What the world cannot remember the Israelis cannot forget. The Israelis know the Jewish nation has been one defeat away from extinction for 70 years. They know that every partition plan in the region, from the dawn of Zionism to the present day, has failed because of the Arab failure to accept the State of Israel. They know that the Palestinian leadership is virtually hopeless, wherein the people who are moderate are not effective and the people who are effective are not moderate.
Today the impossible Yasser Arafat has been replaced by the impotent Mahmoud Abbas. It was Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, who presided over the division of the Palestinians into Fatah and Hamas. Hamas doesn't want peace, and Fatah can't deliver it. Fatah is so weak that it cannot enforce the rule of law against terrorism or make compromises for fear of the radical Islamists. Indeed, without the support of the Israeli Defense Forces, even now it is under threat of being displaced by Hamas. Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a major Hamas leader, underlined Fatah's weakness when he said, "Fatah can't stop us from seizing control of those [West Bank] territories. It is only a matter of time."
Much more at U.S. News and World Report.
Comments
OK lets ask the obvious question, WHY does Israel have the right to exist?
Did the people live there for generations, NO.
Was it given to them by the local Arab population, NO.
Is it an attempt to re-introduce Jews into a part of the world they were driven out from over thousand years ago. Yes.
And has that attempt lead to the Israelites intergrating into the existiing Arab nations and culture. NO
Is it a postage stamp sized nation hostile to all that surround it. YES
Is there any sane reason for a bunch of Jewish refugees from the middle of eastern Europe to be plonking down in in the middle of a group of Arabian nations. Not that I can see.
The 'right to exist' argument is based on a very shaky foundation. If you revert to a biblical text for a reason that argument fails in my eyes, for I do not believe in your god.
I'm a rationalist and don't believe an any gods.