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Last update - 11:34 16/06/2008
When smart countries - like Israel - go dumb
By Bradley Burston
Tags: Hamas, Olmert, Burston

The dedicated observer of Israel may well wonder if this is a smart country which at times conceives and implements policies of particular stupidity, or if this is a dumb country which at times brings off acts of brilliance. Recent examples:

  • Seven Gazans, recipients of Fulbright grants for advanced study in the United States, are barred from leaving the Strip. An unnamed official has included them in the terms of the Israeli blockade on the Strip, meant to be a response to Hamas rule and daily rocket and mortar attacks.

    The case attracts immediate interest and condemnation worldwide, not least because Israel has pledged that the embargo will not apply to humanitarian cases.

    "I am against Hamas. Their acts and policies are wrong," one of the students, Abdulrahman Abdullah, declares openly.

    "Israel talks about a Palestinian state. But who will build that state if we can get no training?" he tells The New York Times. "If we are talking about peace and mutual understanding, it means investing in people who will later contribute to Palestinian society."

    The ban attracts the attention of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who voices surprise and disapproval. In a matter of days, with little fanfare and no explanation, an Israeli military spokesman announces that the Gazans will receive exit permits after individual security checks are complete.

    And, just to render the policy entirely opaque, between 600 and 1,000 other Gazans will remain stranded, keen to study in foreign institutions but unable to leave the Strip.

  • Israel's leaders threaten that they are on the verge of ordering a major ground offensive in Gaza. Then they threaten again. And again.

    A member of a southern kibbutz is killed while at work, the victim of a mortar barrage from neighboring Gaza, and the fourth Israeli to die in the shelling this year.

    "The military blow against Gaza is closer than ever," Defense Minister Ehud Barak says, touring the site hours after the shelling. Echoes Ehud Olmert, an offensive appears to be "very close."

  • Unnamed Israeli official tells reporters that Israel is furious with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, strongly implying that Israel's failure to hand over $75 million in tax revenues owed the PA was "punishment" for Fayyad's having appealed to the European Union against upgrading its relations with Israel.

    The tax revenues, which Israel collects on the PA's behalf, are a central pillar of the often shaky PA government, which Israel has nominally promised to support as a bulwark against the Fatah-led PA's rival Hamas.

    The tax funds pay the salaries of more than 165,000 government employees in the West Bank, and thus are a main means of support for a large percentage of Palestinian extended families.

    Fayyad had protested to the EU over continued settlement construction and West Bank IDF roadblocks, asking the European body and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to refrain from closer ties until "abides by international and human rights laws."

    What does Israel do next? Without explanation and without a great deal of logic, the Finance Ministry forks over most of the money a week late, keeping a bit to cover debts it says the PA owes Israel for utility bills.

    It is difficult not to discern a pattern here. Unable to decide between two mutually exclusive policies, Israel goes ahead and does both.

    In so doing, it maintains the delicate fraying-tightrope act which allows both Ehud Barak, who is not even a member of Knesset and whose own sad party has had quite enough of him, and Ehud Olmert, whose chances of re-election are about the same as his chances of becoming the next Pope, to stay in office.

    They will clearly sacrifice anything to this effort - peace prospects, Sderot and the western Negev, Gilad Shalit, the people of Gaza, the Israeli economy, what's left of their own integrity.

    It may well be their only hope.

    Too bad it robs us of what's left of ours.

    _______________

    Previous blogs:

    When smart countries - like Israel - go dumb
    The talkbacker as terrorist
    The Palestinians' time is running out.
    We owe the Palestinians a state
    60 years of Nakba, 60 years of nothing
    Our Defense Forces, our war crimes, our terrorism
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      1.   I usually disagree with Mr. Burston but he nailed it this time 20:05  |  Josh 10/06/08
      2.   to Josh #1 04:56  |  zeev 11/06/08
      3.   It ius kinda unfaire to say all israeli faults are errors of this 07:00  |  Kris Lazar 11/06/08
      4.   To Zeev #2 08:06  |  Josh 11/06/08
      5.   Let Egypt care for Gaza students 11:59  |  Rick & TC 11/06/08
      6.   to Josh #4 14:13  |  zeev 11/06/08
      7.   To Zeev - We don`t recall Jordan getting the West Bank 14:33  |  Rick & TC 11/06/08
      8.   to Rick & TC #7 15:08  |  zeev 11/06/08
      9.   To Zeev #6 16:09  |  Josh 11/06/08
      10.   This is not amatter of being dumb 17:34  |  Michael N 11/06/08
      11.   to Rick & TC #7 19:42  |  zeev 11/06/08
      12.   To Zeev #8 20:34  |  Josh 11/06/08
      13.   Most Israelis oppose new terror state in our heartland. 02:23  |  Chaim 12/06/08
      14.   well-put, Chaim 03:29  |  Israeli 12/06/08
      15.   to Josh #9 06:40  |  zeev 12/06/08
      16.   to Josh #12 - (1) 06:43  |  zeev 12/06/08
      17.   to Josh #12 - (2) 06:51  |  zeev 12/06/08
      18.   NO, ISRAEL DOESN`T GO DUMB 10:45  |  indrajaya 12/06/08
      19.   So what do you want to do, Chaim? # 13 10:47  |  Clickfool 12/06/08
      20.   Save Israel from itself. 10:53  |  Michael 12/06/08
      21.   How can a people be only "dumb" when it comes to politics...???? 11:02  |  Swiss (Dino) 12/06/08
      22.   I was hoping that Bradley would cite some examples of brilliance 11:04  |  Natallie Durson 12/06/08
      23.   To Zeev #15 11:20  |  Josh 12/06/08
      24.   To Durson #22 11:46  |  Jan Vlaming 12/06/08
      25.   To Zeev #15 (2) 11:52  |  Josh 12/06/08
      26.   To Zeev - Syria gives up land claims 12:19  |  Rick & TC 12/06/08
      27.   to Josh #23 12:43  |  zeev 12/06/08
      28.   Israel wants Palestinian suffering, underlying fact 12:44  |  mehmet 12/06/08
      29.   U know the joke - 2 Jews and 3 synagogues 12:58  |  just a jew 12/06/08
      30.   Does both? 13:08  |  Tenar 12/06/08
      31.   When smart reporters - like Burston - go dumb 13:30  |  As usual for Burston 12/06/08
      32.   The problem of Likud short range vision 13:35  |  Tosefta 12/06/08
      33.   Olmert & Livni are "Dumb and Dumber"- leftist defeatists 13:37  |  HENRY MANN 12/06/08
      34.   To Zeev #27 13:42  |  Josh 12/06/08
      35.   To Zeev #27 13:42  |  Josh 12/06/08
      36.   Mehmet- You are sadly mistaken 13:52  |  Elihu 12/06/08
      37.   Well said 14:00  |  Marilyn 12/06/08
      38.   Bradley Burston too knows how to play dumb (regarding Slowman) 14:19  |  Bursting Brad 12/06/08
      39.   Hey SWISS DINO, Turks 2 Suisse 1!!!! 14:49  |  FOX 12/06/08
      40.   DUMB AND DUMBER 15:57  |  B 12/06/08
      41.   #19 Clickfool. Israeli concessions don`t bring peace. 16:09  |  Chaim 12/06/08
      42.   #14 Israeli. Thank you. MOST of us want to live, apparently. 16:17  |  Chaim 12/06/08
      43.   Swiss on Faking Turks! 16:18  |  FOX 12/06/08
      44.   Turkey Wants Kurdish suffering, underlying fact #28 16:28  |  FOX 12/06/08
      45.   Turkey Lording over other peoples 16:33  |  FOX 12/06/08
      46.   write on B 16:36  |  Israeli 12/06/08
      47.   For Chaim, spinning for Israel # 41 17:16  |  Clickfool 12/06/08
      48.   # 39 FOX, good chance for me to bolster my reputation...... 17:29  |  Swiss (Dino) 12/06/08
      49.   Josh is in fantasy land. 17:32  |  Ibrahim 12/06/08
      50.   Swiss Dino...allow me to explain. 17:37  |  Ibrahim 12/06/08
      51.   bradley, you are more stupid today than normally 17:40  |  vladimir 12/06/08
      52.   To cousin Ibrahim 18:03  |  Josh 12/06/08
      53.   Josh, you will need to do better than that. 18:28  |  Ibrahim 12/06/08
      54.   Swiss Dino, your excitement makes me Yawn! 18:59  |  FOX 12/06/08
      55.   Israel - a country in decline 19:00  |  Nathaniel 12/06/08
      56.   Ibrahim, Lies, Fabrications & Humiliation #50 19:13  |  FOX 12/06/08
      57.   to zeev and josh 19:17  |  Said 12/06/08
      58.   Israel is not dumb, maybe the author? 19:26  |  Tali 12/06/08
      59.   Swiss Dino! Do not reserve that rite for Israelis plz! 19:42  |  Roxana from IRAN 12/06/08
      60.   FOX lives in a DARK BOX 19:43  |  Ibrahim 12/06/08
      61.   #21 Swiss(Dino): Answer: Over Exposure to Pal. Politics. No Joke. 19:53  |  JP 12/06/08
      62.   Nathaniel, Minneapolis is in decline 20:03  |  JP 12/06/08
      63.   In WW2, did Allies allow Germans with scholarships to study abroa 20:07  |  Burstonian Logic 12/06/08
      64.   # 23 Josh..After seeing Zeev here,I am Off! because. 20:14  |  KATHY 12/06/08
      65.   To Ibrahim #53 20:32  |  Josh 12/06/08
      66.   To Said #57 20:33  |  Josh 12/06/08
      67.   Michael N, thats not accurate either 20:36  |  Scharker Yid 12/06/08
      68.   To Kathy #64 20:39  |  Josh 12/06/08
      69.   Yes it is humiliation Ibrahim 20:39  |  FOX 12/06/08
      70.   #64 Josh An Addendum..re:Zeev 20:47  |  KATHY 12/06/08