Building Bridges: Concept failure in Gaza

It is amazing to hear Mr. Oppenheimer talk about concept failure. The "Peace Now" concept he champions has failed spectacularly---though admittedly not for professional peace processors who have made a very nice living funded by the EU and other groups hostile to Israel.

And not one word about the Kassam rockets! What does Mr. Oppenheimer propose to do about them?

Does he believe they will stop if the steps he advocates are taken?

Mr Oppenheimer and the group he calls "Peace Now" is himself a symbol of the failure of the Israeli education system (unless some earlier failures of a genetical type are involved). These characters have negatively inflluenced Israel's overall determination to stand-up to its enemies...their machinations and "peace contraptions" they built collapsed one after the other....and they should be the last ones to talk about "concept failures".

Mr. Oppenhiemer is a niaive twerp. Hamas's policy is the complete destruction of Israel. Why on earth would he wish to assist them by allowing open boarders to them and emply there gunmen in Israeli paid jobs.?

Appeasement: How to commit suicide in one easy lesson.

Leave the border as it is...Gaza should now be an Eygptian problem...an Eygyptian constituencey. Surely it is better to hold the Eygyptians accountable for Gaza rather than the PA or Hamas? Let the Arabs deal with their own. I am betting Hamas is more of a problem for Eygypt than Israel.

This result is not a policy collapse , but rather an foreseeable result of the deluxe embargo "pressure" imposed, & amongst the best possible.

Imagine an abcess: Rather than the Gaza population beating the infection without lancing it, leaving a hard core "capsule" of infection/terror, the pressure caused the pus to explode outwards into Egypt, relieving the pressure & allowing the abcess to drain the poison.

Now, instead of Egypt playing both sides (quarantining Hamas/Islamic Brotherhood in Gaza) slyly supporting terror, & then blaming Israel, now Egypt has to deal with it also.

There might be a 10-20% population reduction as foreign Arabs go home, others rejoin Rafah-N. Sinai families, or just get away. The clans & Hamas lose smuggling power & cash.

JPost had an article a few months ago on Gaza's history as an outpost or town of "fringe dwellers".

Gaza Strip never had an ability for independence, & barely if it was part of the entire Northern Sinai.

Gaza-Rafah-El Arish are essentially small fishing towns that were the closest landing points for sailing ships crossing the Mediterranean to the Darb el Haj (Way of the Pilgrim), crossing Sinai on foot to Mecca.

If Egypt is serious about Palestinian independence, give them N. Sinai as an autonomous region. Otherwise, govern it, & take a sovereign states's responsibility for the population, not play political games.

Let the PA die of attrition & corruption. Between Egypt & Israel, Hamas should quickly disappear underground-literally.

More terror along the longer border? I doubt it. Helicopters, satellites, motion sensors, ground radar, patrols, all that open space & reduced population density... Bedouin trackers are salivating already...

Now, to politely throw UNRWA out of the poisonous, self perpetuating, corrupt, multi generational welfare state it created, bulldoze the camps, shorten & move the Israeli border a little south.

If necessary, pay some compensation, buy some land, & help them get on with life, not rot forever in their own filth & corruption. The Louisiana Purchase is a good example to start with.

Emigration, immigration, movement of peoples is part of human society & history. This is (IMO) essentially an extension of Benny Elon's "Israel Initiative", & not a particularly complex idea or solution.

Misinterpretation of the facts yet again. There was no complete 'suffocation'. Ashkelon still supplied over 75% of the total electricity to Gaza. There was a surplus of goods to allow Gaza to last weeks, but as usual, Hamas played their propaganda machine and finally gave the go-ahead to punch holes in the Rafah border, something played for weeks and months prior to any 'blockade'.

Israel has no obligation to baby-sit these people indefinitely.

I am sick and tired giving excuses. Mr Oppenheimer and the likes should work for the ennemy. At least we will know where we stand. It was a black day when Israel fell for the OSLO agreement. Where in the world you invite the ennemy in your backyard and giving him amunition to use against you. THE GAZANS SHOULD PROVIDE FOR THEMSELVES and not what Mr Oppenheimer suggesting to work in Israel. Is he nuts?

Yariv, since you're so sympathetic to those who would murder us in a NY minute, I have an idea. Why don't you and your fellow lefties have a campaign to adopt a Hamas family? Feed them, clothe them, even make sure they have the latest weaponry with which to accomplish your combined goal of destroying the Jewish homeland? Why not invite them to spend some time with you and your family? Take them to a resort, after all, I'm sure they could use the change of scenery.

What about the broader picture. The Israeli Arab leadership is now talking about autonomous regions in Galilee and other regions of Israel.Does 'peace now' think the Arabs have the right?

The root "Concept Failure" was the 1967 vision that invasion, occupation and the installment of settlements could eventually lead to an international accepted annexation of Gaza. 4 decades of bloodshed have proven - There was no military solution. Now go and ask the West-bank Palis who they will follow; - Fatah, locked up in it's appointed enclaves or Hamas who have torn down the prison walls and created a whole new reality on the ground, while Israel sticks its head in the sand and pretends nothing has changed.

Good solutions !!!

In a third stage, the government should allow Palestinians to carry out suicide bombs in Israel.

Yariv, you are supremely arrogant. What evidence do you have that the policies you propose will be any more successful? That's right: none whatsoever, or presumably, you would've presented it in your worthless article.

But then you don't seem at all concerned with the security of Israel, only with the comfort of terrorists. Just what we expect from your morally bankrupt organization.

i would like to point out that it is not so much a failure in the concept of suffocation on the part of the israeli government, as it is the failure on the part of the egyptian government to work with the israelis--was it not hosni mubarak himself who told the palestinians, "come on in and take what you want?" i would venture to say, mr. oppenheimer, that you have a vendetta against the government, and everything that it ever attempts, short of giving every inch of the land to the palestinians.

why is your only solution "land for peace," when that has proven to fail so spectacularly? do you indeed want "peace now?" i ask you to step out of the public scene for a while, rethink your priorities, and come back when you care more about the safety and security of your own countrymen than that of your mortal enemies.

Oppenheimer, can you spell F-L-A_V_I_U_S J_O_S_E_P_H_U_S ? The thing is: when America seemed to protect Israel with Patriots, they didn´t work. Israel had to develop the Arrow. Even David Ben Gurion and Golda Meir said not to give up Jerusalem and Golan. In 1977/78, Yitshak Rabin said we would break their bones (refering to the palestinians). So, before you open the gate to our enemies with you remote control from Tibet, maybe think a little bit. By the way, the first peace agreement was signed by Menachem Begin, which you consider right-wing. Whatever.

This guy should register as a lobbyist for Hamas.Seriously, the mistake was in pulling out of Gaza and expecting a peaceful border.
Same thing will happen if you give Judea and Samaria to the Arabs.The Arabs are PERMANENT enemies of ours.

Excellent!

Let the Egyptians take care of Gaza - let Gaza become a province of Egypt. The Gazans share culture, language, religion and family with Egypt.

Gazans are more Egyptian than anything else... including 'Palistinian.' Let Egypt feed, heat, water, clothe, and employ the people from the Gaza strip as it should have been doing for the last thirty years.

Israel will not HAVE TO supply food, electricity, jobs, and fuel to the people who want to kill them any longer.

A permanent break between Hamas and Fatah means that there will be no need to supply a link between the two territories. An "independent" Hamasastan is attackable by international laws. Removing Gaza from Israel is removing a noose.
Also Gaza can set a precedent on how we will deal with Judah and Samria. That of course can only occur if we manage to elect a good prime minister. Which we know has never ever happened.
My solution, now that Giuliani is not busy in the US, let's elect him prime minister of Israel and let him clean up these thugs like he did in the bronx and harlem!

Let me understand, did he say "open all the crossings for Gazans to work in Israel"? Is that mean armed militants dismantled and no longer fire rockets inside Israel? And Hamas Government recognizes the existence of the Jewish State within its secure borders? When did they revise the Hamas charter? Openheimer, either the media is lying or you think most Israelis are deaf and blind.