Israel, the battered wife of the world

Read this and weep:

The defense establishment recommends easing the siege on Gaza, mainly at the crossings, in order to advance the talks aimed at securing kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit’s release.

The recommendations – some of which have already been approved by the defense minister and will be brought to the political echelon’s approval – have been obtained by Ynet and are revealed here for the first time. They include allowing the transfer of coffee, tea, soup and canned food into Gaza, as well as fuel for electricity production.

[…] Beyond the aim of securing the kidnapped soldier’s release, the ease of restrictions is a response to the increasing international pressure to improve the situation in Gaza, repeated appeals by Egypt, the ongoing smuggling of humanitarian equipment through underground tunnels at the Philadelphi route, and US President Barack Obama’s historic speech in Cairo.

The AP puts it this way:

Israel’s Defense Ministry has recommended a partial lifting of the embargo on the Gaza Strip as a goodwill gesture toward the Palestinians to spur talks to free a long-held captive soldier, an Israeli news site reported Friday.

When have goodwill gestures ever worked? The Palestinians take these “gestures” and then demand more before they will do anything on their side. Really, name one that worked. Just one.

Of course, this is going to get done. Israel has removed most of the checkpoints in the West Bank, the Palestinians are armed again, and there are no Israelis in Gaza. This will be the second time in recent history that the Palestinians have been given a chance at self-government. The last time, they launched the Al-Aqsa Intifada after Arafat refused the offer at Camp David in 2000, which would have given Palestinians control of more than 95% of the West Bank, all of Gaza, and eastern Jerusalem. Not in bantustans—that is a lie that Israel’s opponents spread. Israel offered peace, the Palestinians chose war.

Make no mistake about Palestinian intentions. There are no peacemakers on their side. They insist on the “right of return,” which would flood Israeli with millions of third- and fourth-generation descendants of the original refugees. The Arab world’s refugees were not settled anywhere by the UN—most of them move to Israel. Fifty percent of Israel’s population is made up of the original refugees and their descendants.

The blockade will be eased. And violence will resume. Hamas is restocking its weapons and has called off its rocketeers—proof that they have always had the ability to stop terror attacks, in spite of their pretense otherwise (and the uncritical media acceptance of such claims). So the calm right now has a purpose.

And one more warning: Hamas is now saying that they can’t guarantee that Gilad Shalit wasn’t harmed in the Gaza war. Prepare for the worst, because when have terrorists ever returned a live captive soldier to Israel?