By Ted Belman Ronni Shaked is a veteran Israeli Journalist presently working for Yedioth Aronoth. He knows all the leading players in Israeli politics and in Hamas and Fatah. Today he gave a talk to international journalists at Media Central. I was there and the topic was Shalit, Hamas and Fatah. Israel is also supporting Hamas by not killing their leaders or invading. She is also allowing construction materials to enter so that the conditions improve. Contrary to the propaganda, Arabs are better off in Gaza than they are in Egypt or Turkey. They don’t have to worry about medical care or starvation like the others do. Israel’s strategy is to divide and grow. Hamas has branded themselves as leaders of the resistance and rejection. They continue to fire rockets to protect this mantle. Israel doesn’t really retaliate because she doesn’t want to hurt their infrastructure and instead, fires missiles at an empty airfield to make some noise. Of course she kills terrorists when she can. But she doesn’t assassinate their leaders. Hamas and Fatah are at logger heads and a unification agreement is nowhere in sight. Israel wants to keep it that way. Prisoners Israel treats her convicted terrorists, like political prisoners. That means they all have radio and television, prepare their own food, wear their own clothes rather than prison garb, and have visitors. Up until recently they were allowed to enroll in university and many matriculated and even earned PhD’s. In addition they are not put to work as other prisoners in Israeli jails are. Israeli treatment of them compares favourably with anywhere else in the world. These prisoners are very organized. Their prison leaders require them to pray when appropriate and exercise in recess. They are allowed to watch television for only two hours a day. The rest of the time they are expected to take part in study groups or other educational activities. They learn languages or terrorism or both or anything else they want. Though life is good in Israeli prison, they still find time to go on strike to demand whole chickens today and something else tomorrow. Must not lose sight of the resistance. Lieberman begs to differ 
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
My best take away was that Israel has no interest in trying to reach a deal and is merely playing the game. Of course many think the game is fraught with peril and that Israel should abandon Oslo and annex all or part of J&S. The GOI has a different view. They like the status quo of no state and no occupation. Its something in between. By no occupation, I mean, the Palestinians have full autonomy. They are our biggest trading partner and cooperate with us on security. Also if Oslo was abrogated, thereby ending the peace process, Israel would become an occupier and be responsible for picking up the tab for the Palestinian welfare. Presently the US and the EU are contributing $1 billion per year. Meanwhile Israel keep building her economy and her presence in J&S and Jerusalem.
As it happens, this suits Abbas just fine. The security cooperation keeps him alive. The money is flowing and the economy is growing. He is strutting the world’s stage and is feted everywhere. The only people who don’t like him are his own people. But the polls indicate that the people like the status quo also. Most Arabs in Jerusalem don’t want it divided and like the better standard of living they are experiencing. If Abbas were to sign a peace deal he would be signing his own death warrant.
Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
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