SILLINESS IN GAZA

Yes there’s been silliness there.

By whom?

By everyone.

First the Israelis allowed, no encouraged, the settlements there. That was bound to be a losing proposition. But it turned out to be losing only for the American taxpayers because it has been they who have had to pay for the resettlement.

The Israelis actually got richer from that transaction. Their economy gets a shot in the arm from the necessary reconstruction plus a lot of surplus monies. Who couldn’t have seen that one coming?

Then the bungling way the Israelis handled the evacuation. Why on earth would they bulldoze the buildings in the settlements they were leaving? Are they insane? Couldn’t they see the immense propaganda weapon that had been handed to them by the American taxpayers?

All they had to do was hand over the settlements intact to the Palestinians as a gesture of generosity, munificence, brotherhood and reconciliation. Then let the world see what the Palestinians, in all their enlightenment, did with the gift. Let the world see how they would respond to a gesture of reconciliation.

Even better, they should have arranged a formal turnover to the Palestinian Authority. How brilliant that would have been. They could have treated the Palestinian Authority as if they were actually a responsible agency. As if they actually had some “authority” in Palestine. What a bungled opportunity that was.

Of course the Palestinian rabble would have come in and burned and looted just as they did where a few buildings were left standing. That is their way. That is all they know. Looting and burning is what they are. But the opportunity to put it on display for all the world to see was missed.

It is all silliness in Gaza.