George,

I have been searching for the proximate cause for the most recent flare up in the conflict between Israel and its neighbors. I believe it stems from the failure of Israel (and the U.S.) to honor a fundamental principle of democracy -- the right of people to elect leaders of their choosing. When a majority of Palestinians chose Hamas to run their government, they were subjected to collective punishment. They were placed under virtual siege. All funds were cut off and international banks would not transfer money donated from countries friendly to the Palestinians. Food became very scarce. Many Palestinians were cut off from their jobs -- the borders with Israel were closed.

The excuse was that Hamas was a terrorist organization and that it did not recognize Israel's right to exist. Clearly, Israel did not recognize Hamas' right to exist and took actions to destroy it. Most recently, Israel has captured Hamas government officials and bombed the offices of Hamas leaders. Thus, you can be denied the right to exist if you think Israel does not have the right to exist. It matters not that you are the legitimately elected government.

In the late 1970's, Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin believed that there was no such thing as a Palestinian, that there was no Palestinian nation, and he was adamantly against two states coexisting in the space of the former mandate of Palestine. Nonetheless, Jimmy Carter invited him to Camp David. Despite Begin's beliefs regarding Palestinians, he agreed at Camp David to allow the autonomous territories of Gaza and the West Bank to be established. A major step toward peace in the Middle East came about because these leaders were willing to discuss, not denigrate.

President Bush does not believe in negotiating with anyone he considers "evil". He will not negotiate directly with North Korea, Iran, Syria and certainly not Hamas or Hezbolla. We all know that the only alternative to negotiated settlement is conflict -- most often, violent conflict. Had Bush been President during the Bosnian conflict, that conflict would probably still be going on. The Serbs were about as "evil" as you can get with their rape camps and massacres of captured Bosnians. Yet we dealt with them in order to bring peace to Bosnia (the Dayton Accords). In any violent conflict, leaders of both sides have "blood on their hands". If a war is to end, all leaders must be invited to the bargaining table, no matter what they have done during a war.

Back to the situation in the Palestinian territories just prior to the Hezbolla intervention. Not only were the Palestinians under siege for their "mistake" in voting for Hamas, but they were operating under a legal system which denied the principle that suspects are "innocent until proven guilty". Thousands of Palestinian men, women and children had been captured and were being held indefinitely in Israel prisons.

Even though Israel had removed Jewish settlements from Gaza and withdrawn troops from that territory, Palestinians were still living under oppressive conditions in a fenced off community.

Despite the fact the Palestinians do not have the right to self defense, a few militants decided to fight back. They began firing rockets and conducted a daring raid on an Israeli military post, killing two soldiers and capturing a third. The Israeli's would have nothing to do with a prisoner exchange and instead began to collectively punish the entire civilian population. Electricity was cut off by bombing Gaza's only power station and civilians were bombed if they were unfortunate enough to live in areas were rockets were coming from.

Soon after this, Hezbolla made an incursion over the northern border of Israel, killing several Israeli soldiers and taking two prisoners. The Israeli response was massive, starting with the bombing of the Beirut airport and other Lebanese infrastructure. In response, Hezbolla began to fire missiles at northern Israeli cities. You know the rest of the story.

Hezbolla's incursion into Israel was directly related to the situation in Gaza. The leader of Hezbolla, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said at the time that "The capture of the two soldiers could provide a solution to the Gaza crisis." He said that the operation had been planned for months though "the timing, no doubt, provides support for our brothers in Palestine."

George Bush is right when he says repeatedly that the people of the world crave freedom and democracy. But apparently this does not apply to Palestinians. When other Arabs (in southern Lebanon) cannot stand by and let their brethren be oppressed, we wonder why.

David RePass (electronic mail, July 31, 2006)