The Bush administration is going to lift its sanctions against the Palestinians in the West Bank. To do so of course requires little on their part, since Mahmoud Abbas has reformed his cabinet in a way that excludes Hamas. The background to this action is of course the fact that Hamas has largely taken over Gaza.
But this is a smart move and I suggest they "wine and dine" the West Bank. I have a number of thoughts here.
1. The West Bank is already a very peculiar piece of land. Its boundaries are very fluid in the sense that Israeli settlements have incurred all over the place into it. It is geographically isolated from the other half of the Palestinian "territory" in Gaza, if we can call it that since the Palestinians don't really have a state to speak of at present. Israel has dominating power over this fluid piece of land and can enter it at will without serious fear of loss of life (Gaza is much different).
2. The unification of Gaza and the West Bank has always been a brain teaser to me. There's no way Israel will give up or lose the land between the two. It is just plain dumb for the many who continue to think that Israel will somehow cease to be a state. The region will be completely uninhabitable before that happens.
I have generally seen two main solutions: 1) two Palestinian states and 2) making the West Bank Palestinians citizens of Israel, just like the Palestinian city of Nazareth is. I don't see the second one happening, so this seems as good a time as any to work toward the first.
3. They say there are three main elements in the creation of most suicide bombers (there are the ideologues, but they are the exception): 1) poverty, 2) anger, and 3) no hope of any change (I hope I'm remembering the second correctly, oh feeble mind of mine). What this means is that the general tactic that Israel and the Bush administration have tended to use actually generates more terrorism than it stamps out.
We would be stupid to pass up on any legitimate opportunity and reason to "wine and dine" these sorts of places. The desperate blow themselves up. Every ounce of hope we can give is in our own (and Israel's) best interest.
Abbas could be a friend to the West. It's land locked country, but with Israel and Jordan as friends, it could make a real go of it as a prosperous nation, even while Gaza self-destructs at the hands of Hamas.
4. For Christians out there, we should remember that, at least at the turn of the millennium, there were far more Palestinian Christians than Israeli ones. In fact, I've heard it is illegal to try to convert someone to Christianity in Israel and that 85% of Israelis aren't even practicing Jews, let alone Christians.
Instead of American fundamentalists blindly funneling their money to non-Christians, even anti-Christians in Israel, they should have been supporting the Christians of the region, both Israeli and Palestinian. How many of these clever Americans know that there is a Palestinian Baptist Bible College in Bethlehem?
Our blind support of the Israelis has likely hurt Christianity in the region! So many American fundamentalists ignorantly think Israeli=Christian while Palestinian=Muslim. Quite the contrary. The Israelis are not yet the people of promise in Romans 11--"All Israel will be saved." Hasn't happened yet!
When I was in Israel at the wailing wall, orthodox Jews could spot a Christian tourist a mile away and came a runnin' looking for donations to the cause. I didn't give anything of course, but I can see them raising tons of money off of all the fat, camera laden American dullards. Then they joke with their friends that evening about all the stupid Christians who give them money.
And yet many Palestinians have historically been Christian. They are the ones who live in Nazareth and Bethlehem. The Israelis do not worship in these churches. If anyone does other than the tourists, it would be the Palestinians.
I consider myself a friend of Israel. But I think it is in our best interest to be just as good friends with Abbas as well. And as far as God is concerned, He does not show favoritism. He is the God of the Jew and the Greek. The circumcision of those Jews who do not believe is as uncircumcision, and the uncircumcision of those Palestinians who do believe is as circumcision.
