The Star System

I hope this story is not true. I think it might be, though.

Ha’aretz is reporting that the Israeli high court has ordered the state to assist all injured Palestinians who are at the Erez Crossing. The Erez Crossing is the northern crossing from Gaza into Israel and it has been shut down completely since the Hamas coup against Fatah. On the Palestinian side there has been a complete breakdown of the guard and control system since most of their guards fled and then Palestinians came and looted the site. However, many people fled to the Crossing hoping to escape into Israel or to the West Bank. Although Israel had allowed some through, most have not been allowed to enter and apparently there are some 200 injured Palestinians hoping for assistance waiting there right now. The high court ruled that they must be assisted immediately.

This post is not about the ruling. This post is about this part of the story:

Roughly 190 Palestinians are currently camped out at Erez, requesting permission to pass through Israel to the West Bank. They are receiving food and water from Israel, which is being distributed by Palestinians who work for the Israel Defense Forces’ District Coordination Office (DCO).

Magen David Adom ambulances entered the Palestinian side of the Erez Border Crossing along the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in order to evacuate seven Palestinians who were wounded in Monday’s shooting attack at the crossing.

The wounded were brought to Israel following a security check, and taken to Assaf Harofeh and Ichilov hospitals. Most of them are listed as being lightly wounded.

Four other Palestinians were treated at the scene by MDA medics.

The Israel Defense Forces had initially prevented the ambulances from reaching the Palestinian side of the crossing, citing concerns that Palestinians would take advantage of the situation and try to infiltrate into Israel.

A DCO official at Erez said it appears that Hamas no longer represents a threat to the refugees, who have been camped out at the crossing since Saturday, adding that the refugees can return home.

According to the source, Hamas militants have entered the area of the crossing known as the “sleeve” on several occasions in recent days in order to search for Fatah members.

“At the checkpoints it set up, Hamas had laptop computers with the names of Fatah members marked with a star,” said the source. “A red star means a death sentence, a blue star means being shot in order to be left handicapped, and a black star means arrest.”

In other news, today Jimmy Carter was speaking at an Irish event for international human rights groups. He blamed Israel, the US and EU for their “criminal action” of not supporting the democratically elected terror group (he didn’t call them a terror group), Hamas. He claimed they won fair and square and therefore deserved to have a chance to enjoy the fruits of a parliamentary system. He also said that they deserve to rule because in contrast with Fatah, Hamas has “superior skills and discipline.”

Yup, I bet he didn’t know about their Star System when he spoke about their wonderful organizational skills which, according to him, reveal their ability to govern. Good ol’ Jimmy supportin’ democracy wherever he goes. I wonder whether he’s ever heard the expression, “One person, one vote, one time.” In the meantime, he’s encouraging the West to re-unite Fatah and Hamas and not to let them be divided. He should have spoken to the talented administrators he so admires in Hamas last week about that.

In other news, the US and Israel have forgotten that Fatah has launched more terror attacks against Israelis that aren’t rocket attacks, than Hamas and its subgroups put together. They have forgotten that Mahmoud Abbas never followed the Road Map’s requirements to control the Palestinian terror groups. They have forgotten that despite claims of moderation, it was Fatah that launched the Palestinian War of 2000 which has continued to this day. They have forgotten that their attempts to bolster Fatah with money, arms and training were useless in the face of the Iranian trained and Saudi backed Hamas. They have forgotten that Fatah is hated by the Palestinians on the street because they appear to skim a great deal of the money coming into Gaza and Judea and Samaria/West Bank. They have forgotten all of these things in their mad rush to support Fatah anew now that Gaza has fallen into Hamas hands.

Olmert is calling this “an opportunity.” It’s hard for me to see what he means. An opportunity to do what? Israel now knows that Fatah is too weak to control the West Bank over time. Israel also knows that it can’t withdraw the IDF lest we see a repeat of what has happened with Hizbullah in the North and what has happened with Hamas to the Southwest.

A mirror that has been shattered cannot be put back together.