites will be the salvation. He wrote, "They should use that money to empower a new elite in the territory."
Then the absolute folly that any Palestinian would step forward to govern according to Western ideals. First, Islam does not agree with Western ideals. Painfully obvious. It would be suicide, which he both acknowledges and then ignores. He wrote, "Palestinians agreeing to administer the reconstruction would need security for themselves and their families, who might have to be removed to safe places abroad, as the current Palestinian leaders would see them as enemies." Which husband/father would do this to his family? And is there any such thing as a safe place abroad? Ask Salman Rushdie's right eye.
The folly grows, as only a western progressive elitist can write with a straight face, maybe he even believes it, that somehow Palestinians who have been inculcated in the evils of Western ideals, will somehow adopt Western ideals. "The aid donors can draw on the talents of Palestinian engineers, medical doctors, and lawyers, especially Palestinians who have lived in the West and know firsthand the benefits of living under the rule of law." Really? Would any Palestinian be able to understand the concepts espoused in this paragraph?
Finally, this piece admits, at least indirectly, why any government of Palestinians will fail to achieve peace. Fieth admits that the current situation is not a failure of the state of Israel, but the specific goal of the Palestinian education system. "It should finance schools that teach useful skills rather than indoctrinating kids to become martyrs in hopes of destroying Israel and the West."
Articles such as this show the moral vacuity and political naivete of the Progressive Left when it comes to the eradication of Hamas and finding peace between Israel and its Muslim neighbors.
I think you may have broken the "don't be a jerk" rule. Just sayin.
The Palestinians had their chance, after 2006, they had their chance to build their society, their cities, their ability to trade etc...then they chose terrorists from Hamas to run their government, Abbas had stolen so much money that he didn't want to argue the issue...sucks to be Palestinians...but like the folks in NY, you have to pay the price for the morons that you elect...when the Arab states will not allow Palestinians to move to their countries, why would we import them to MN and MI? Not shedding one tear for the decisions these people have made and will oppose any solution that brings any more of them to the US....
Throughout history, repressed people have physically fought back against oppressors, showing the world their will for self-determination. During many of these, the world has aided the people in that fight because we know, especially in the US, that our founding history is similar. When you don't fight for something, you don't fight to keep and protect it. This is the issue with the people of GAZA. They have not tried to rise up against HAMAS in any way, and the last time we handed them a government they did not protect it. Why would we expect different results now?
"The Gaza war is a chance for Palestinians, with outside help, to make a quantum-leap improvement in their politics and society. And that starts with leadership."
This I believe, is called a homily. Not to be confused with a strategy. His heart though, is in the right place.
Palestinians have developed a culture of victimhood. Their identity is they are victims. In Bethlehem there is an empty, beautiful housing development, but no one will move in. When the mayor was asked why they didn't make little efforts to clean up squalid neighborhoods, he replied that's not who we are. How do you change that?
The number $40 billion is being thrown around by the UN. No way that much gets spent without most of it going into tunnels. Governance first, money second. I can't see good governance coming from Hamas or anyone in the PA. As stated, UNRWA is also not an option. Seems like the only option is a coalition of Arab states who dislike the PA as much as Israel.
While I agree that Palestinians desperately need new and better government, the article is...delusional. Just find some Palestinians who don't support terror and know the benefits of living under the rule of law (read: who are friendly to the US and its allies) and just put them in power, give them a bunch of money with some vague strings attached, and maybe have them live abroad to avoid violence! The Palestinians will love it!
That this comes from someone who has already worked creating high level policy (in the Bush administration, no less) surprises me not at all. Our government seems pathologically unable to come to grips with our foreign policy failures since WWII. Putting in a puppet government is not a long term solution and, increasingly, its not even a short term solution.
I am not impressed with the quality of this article at all. It does provide a window into the mindset of our policy makers, though....apparently they are just as divorced from reality as they appear to be.
Were such a non-radical leadership cadre to be instated, their survival would be very much in doubt-- absent extended occupation and martial law. Gaza, in terms of depth of indoctrination, outstrips Nazi Germany-- "de-Hamas-ifying" Gaza would be a harder task than de-Nazification was. And the latter was accomplished only by decades of extensive economic support and military occupation. Moreover, the overall culture and infrastructure of education in post-WWII Germany was vastly more developed than that of Gaza and the West Bank. In West Germany, the West saw a future economic powerhouse as a stalwart ally as payoff for the enormous investment.
The occupation won't be accomplished with UN troops, either-- the occupation forces will face significant terrorist threats for an extended period. Couple continuous loss of human life with enormous financial costs, along with a questionable payoff at the culmination of the rebuilding process, and I am hard-pressed to propose a likely benefactor. No Arab country will step forward.
How can American and European commentators persist in projecting western ideals upon an Islamic culture that has demonstrated for generations that it has no interest in or respect for our values? Out of the trillions of petro-dollars that have flowed through Islamic states in the last century how much has been expended as investment to improve places within their sphere of influence like Gaza and how much has gone to finance a never ending stream of worldwide terrorism? Americans and Europeans have repeatedly taken in literally millions of Islamic refugees from places like Syria while wealthy Arab states did virtually nothing. America and Europe have opened their universities to tens of thousands of Islamic students for generations to no discernible mitigation of the chronic aggression of militant Islamic regimes and terrorist groups often led by western-educated Islamist extremists. A coalition of Arab states plus Egypt could have prevented an enormous portion of the collateral damage experienced in the current Gaza conflict by a combined effort of evacuation and humanitarian support but preferred to allow Gazan deaths to advance their anti-western and anti-israeli agenda. It strains credulity to suggest a pool of non-corrupt peace-promoting Islamic leaders exists from which to recruit a credible governance for Gaza.
Telling people what they need and how they should proceed hasn't exactly panned out in historical terms. You might be surprised that 2 + 2 = 4 to some of us. To others it is conspiratorial equation designed to oppress and conquer. We are in the era of deliberate obfuscation with the goal of a chaos that serves an ideological hubris. The greater one's sensibility the fiercer the resistance.
This approach would require total disconnect from Iran & its proxies.
Who in the holy F thinks Doug Feith had anything worthwhile to say about anything on earth?!? (With the exception of Bari, apparently.)
Doug Feith told us Saddam Hussein had regular tete-a-tetes with Osama bin Laden. According the Pentagon's IG, Feith created fake intel assessments about WMDs, Saddam and 9/11, and all manner of bullshit.
And this man still has a soapbox???? Will Dick Cheney have his own TFP column soon? Are you fucking kidding me?
The idea of "encouraging the moderates" is a time-tested American policy that has consistently failed. In practice, it generally means writing checks to people whose main qualification is their willingness to say anything that will enable them to cash checks.
The two-state solution is still popular among everyone except Israel and the Palestinians – i.e., the only parties who are capable of implementing it.
It may be that the only really viable alternative is a return to the League of Nations' mandate system, with the goal of de-radicalizing the Palestinians through economic development, much like the Germans were de-Nazified after WWII. But instead of Britain and France having the mandate over Arab territories, Israel would have to pick it up.
This would be extraordinarily expensive and unpleasant, and would likely have to last for decades. But is there any other realistic option?
First off, Palestinians is a made-up term. The mantle of victimhood of the people who inhabit the West Bank and Gaza has been around since 1948, 75 years. Their claim to refugee status is an accepted norm by the western world and has served them well in obtaining all manner of handouts. Sadly, their leadership has either wasted it or absconded with it, see the tunnel network in Gaza. When Israel abandoned Gaza many years ago, the people destroyed the many worthwhile projects left behind. It's time the rest of us smartened up, and demanded they get off the dole and figure it out themselves.