Window on Israel: The power of external factors

It is tempting to yearn for the good old days of warfare, when the forces of one state fought against the forces of another, until those leading the governments decided that they had enough. Most fighters did what they were told, and few journalists or non-governmental organizations muddied the issues with their pictures and demands.
 
Current wars are complicated by so many players, and more confusion than clarity in the nature of the conflicts, and what it may take to end them.
 
Perhaps the geniuses directing American combat in Afghanistan or Iraq can figure out who they are fighting and how to end it.
 
I am more aware of Israel's problems. Or to put it more accurately, I am more aware of what no one seems to know about the numerous groups and individuals claiming to be responsible for Palestinian fighters, as well as organizations making demands about Israel's activities in defense of itself, and individuals wandering the region and talking about peace with various other individuals who claim to have some influence. The number of journalists and photographers, and the ease of sending stories and pictures internationally, make it impossible to isolate the battlefields in the fashion of the British in the Falklands. There is a flood of material, some of it fabricated, used to glorify Palestinians and condemn Israelis.
 
Currently Israel is talking peace with the President of the Palestine National Authority and head of the Fatah Party, Mahmoud Abbas. His power base is in the West Bank. However, various armed groups that claim an affiliation with Fatah, but do not accept Abbas' leadership, are continuing the armed struggle from their bases in the West Bank. A substantial portion of the Palestinian population is in Gaza, where the Hamas organization has forcefully expelled many of the Fatah operatives it did not kill.  Hamas usually rejects a peace process with Israel, and does what it can to kill Israelis. But sometimes it expresses a willingness to arrange a long term cease fire that does not involve a formal recognition of Israel's right to exist. Occasionally the message is blurred further when the Hamas leadership in Gaza is out of step with the Hamas leadership in Damascus. A person claiming to speak for one may be talking cease fire while a person claiming to speak for the other asserts that there are no conversations about a cease fire.
 
Hamas seems to have the military power to impose its will on Gaza, yet it tolerates other organizations that operate independently. One of these has been holding an Israeli soldier for almost two years, and has its own price for his release. Another fires its rockets toward Israeli civilians, even when Hamas may be testing the prospects for a period of calm by not firing its rockets at Israel.
 
Non-governmental organizations compete with one another in judging the participants and advancing their own solutions. They do not wield arms, but they do affect the agenda. Several put their words into the reports of foreign ministries and the United Nations. Within two days of the recent death of a Palestinian news photographer, Human Rights Watch concluded, without anything close to a serious investigation, that Israeli soldiers had targeted him on purpose.
 
Foreign governments also pursue their own interests. Saudi Arabia and the Arab League claim to have offered peace, but on terms that would require Israel to turn back the clock by 40 or 60 years. At times it appears that Egypt would like to negotiate peace or a period of calm, while Egyptian soldiers look the other way as Palestinians "smuggle" munitions over the Egyptian-Gaza border. An Egyptian official has indicated that a deal is close whereby Hamas and Israel will agree to a cease fire and an exchange of prisoners, while a Palestinian claiming to speak for Hamas claims there is no such thing. Iran has bought a stake in continued Palestinian violence with money, munitions, and training. Syria is involved with Iran, Hizbollah, and other factions in Lebanon that are holding Israeli prisoners (or their bodies), and arming themselves for what may become another round of serious fighting.
 
Jesse Jackson was here a few years ago, and was roundly ignored. Jimmy Carter is weightier, and presents his own complications. His outspoken condemnations of Israel, including a book that accuses Israel of apartheid while he tries to deny making that accusation, has produced a situation where the three Israelis holding the most important positions (prime minister, defense minister, and foreign minister) could not find time in their schedules to meet with him. Yet at least one other government minister urged Carter to work toward accommodations between Israel and its adversaries. Carter himself seems confused. He is both flogging the details of a deal between Israel and Hamas, and telling Hamas leaders that he does not want to be an intermediary between them and Israel.
 
He is still at work. By the time you read this he may have produced a real peace, and I will be embarrassed.
 
I will risk the conclusion that the multiplicity of organizations and individuals involved in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians renders impossible the complete description of who is fighting who. One should never say never, but so far these conditions have frustrated anyone who would produce a pause or an end to the violence.
 
At the least, this should soften criticism of Israel's leaders. They may know more than us common folk, but not enough to know exactly how to cut through the swamp of so many competing players.
 
Unlike them, we can avoid the struggle, and choose instead to have another portion of matzoh ball soup.