More on those Gaza deaths

Tuesday, June 10, I posted “Gaza: What Reuters and the NY Times didn’t tell you.”

What they didn’t tell you was considerable evidence indicated the deaths of a Palestinian family on a Gaza beach were not caused by Israeli artillery fire, but by the explosion of a buried Palestinian mine.

Betsy Newmark advances the story:

Charles Krauthammer is exactly right in his column today about who is to blame for the deaths of the Palestinian family on the Gaza beach. The Israelis have shown pretty conclusively that they are not responsible for the shelling that took the family's lives.

And the Palestinians have been following their usual practice of shooting artillery shells at Israeli civilians while hiding their artillery among Palestinian civilians so that they can score a propaganda coup if the Israelis fight back and civilians get killed.

But Krauthammer says, put that question aside and ask why Palestinians in Gaza are shelling Israelis. That is the real question.

Whether the rocket bases are near civilian beaches or in remote areas, why are the Gazans launching any rockets at Israel in the first place -- about 1,000 in the past year?

To get Israel to remove its settlers, end the occupation and let the Palestinians achieve dignity and independence?

But Israel did exactly that in Gaza last year. It completely evacuated Gaza, dismantled all its military installations, removed its soldiers, destroyed all Israeli settlements and expelled all 7,000 Israeli settlers. Israel then declared the line that separates Israel from Gaza to be an international frontier. Gaza became the first independent Palestinian territory ever.

And what have the Palestinians done with this independence? […]

They have used their freedom to launch rockets at civilians in nearby Israeli towns.

There’s a lot more of Krauthammer before Betsy concludes:

The Palestinians are close to an open civil war between the forces of Hamas and Fatah. They can't govern themselves and it is becoming clear that it is not Israel's fault that their government is rife with corruption and incompetence. Their only answer is to try to kill Israelis. As the Israelis have pulled back from Palestinian territory the myth of the Palestinians is exposed for the lie it always was. The reason they don't prosper has little to do with Israel and a lot to do with their own preference for victimhood and death rather than good governance and concern for their own people.

Krauthammer and Newmark's commentary bring to mind something I first heard years ago: "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."

It's sad those words are still true.
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Post URLs:

http://johninnorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2006/06/gaza-what-reuters-and-ny-times-didnt.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/15/AR2006061501794.html

http://betsyspage.blogspot.com/2006/06/responsibility-for-deaths-on-gaza.html