I can’t agree with everything Richard Cohen writes in Hamas is a threat to the Palestinian cause, but he makes several good points, including his (imperfect) conclusion:
The irony is that Israel is often called a colonialist power. In some sense, the charge is true. But the ones with the true colonialist mentality are those who think that Arabs cannot be held to Western standards of decency. So, for this reason, Hamas is apparently forgiven for its treatment of women, its anti-Semitism, its hostility toward all other religions, its fervid embrace of a dark (non-Muslim) medievalism and its absolute insistence that Israel has no right to exist. Maybe the blockade ought to end — but so, too, should anyone’s dreamy idea of Hamas. It’s not just a threat to Israel. It’s a threat to the eventual Palestine.
It’s refreshing to read a liberal who acknowledges that Arabs are held to no standards. When attacks on Israel for denying the Palestinians their rights come from regimes who offer few, if any, rights to their citizens the hypocrisy is rampant. Unfortunately, such charges are repeated uncritically rather than getting the scrutiny and scorn they so deserve.
As far as Cohen’s insistence that Israel must end the blockade of Gaza, Barry Rubin provides some answers:
2. Would leaving the blockade in place have eventually resulted in the collapse of Hamas control in Gaza?
Answer: It is impossible to say but perhaps Hamas would have been brought down. At least there was a chance for doing so. Remember that in this as in other cases sanctions had three purposes other than “persuading” the other side to change its policy:
A. Minimize the resources they have for waging war and maintaining political control;
B. Signal to factions to become more moderate or to quarrel among themselves while giving the masses an incentive to overthrow the regime (both because it wasn’t delivering the goods, because it was weaker, and because they felt that they had international support for a revolt.
C. Signal to others that this is a losing side and they should not support it also lest they, too suffer from sanctions.
On the other hand, other critical elements for bringing down Hamas were missing:
A. Israel was not allowed to achieve victory.
B. International support for a “rollback” policy was lacking.
C. There was not a strong and determined opposition effort by Fatah to help bring down Hamas.
The blockade is not a gratuitous attack on the civilians of Gaza but a reasonable attempt to weaken Gaza, if not politically, then, at least militarily. Why this is so hard to understand is beyond me.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
