Fulbrights and qassams

Israel’s DM Ehud Barak announced that the siege of Gaza is working:

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday said that Israel has identified signs of distress coming from Hamas. According to the defense minister, some 70 Hamas fighters have been killed during the last two months, and more than 300 have been killed during the past six months.”Hamas is very stressed. The most effective action is the siege,” Barak said, referring to the Israeli-imposed economic blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Israel imposed the blockade on Gaza after the Islamist group seized power over the impoverished coastal strip last June. Since then, Israel has allowed only basic staples to be transported through the border crossings it controls, into Gaza.

While it may not be enough, it’s certainly welcome to hear. Unfortunately, even if Hamas is losing its political hold, operationally the Qassams have kept on coming. Elder of Ziyon noted that there was no day in May that was Qassam free.

When the NY Times reported that Israel allowed the Fulbright scholars to leave, it did note the reason that Israel closed Gaza.

The closing, an effort to punish Hamas for its rocket and mortar barrages of southern Israel, prevents Palestinians from leaving Gaza except for medical emergencies.

But that’s just lip service. Remember, Qassams struck Israel every day for a month. And the closure isn’t punitive. It’s an attempt to stop the regular (or daily) bombardments; hardly an unreasonable goal. It may even be having a positive effect politically. But the article focuses instead on the negative effects of the closure, not its causes. And it also focuses on how the State Department brought pressure on Israel (something that the Times played a role in.)

Secretary Rice said:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was surprised to hear of the withdrawals, adding: “If you cannot engage young people and give complete horizons to their expectations and their dreams, I don’t know that there would be any future for Palestine. We will take a look. I am a huge supporter of Fulbrights.”

By itself, there’s little objectionable about Sec. Rice’s statement. However in this context it’s troubling.

First of all, education by itself, doesn’t guarantee hope or peaceful intentions. Yihye Ayyash was really trained as an engineer. Abdel Aziz Rantisi was a pedicatrician. Fahti Shkaki was a doctor. The problem is the indoctrination that goes on.

PMW just reported on the hatred that is shown on Palestinian TV. And it isn’t only from Hamas, it’s also from Fatah. But Sec. Rice had no words of criticism about indoctrination.

Nor did Secretary Rice lament the rocket attacks that target Israeli schools. The problem isn’t that Israel isn’t allowing Gazans to better themselves. It’s that Gazans generally support Hamas and Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. If the Israeli blockade has the effect of undermining Hamas, it shouldn’t be portrayed as an obstacle to peace.

This is an issue that could have been resolved quietly without embarrassing Israel. Sec. Rice and her department decided to go public and question Israel’s government rather than place any responsibility on Hamas and the public that supports it.

More from Meryl.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.