While I agree with you, Jill, that Hamas needs better leadership….I also believe that Israel’s leadership, as witnessed in their brutal killing spree, is a total disgrace.

Feminism is suicide. It continues to bring forth nothing but misery. How can people embrace an ideology that hates half of the human population? I guess the world needs useful idiots too.

I hate to say it, and maybe it’s only because of my relative youth, growing up with Arafat always being a defining Palestinian figure, but his use of religion and dogma wasn’t nearly as strong as his use of occupier imagery – that makes the ability to talk about a two-state solution a lot easier because you don’t have this threat of a Muslim nation wanting to destroy Israel but rather just a “you live your way, we’ll live ours” kind of yearning.

But again – that’s in hindsight. Though, I’d still be willing to say that the Sadat, Rabin and Arafat triumverate would not allow what is happening now to happen.

But that’s not today’s reality, sadly.

I do think that the PA in the West Bank has some leaders in it, like Hanan Ashrawi, who could really get things done – we’ll have to wait and see. It’s hard for moderates to step up – they get killed.

If they are governing well, why can’t the same work in Gaza? If Hamas has been a failure of government, why can’t Fatah rise as a reasonable alternative to Hamas? I understand that the failure of Fatah to care for the people in Gaza was a direct cause of Hamas’ rise to power, but what has Fatah been doing to appear as a viable alternative?

Since the election of Hamas a couple years ago, it’s like there have become two Palestinian states: the state governed by Hamas and the state governed by Fatah. It seems pretty clear how the fortunes of each have changed since that election.

1. “Early creation” – it’s only been 60 years – which is good, but certainly not as old as the UK.

2. The factions that want Israel destroyed would exist regardless of what they were named. Whether they’d be as virulent or not as Hamas isn’t really knowable, but the existence of a guerilla faction like Hamas could have formed and in fact had the ability (the sentiment) to form long before Hamas came into formal existence.

3. Again – conflict over this specific land has existed since 3000 BC. It’s really quite amazing just how long civilization has lived with the conflict, when you think about it. And how many different conquerors tried gain and maintain control over it.

Thanks for reading and commenting.