Let them burn the synogogues.
I make no bones about being pro-Israel. I am. And I think whatever Sharon's war-criminal past and true intentions for the region, he's done a difficult and historically important thing in forceably dismantling the settlements in Gaza, taking on his own party and his own past convictions in the process.
But the decision not to raze the 19 Gush Katif synogogues before the last soldiers left Gaza was a stupid, cheap ploy on the Israeli cabinet's part -- especially foreign minister Silvan Shalom's silly, cynical appeal to Kofi Annan for the UN to step in. (And do what exactly? Never mind genocide in Darfur; there's a bunch of buildings that might get set on fire if Kofi doesn't act!) NRO's Cliff May says that the inevitable Palestinian desecration and torching of the synagogues isn't getting much attention; but, in addition to the New York Times article he links to, it was the headline on Google News early this morning (or late last night on the west coast) and a quick search turns up piles of stories on that very subject.
Everyone knows the Palestianian Authority is no real match for Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories right now; and that, even as PA leadership goes, Abbas isn't the revered figure that Arafat was most of the time. Everyone knows that the Palestinian Authority's security forces would have all they could handle keeping Gaza's greenhouses from being looted by the frustrated-jubilant crowds and wouldn't have either the time or authority for symbolic gestures like preserving synogogues or even of protecting them from militants until the PA's bulldozers could get to them. The Christian Science Monitor reports on one Palestinian cop at the scene:
We want to protect things because it's in our interest, but there are people who want to destroy everything," complained Lieut. Izzadin Najar, sweating and breathless from chasing teenagers.
Israel's apparent willingness to sneer at this sort of thing is disgusting. And it's not as if Abbas or the PA have any illusions about what would happen if Isreal left its synogogues in place. They told the Israelis from the get-go this is what would happen. But never mind:
"I think Israelis felt that by completing the withdrawal from Gaza, they had created an opportunity for peace for the Palestinians to seize upon," says Dore Gold, Sharon's adviser. "And what they saw was synagogues in flames, and that's something with a very ominous tone for the success of any future negotiations."
At The Corner, May echoes the sentiment:
"Wouldn’t it be nice if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were to condemn such destruction and say plainly that it is wrong to destroy Jewish or Christian houses of worship? Imagine if he were to say that someday he hopes there will be peace and that these synagogues could then be in use again. Muslims freely attend mosques in Israel. Why not imagine that someday there could be Jews again in the Gaza -- as business partners, as tourists, as residents?"
And wouldn't it be nice if the Likudniks has gotten rid of the synogogues in the first place so Abbas wasn't left in such an impossible, symbolically humilitating, diplomatic situation?
But the decision not to raze the 19 Gush Katif synogogues before the last soldiers left Gaza was a stupid, cheap ploy on the Israeli cabinet's part -- especially foreign minister Silvan Shalom's silly, cynical appeal to Kofi Annan for the UN to step in. (And do what exactly? Never mind genocide in Darfur; there's a bunch of buildings that might get set on fire if Kofi doesn't act!) NRO's Cliff May says that the inevitable Palestinian desecration and torching of the synagogues isn't getting much attention; but, in addition to the New York Times article he links to, it was the headline on Google News early this morning (or late last night on the west coast) and a quick search turns up piles of stories on that very subject.
Everyone knows the Palestianian Authority is no real match for Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories right now; and that, even as PA leadership goes, Abbas isn't the revered figure that Arafat was most of the time. Everyone knows that the Palestinian Authority's security forces would have all they could handle keeping Gaza's greenhouses from being looted by the frustrated-jubilant crowds and wouldn't have either the time or authority for symbolic gestures like preserving synogogues or even of protecting them from militants until the PA's bulldozers could get to them. The Christian Science Monitor reports on one Palestinian cop at the scene:
We want to protect things because it's in our interest, but there are people who want to destroy everything," complained Lieut. Izzadin Najar, sweating and breathless from chasing teenagers.
Israel's apparent willingness to sneer at this sort of thing is disgusting. And it's not as if Abbas or the PA have any illusions about what would happen if Isreal left its synogogues in place. They told the Israelis from the get-go this is what would happen. But never mind:
"I think Israelis felt that by completing the withdrawal from Gaza, they had created an opportunity for peace for the Palestinians to seize upon," says Dore Gold, Sharon's adviser. "And what they saw was synagogues in flames, and that's something with a very ominous tone for the success of any future negotiations."
At The Corner, May echoes the sentiment:
"Wouldn’t it be nice if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were to condemn such destruction and say plainly that it is wrong to destroy Jewish or Christian houses of worship? Imagine if he were to say that someday he hopes there will be peace and that these synagogues could then be in use again. Muslims freely attend mosques in Israel. Why not imagine that someday there could be Jews again in the Gaza -- as business partners, as tourists, as residents?"
And wouldn't it be nice if the Likudniks has gotten rid of the synogogues in the first place so Abbas wasn't left in such an impossible, symbolically humilitating, diplomatic situation?
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