June 19, 2007 - My apologies for the extended hiatus since my last entry. I have recently returned from Israel and jet-lag isn't exactly a writer's best friend. In walking the present-day streets of Jerusalem, one is hardly able to discern that just over the Judean Hills to the South, on the coastal sand dunes of the Gaza Strip, the essence of pure evil has manifested itself in the form of an isolated, radical Islamist state. Generally speaking, a visitor in Israel needs only to look at the faces of its everyday citizens in order to accurately discern the levels of safety and stability in the Holy Land. Quite literally, if they look worried, so should you. Surprisingly, Israelis--or at least the ones I've encountered--have remained quite calm and collected despite Israel bearing witness to full-blown, Arab civil war within her borders. Israel has been here before. However, let us in no way be unclear: all hell has broken loose in the Gaza Strip, and the "flood waters" of chaos and anarchy have spilled over into the territories. Such is the case when the essence of pure evil is disengaged, allowed to multiply in numbers, and left to its own devices.
The manifestation of pure evil in the form of radical Islam in Gaza was left unchecked when Ariel Sharon ordered the complete, Israeli evacuation of the Gaza Strip in August of 2005. Ever-willing to play the role of "control freak" in all things concerning Arab-Israeli relations, the foreign policy of the United States--specifically, the Bush administration's "vision" of a "two-state solution", ultimately cornered Sharon, applied the "chokehold" of international pressure on Israel to concede more land for nothing but death in return, and coerced the Jewish state into taking yet another step toward demographic suicide. Nearly five years ago to the day, President Bush, in an address outlining his "vision" for a new Middle East, stated, "I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders". Well documented, in the days leading up to the Gaza evacuation, was the Bush administration's staunch opposition to Israel's further expansion of settlements in Judea and Samaria. Of no secret are several meetings between Bush and Sharon in which Bush advised the Israeli Prime Minister not to expand settlements in Judea and Samaria, while praising him for his "courage" in dismantling and evacuating all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip. Such "courage" gave birth to democratic elections in Gaza in January of 2006 through which Hamas--a lawless band of Islamic, terrorist, Iranian-backed thugs sworn to Israel's destruction--emerged the more popular. While indescriminately capping off AK-47 rounds into the skies over southern Israel, the Arabs of Gaza rejoiced in the streets--certain the "new sheriff in town" would bring with them the economic and social reform they promised. They brought only death and destruction.
Although there were those people, like Bibi Netanyahu, who accurately predicted beforehand the catastrophic consequences of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, hindsight can now reveal a brutal reality, as evidenced by the current state of affairs in Gaza: President Bush, your "vision for a new Middle East"--a title to which you lay claim, just like the countless number of innocent people caught in its wake, is dead. Read this article in its entirety: Gaza Civil War
