Omar al-Qawsmi and Jawaher Abu Rahmah are this week's unfortunate symbols of Israeli stupidity and short-sightedness. And not just those two brutal killings, but all of the actions that we see that defy logic, the law and morality that Israel undertakes, like forcing Palestinians to demolish their own homes, killing Palestinians that drink soda at checkpoints, imprisoning non-violent activists, depriving children of medical care, raiding universities and imprisoning children. It amounts to a systematic attempt at ethnic cleansing. They hope that the Palestinians will get fed up and leave but they haven't figured out that the Palestinians aren't going anywhere because they have nowhere else to go. They also fail to grasp that their actions make it possible that the demise of Israel might occur during my lifetime because they can't seem to look past a day or two into their futures.
Also, I wasn't surprised that Isabel Kershner of the NYT failed to question the morality or legality of breaking down a door and shooting a man to death as he lay on bed next to his wife because he is a suspected Hamas member. Maybe she doesn't know that extra-judicial assassinations are illegal or maybe she doesn't care because the victim was just a Palestinian.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/some-thoughts-on-omar-jawaher-and-isabel.htmlMondoweiss is a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective and is a project of The Nation Institute.