Haaretz comments: „It is not realistic to think about separating Hamas rule from the Palestinian people, or about starving government institutions while sending humanitarian assistance directly to the population. The Palestinians chose their leadership democratically, and any such separation is arrogant and has no chance. The unsuccessful comments by Dov Weissglas – whose position and source of authority in the present government is difficult to understand – regarding the need to put the Palestinian nation on a diet, but not to starve it, symbolizes more than anything the humiliating way in which Israel relates to the Palestinians, which was one of the factors in Hamas’ rise to power. It is unnecessary and degrading to recommend a diet to a hungry and unemployed nation, in addition to which Israel is still responsible for preventing hunger in all parts of the West Bank that it controls as an occupying power…The government must declare a waiting period in which nothing will change in the agreements between the PA and Israel that were in effect before the elections.
The government must wait and examine how the Hamas government will use the money transferred to it, and not expect that the Palestinian nation will change its tune. Any pressure in this direction is liable to cause radicalization and a renewal of violence.” The Jerusalem Post writes: „The welcome presence in Israel of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and leader of the Tibetan people, reminds Israelis that we are not, after all, at the center of the universe; that there are political struggles, philosophical approaches and spiritual roads that have nothing to do with Jews, Israel, or the clash between Islamist medievalism and Western modernity…Yet alluring as the Dalai Lama’s message is, his is not the Jewish way. Facing an enemy that invented the suicide bomber’s belt, the response of unilateral pacifism would result in our annihilation. In place of an imperfect Israel, a violently reactionary Islamist regime would arise. Still, even though the message of non-violence resonates only as a faint hope vis-a-vis the Arab and Muslim world, perhaps the presence of this ‘simple Buddhist monk’ will at least remind Israelis of the way we should treat each other.”
BPI-info
BPI-info
