Smile As You Destroy Their Democracy

There list of hypocracies and deadly inconsistancies continues to grow between Israel and Palestine.
On this blog I’ve been very vocal at the distress I felt seeing the international community demand elections in Palestine, and then slapping them with financial and political penalties for party they elected.
As I’ve said so often: you (nations) may not like Hamas, but you can’t just refuse to acknowledge their legitimacy because you didn’t want them to win.

But thats old news. The hypocracies I’ve been watching tonight on this late night CNN that I sometimes turn on, are of a whole new dimension. Apparently, if CNN can manage to report something accurately, the Israeli Army has bombed the Palestinian Interior Ministry, offices of FATAH (the former governing party) and offices of Hamas (the recently elected party in power).
Putting aside, if at all possible, the hostile moves such as the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, on the part of some vaguely named Palestinian extremist group, what kind of statement does this look like from the Israeli government and the western powers that support it, financially and politically.
Will they really soon recognize a Palestinian state? If so, will they then proceed to bomb the government buildings whenever they deem it necessary? How is that respecting democracy and being committed to dialogue?
Of course there are radical elements on both sides that commit crimes. But it seems extra baffling to see that the most violent (with the most capacity for carrying out violent attacks) and the most radical of the groups involved is in fact the Israeli government’s own military!

And once again, before all this destruction, signs and statements that Hamas is changing and can be counted on to participate in dialogue.

All this darkness…. that’s it.. I’m hitching a ride to Paris for the weekend.