Eric Umansky

The Real Meaning of Those Burning Synagogues

I expresed disgust with their torching a few days ago. Turns out Israel had been planning to destroy the synagogues before withdrawing because it expected exactly this type of thing to happen. But some either cynical or narrow-minded rabbis convinced the government to hold off. That's too bad.

Meanwhile, whatever the moral  issues around the torching, it's also emblematic of a more concrete issue: lawlessness in Gaza. The strip is effectively a failed state, where the Palestinian Authority has little authority and is  essentially second fiddle to Hamas.

Consider the case not just of the synagogues, which the PA promised to protect, but the greenhouses which were slated to be an economic backbone to the strip:

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip — Palestinians looted dozens of greenhouses Tuesday, walking off with irrigation hoses, water pumps, and plastic sheeting in a blow to fledgling efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip.

American Jewish donors had bought more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers in Gaza for $14 million last month and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority. Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who brokered the deal, put up $500,000 of his own cash.

Palestinian police stood by helplessly Tuesday as looters carted off materials from greenhouses in several settlements. Commanders complained that they did not have enough manpower to protect the prized assets.

In some instances, there was no security. In others, police even joined the looters, witnesses said.

The issue is how the Palestinian government can turn into a legitimate force,  in all senses of the word.  So far as I know, the U.S.'s contribution to that effort has consisted mainly of the CIA training Palestinian security forces, an effort that has  historically been,  ehem,  something of a mixed bag.

Burning Image

I've long believed that the West Bank and Gaza are Palestinian land and that  Israel should effectively pull back to the 1967 borders. (Back in my ponytail days, I  spent a few days in Israeli jail  after protesting in support of that.) But this is disgusting:

KISSUFIM CROSSING, Gaza Strip,  Sept. 12 - Palestinians moved into the former settlement of Neve Dakalim today after Israel ended its 38-year presence in the Gaza Strip, setting fire to the main synagogue and ripping out aluminum window frames and metal ceiling fixtures.

Rule of Law in Gaza

It doesn't look too good. Here's a little vignette the NYT's James Bennet offers at the end of his piece:

The Palestinian Authority says that roughly 5 percent of the settlement land will revert to the original Palestinian owners. The rest, it says, was originally state land and will be put to a variety of purposes, including housing, industry and farming. Many Palestinians have expressed concern that a few powerful men or companies will benefit unfairly....

On Monday morning, in what seemed a signal to reassure Palestinians about how it will approach the settlements, the Palestinian Authority demolished some structures illegally built on public land north of Gaza City. A yellow bulldozer and workers destroyed a cabana and pool belonging to one senior member of the Palestinian security services and a villa belonging to another.

"This house is built on public land," said Tawfik Abu Khousa, an Interior Ministry spokesman. "It's not the right of any individual to take it."

Muhammad Afana, the brother of the owner of the villa, Khader Afana, said, "It's government land, but we bought it from someone, and we did the deal through a lawyer." He said his brother expected compensation.

A man from a nearby house was asked what his neighbors had been like. "They were criminals," he said angrily. "They were a gang." Another man began shouting at him, then ran to summon members of the security services standing by the destroyed cabana.

With semiautomatic rifles and three-foot batons slung over their shoulders, several security officers approached the man from the nearby house. With shouts, one of them struck him against the head with an open hand, then pointed his semiautomatic rifle at him and cocked it. The officer then drew his baton, raised it above his head and began beating the man, as another officer used his own baton to beat onlookers.

The man eventually escaped into his house.

Things don't seem much different from when I wrote about increasing lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza two years ago.  The Atlantic also has a piece detailing how Arafat "destroyed Palestine." I get the feeling it's a bit overwrought--but still useful, even eye-opening.