Israel-Palestine Update

Back on the eve of war, President Bush promised England and Spain that in exchange for their support for invading Iraq he would make a "personal commitment" to leaning on the Israelis to make a fair two-state settlement. More generally, Bush implied that our imagined new hegemony in the region, obtained by attacking one Arab country, would allow us the luxury of insisting on some justice for the Palestinians. Of course the Iraq war is not going well, and three years and three months after its start, Israel-Palestine is still in turmoil.

On Thursday, the Israelis attacked and killed the head of security for Hamas, who they blamed for Gaza-based rocket attacks on Israel. When Hamas responded with more rocket attacks, Israel commenced using missiles and artillery to target militants in Gaza. On Friday, in an apparent accident by the Israelis they shelled a beach in Gaza, killing eight people including a family of seven with infants and children. (Israel says the incident is under investigation and that they have not confirmed that their artillery caused the beach explosion.) In response to the Gaza beach incident, Hamas called off a 16-month truce. Saturday they launched at least 15 rockets plus mortars at Israel, and Sunday Israel launched air strikes that killed two Hamas fighters “while they were preparing to launch rockets.”

In the meantime, Palestinian President Abbas of the Fatah party is holding a referendum on July 26 that would effectively recognize Israel. The government-controlling Hamas party opposes the vote, and 17 Palestinians have been killed in Hamas-Fatah gunfights and skirmishes in the past few weeks...