Window on Israel: The same old Middle East

Iran is again putting several members of the persecuted Bahai faith on trial, this time on charges of attempting to destabilize the country on behalf of Israel.

In Gaza, 30 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in a battle in and around a mosque between Hamas and Jund Ansar Allah, a group said to be inspired by al-Qaida.
 
Nervous Jews are already fearing that the Obama administration will buy into Hamas's story: that it's really a moderate organization, concerned with keeping the extremists from gaining power in Gaza.
 
The Gaza dust-up is one more indication that the Palestinians are a long way from being a nation. While disputes over doctrine mark some conflicts, others are between factions defined by family and village. They all have a substantial "us against them" component.

When tensions peak, the men (and some of the women) reach for their guns and knives. The latest clash involved machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. One of the leaders killed himself with a vest packed with explosives, also killing a mediator who came in an effort to stop the fighting.
 
Among the dead is an 11 year old girl.
 
Human rights groups have not accused either side of overreaction.
 
A spokesman for the Fatah government in the West Bank has called the situation alarming.
 
What should Israel do?
 
There is nothing it can do. Nor, do I suspect, is there anything it wants to do.
 
Neither Hamas nor the other group involved in the fighting was competing for the opportunity to negotiate with Israel. Both of them are more extreme than Fatah, which itself is stuck in the rut of demanding all of Jerusalem as well as the right of return to Israel for refugees and their descendants.

The refugees number somewhere in the millions, and - in the unlikely event that they do return - may begin killing one another over possession of grandpa's plot.
 
We can expect discussions in the White House and elsewhere about how this is an opportunity for the Obama administration to expand its policy of engagement to include Hamas. Surely everyone wants peace, and what better opportunity than after regrettable bloodshed.
 
Critics will damn Israel, this time for keeping up the pressure on Gaza, which must have contributed to the internal problems, and for exploiting Palestinian misfortunes by claiming they are not ready for peace.
 
According to public opinion surveys, the majority of Israelis want peace, and are willing to compromise on territorial issues.

The majority of Israelis are also suspicious of Palestinian motives, and do not believe that an accord is likely. Recent polls, taken since President Obama spoke of his aspirations in Cairo, show substantial numbers view him as naive, and doubt that his policy of engagement will work.
 
How much of an effort should Israel make to bridge gaps when one extremist faction of Palestinians battles another extremist faction, both of them proclaiming the destruction of Israel as their ultimate goal?

The Fatah faction, viewed as moderate, may not be able to maintain itself in the West Bank, and just a week ago officially adopted goals no imaginable Israeli government would be willing to concede.
 
A clever person does not enter a situation only a wise person knows how to get out of.