Sunday, June 8, 2008

On the Idiocy of the Separation Wall

The separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank which Israel began building in 2002 as a response to the seemingly unstoppable Palestinian strategy of breaking Israel's will by randomly murdering civilians, has proven itself. Along with the re-conquering of the West Bank in 2002, and the heavy controlling hand the IDF has held on the Palestinians ever since - roadblocks, arrests-interrogations-more arrests - Israel managed to do what 100% of the pundits claimed it couldn't do, namely break the Palestinian violence without caving in to the unacceptable Palestinian demands.

This was a historic achievement, the significance of which cannot be over-estimated. It wasn't fully successful, and as many of us knew in advance they would, the Palestinians innovated other ways of murdering civilians, which we've yet figured out how to block. Yet the most potent weapon they'd ever deployed, the suicide murderer, has largely been countered.

That's the context for this article in Haaretz, a long and somewhat one-sided description of how the construction of the barrier was done all wrong. I've decided to link to it for a number of reasons, in spite of it's being a rather uncomfortable read. First, because it's largely true and it's part of the important story. Second, because it demonstrates that things can be done all wrong and still be right, or better: in the real world, even things that need to be done are often done stupidly. Better stupid than not at all, of course. Third, because it's a fine demonstration of the difference between Haaretz and the Israel bashers. The people at Haaretz try to be well informed and to get things right; the Israel bashers couldn't care less about facts, so long as they can string together a story that shows how evil Israel is.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

FROM CAROL HERMAN

Since when is the Ha'Aretz useful for anything? It's just a left wing paper. Where, I'm pretty sure, socialism is a thing of the past.

If it wasn't? You'd be celebrating Marx' birthday.

I have to tell you, though, that Jews have had a real love affair with socialism. Many don't see its other face is fascism. But that's what it brings into leadership. In Israel. And, in all union hiarachies that I know of. They also collapse businesses. Not just countries!

America, being huge in size, was able to get out from under the "unionization" thumb. (Except? Education. And, here? You can thank Eisenhower for Federalizing American schools by adding a Cabinet Chair to his table.) He was a GOP president in name only.

But in 1952, the GOP was desperate!

And, ya know what? So, too, are they now. I won't go into the numbers, but the GOP has lost CONGRESS. And, it gets worse in November. Because the GOP has more to defend. And, less people willing to vote their dreck into office.

But politics has always been a dirty business. Those who really understand the system? They'd tell you to become Catholic, if you wanted a hiararchy devoted to "abstinence" and "sacrifice." And, this works, until you can no longer cover up the pedophelia. But why digress?

The WALL that Israel is building is also being used, now, in Iraq. To isolate out terrorists from Mookie's goons, from the rest of Mosul. It also works in Bagdhad.

So, the idea that fighting terrorists is different than conventional warfare, shouldn't be news to you.

And, that Labor, in Israel, lies there like a lox, is also not news to you.

Still, its worth mentioning that Ben Gurion was sure Israel could be run by a "few aristocrats" ... while everyone else got a "voting right" to vote in a PARTY. Not an individual.

This still goes on.

But if you're up to date on what's been happening around the world; you'd know that politics interfered with careers. And, let's just take the MOSSAD. And, Ostrovsky's books. Where you'd learn that stuff just went off the tracks, and went haywire.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

And, Morris Talansky? Wow. He's to do to Olmert what Sharon's doctors did to him. Stroke. Or something.

While Olmert's still holding on!

So, you've got walls that gets the ineffective left into an uproar. And, you've got politics, ahead, where LISTS are vying with each other. And, Mofaz wants to attack Kadima; and bring "some" of those creeps home. Back into the fold of Likud. Where business could go back to being "usual."

Meanwhile, separate from walls, there's something like a wall ... called "back-turning." The generational changes ... whereby each year fewer people go for the rituals. And, the pews empty out.

You think I'm kidding?

In Europe these days, its the churches that stand empty. Go figa.

Anonymous said...

FROM CAROL HERMAN

The "socialism" illness; and the cost.

As an American, I saw doors open to immigration ... studying this in school. Where it was easy to arrive at Ellis Island, and as long as you didn't have tuberculosis, you were let in.

Strange names? Didn't matter. At the "check-in" point, people who didn't speak English, found their names written into English, by the staff of customs agents.

The immigration started right after the Civil War, where carnage on the battle fields reduced America's population. (In other words? You couldn't kill off 500,000 men, in a small nation. Without looking to Europe to re-fill the needs you had to grow, and expand. "Settlements.")

Around the turn of the 20th Century. From 1895, or so ... until 1920 ... Jews had no trouble arriving. And, 90% of them not only arrive in New York, but they stay there. They don't look to go to Minnesota. Or anywhere beyond New York City and her 5 boroughs.

Yes. The Workman's Circle grew. And, Jews became "machers" in America's unions. As Labor began fighting for fairer terms.

Alas, unions are clueless about business profits. The goons just wanted "their share." Which, is what ultimately kills the American auto market. (That's a BIG one.)

But so is rail travel. To this day Amtrak can't turn a profit. McCain? He says he's gonna "privatize" it. So, sure. One hundred years later ... what was once a big item; has died on the vine.

Meanwhile, in 1920, big business shut the immigration flow. And, it became difficult to obtain citizenship in America.

At such a critical juncture! And, what did this? Socialism.

Does this go unnoticed? It's not anti-Semitism. Because what was disliked weren't the rabbis. Or the bagels. Or the Jewish comedians. Or even how English got peppered with Yiddish terms. It was very specific. Socialism was being killed by Big Business. Talented men could no longer cross the ocean.

Consider this.

Then? Consider that right out of the box, Ben Gurion embraces socialism. And, what happens next?

I do not know.

I just know Israelis aren't fools.

And, everything changes with time.

Ibrahim Ibn Yusuf said...

What the cruel Israel-bashing members of the World Conspiracy Against Israel and the Jewish People claim is that Israel is evil because it built the barrier beyond its internationally recognized borders, not along them as all civilized nations (and even some non-civilized ones like Saudi Arabia) do.

Apart from that, your premises are false.

I recommend your reading this article from the well-informed Haaretz, from which I transcribe:

Shin Bet: Palestinian truce main cause for reduced terror

By Amos Harel, Ha'aretz, 2 Jan 2006.

The Shin Bet's statistics on terror attacks confirm the public perception that terrorist activity in 2005 dropped considerably compared to the previous four and a half years. The main reason for the sharp decline is the truce in the territories, the security service said yesterday…

The security fence is no longer mentioned as the major factor in preventing suicide bombings, mainly because the terrorists have found ways to bypass it. The fence does make it harder for them, but the flawed inspection procedures at its checkpoints, the gaps and uncompleted sections enable suicide bombers to enter Israel.

Five suicide bombings took place this year - two in Netanya, one in Hadera, one in Tel Aviv and one, with no fatalities, in Be'er Sheva - compared to only two in 2004. The number of fatalities resulting from these attacks has risen a little, from 14 to 21.

But the main reason for the reduction in terrorist acts over the past year is the truce in the territories, as partial as it may be. The fact that Hamas, in general, stopped engaging in terror activities changed the picture. The Islamic Jihad network in the West Bank upgraded its capability and was responsible for the murder of 23 Israelis in 2005, but during that time, Hamas - the leading terror organization in recent years - has scaled back its engagement in terror. Its focus on the political arena and the preparations for the Palestinian parliamentary elections have limited its active involvement in terror to a large extent....


As can be seen, according to the Shin Bet the Wall is NOT the cause for the reduction in terror attacks. It's cruel, it grabs Palestinian territory, but the Palestinians do manage to breach it.

And, well, surely the Shin Bet knows more about Israeli security than us bloggers?

This is a clear demonstration of the difference between Haaretz and the Plaestinian bashers. The people at Haaretz try to be well informed and to get things right; the Palestinian bashers couldn't care less about facts, so long as they can string together a story that shows how evil the Palestinians are.

Anonymous said...

Yo Ibrahim!

dunno why yaakov even lets you still comment on his blog, after what he told us about you. me, i wouldn't be so nice. at least he doesn't answer you anymore. but in this case, you're being so foolish someone's gotta. the wall is not a border between the palis and the israelis. it's a one-sided measure taken by the israelis to hamper the bloodthirsty palis and to discourage their mothers from celebratory dancing when their sons blow themselves up with jews. of course it should cover ariel: there are lots of jews in ariel that the palis would like to kill. if and when the palis ever decide they want peace with the israelis, rather than peace instead of the israelis, they can ask to have the wall taken down.

the shin bet report was from 2006? the construction on the wall started in 2002? in 2006 some palis decided that since they'd lost the war (partly coz of the wall) p'raps they should call off the violence? sounds like a pretty good advertisement of the wall to me. don't ya think?

then again, it doesn't seem they've called off the violence, does it? last i checked, they were still doing their utmost worstest to kill as many israeli civilians as possible, only now they've moved to the gaza area, where there are no settlements left.

frank

Ibrahim Ibn Yusuf said...

I believe the Shin Bet rather than you, unless you can prove you're a security expert. And the Shin Bet sez the Palestinians do manage to bypass the wall (there are countless pictures and videos over the web to confirm this), and that the drop in the number of attacks is mainly due to the truce. So, yes, Arab goodwill does seem to have played an important role. Please address any complaints to the Shin Bet.

As for Yaacov allowing me to comment, we sort of reached an agreement that I would be able to post comments, but he wouldn't respond.

Anonymous said...

Great work.