Mideast battles blow up paths to peace accord
Nancy Kruh
P eace was the goal, but so far, just the opposite has been the result of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. A discouraged commentariat is now sorting out the whys of the new clashes and wondering whether an accord can ever be reached.
Charles Krauthammer notes that the latest surge is being commonly characterized as "a continuation of the cycle of violence." But with the Palestinians' Hamas government "openly committed to terrorism," the Washington Post columnist counters:
"That is no cycle. That is an arrow. That is action with purpose ... Gaza is free of occupation, yet Gaza wages war. Why? Because this war is not about occupation, but about Israel's very existence."
Jeff Jacoby vents his frustration at the Israelis for ever pulling out. "It convinced [the Palestinians] that Israelis were weak, that terrorism worked -- and that more terrorism would work even better," the Boston Globe columnist writes.
Thomas Friedman reserves his exasperation for the Palestinians. "I have to say the violence ... is utterly without purpose," the New York Times columnist writes. "Israel has evacuated Gaza, and what does Hamas do? It doesn't put all its energy into building ... a decent state and society, with jobs. Instead, it launches hundreds of rockets into Israel.
"This is about legitimacy and safety, and until both sides achieve some modicum of well-being, or deterrence, there will be no peace," Eleanor Clift of Newsweek writes. "'The name of the game is perseverance,' a Palestinian journalist told us. 'What's the rush?'"
If the Palestinians do try to build a state, says Trudy Rubin , it can't be without some assistance -- and the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist nominates President Bush to spearhead new peace negotiations.
"Doesn't anyone in the administration get the message being pounded into our heads by the noise from Gaza: Unilateral withdrawals, delinked from negotiations, do not work," she writes.
Nancy Kruh writes a roundup of opinion for the Dallas Morning News that appears Saturday in The Detroit News.
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