In the past few days, there are serious clashes between Hamas and Fatah. It’s mostly taking place in the Gaza strip. Tens have been killed and tens have been kidnapped. Armistice agreements haven’t passed the extent of several hours. Anarchy rules.
For many Israelis, this is a wet dream come true: Palestinians fighting each other and forgetting about us. “Let them run their own business, kill each other, and we’ll stand on the sidelines (and smile)”, is something I often hear.
Except the terrorist attack in Eilat this week, we enjoyed a long period of peace and quiet. Well, in Sderot people suffer from Quassam rockets, but they are not so deadly, and the remoteness of this fighting makes it a non issue for many.
The current conditions, in which a civil war is raging in the Palestinian territories and we enjoy quiet can’t last for a long time. In some time or another, the clashes will stop. They will realize that it’s pointless to fight each other, and they’ll decide to blame everything (being right or wrong) upon us, turning the fire in our direction.
We are still the conqueror in the West Bank, and we still have some control on what’s going on in Gaza. Israel and the Palestinians are intertwined in each other. What’s bad for them is bad for us.
I fear that an uprising in the West Bank will eventually happen, and that in that stage, we’ll have absolutely nobody to talk to. It is of our interest to see peace and quiet amongst our very close neighbors.
I don’t see any policy whatsoever regarding the Palestinians. PM Olmert and defense minister Peretz are deep into politics. So, we just sit and enjoy the show.
I’m expecting a more active policy that will lead to negotiations. Hoping for peace these days is too naive.