纽约时报:以色列在加沙自作自受

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【原文标题】The Gaza Boomerang
【中文标题】以色列在加沙自作自受
【登载媒体】纽约时报
【来源地址】http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/0 ... of.html?ref=opinion
【编译】rlsrls08

Op-Ed Columnist
The Gaza Boomerang

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: January 7, 2009

At a time when Israel is bombing Gaza to try to smash Hamas, it’s worth remembering that Israel itself helped nurture Hamas.

When Hamas was founded in 1987, Israel was mostly concerned with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement and figured that a religious Palestinian organization would help undermine Fatah. Israel calculated that all those Muslim fundamentalists would spend their time praying in the mosques, so it cracked down on Fatah and allowed Hamas to rise as a counterforce.

What we’re seeing in the Middle East is the Boomerang Syndrome. Arab terrorism built support for right-wing Israeli politicians, who took harsh actions against Palestinians, who responded with more terrorism, and so on. Extremists on each side sustain the other, and the excessive Israeli ground assault in Gaza is likely to create more terrorists in the long run.

If this pattern continues, we may eventually see Hamas-style Palestinians facing off against hard-line Israelis, with each side making the others’ lives wretched — and political moderates in the Middle East politically eviscerated.

I visited Gaza last summer and found many Palestinians ambivalent in a way that Americans and Israelis often don’t appreciate. Many Gazans scorn Fatah as corrupt and incompetent, and they dislike Hamas’s overzealousness and repression. But when they are suffering and humiliated, they find it emotionally satisfying to see Hamas fighting back.

Granted, Israel was profoundly provoked in this case. Israel sought an extension of its cease-fire with Hamas, and Egypt offered to mediate one — but Hamas refused. When it is shelled by its neighbor, Israel has to do something.

But Israel’s right to do something doesn’t mean it has the right to do anything. Since the shelling from Gaza started in 2001, 20 Israeli civilians have been killed by rockets or mortars, according to a tabulation by Israeli human rights groups. That doesn’t justify an all-out ground invasion that has killed more than 660 people (it’s difficult to know how many are militants and how many are civilians).

So what could Israel have reasonably done? Bombing the tunnels through which Gazans smuggle weapons would have been a proportionate response, if Israel had stopped there, and the same is true of airstrikes on certain Hamas targets. An even better approach would have been to ease the siege in Gaza, perhaps creating an environment in which Hamas would have extended the cease-fire. It was certainly worth trying — and almost anything would be better than lashing out in a way that would create more boomerangs.

“This policy is not strengthening Israel,” notes Sari Bashi, the executive director of Gisha, an Israeli human rights group that works on Gaza issues. “The trauma that 1.5 million people have been undergoing in Gaza is going to have long-term effects for our ability to live together.

“My colleague in Gaza works for an Israeli organization. She’s learning Hebrew, and she’s just the kind of person we can build a future with. And her 6-year-old nephew, every time a bomb drops from the air, is at first scared and then says — hopefully — maybe the Qassam Brigades will now fire rockets at the Israelis.”

Israel’s strategy has been to make ordinary Palestinians suffer in hopes of creating ill will toward Hamas. That’s why, beginning in 2007, Israel cut back fuel shipments for Gaza utilities — and why today, in the aftermath of the bombings, 800,000 Gaza residents lack running water, Ms. Bashi said.

“The Israeli policy on Gaza has been marketed as a policy against Hamas, but in reality it’s a policy against a million-and-a-half people in Gaza,” she said.

We all know that the most plausible solution to the Middle East mess is a two-state solution along the lines that former President Bill Clinton has proposed. It’s difficult to tell how we get there from here, but a crucial step is to strengthen President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority.

Instead, initial reports are that the assault on Gaza is focusing Arab anger on Mr. Abbas and moderate neighbors like Jordan, undermining the peacemakers.

My courageous Times colleague in Gaza, Taghreed el-Khodary, quoted a 37-year-old father weeping over the corpse of his 11-year-old daughter: “From now on, I am Hamas. I choose resistance.”

Barack Obama has said relatively little about Gaza. At first, given the provocations by Hamas, that was understandable. But as the ground invasion costs more lives, he needs to join European leaders in calling for a new cease-fire on all sides — and after he assumes the presidency, he must provide real leadership that the world craves.

Aaron David Miller, a longtime Middle East peace negotiator for the United States, suggests in his excellent new book, “The Much Too Promised Land,” that presidents should offer Israel “love, but tough love.”

So, Mr. Obama, find your voice. Fall in tough love with Israel.

以色列在加沙自作自受

此时以色列正轰炸加沙，试图粉碎哈马斯，但别忘了，以色列自己也培育了哈马斯。

当哈马斯成立于1987年，以色列主要担心阿拉法特的法塔赫运动，以为一个巴勒斯坦宗教组织将有助于破坏法塔赫。以色列估计所有的穆斯林原教旨主义者全部时间都在清寺祈祷而已，所以以色列打击法塔赫，放任哈马斯成长作为反作用力。

我们现在在中东看到的是自作自受综合症。阿拉伯恐怖主义建立了对以色列右翼政客的支持，右翼政客采取了严厉的行动打击巴勒斯坦人，而巴勒斯坦人回以更多的恐怖主义，等等。一方的极端分子支撑了另一方，从长远来看，以色列在加沙过度的的地面攻击很可能会创造更多的恐怖分子。

如果这种模式继续下去，我们最终可能看到哈马斯风格的巴勒斯坦人对抗强硬路线的以色列人，每一方都使得对方生活悲惨，而中东的政治温和派销声匿迹 。

去年夏天我访问了加沙地带，发现许多巴勒斯坦人非常矛盾，而美国人和以色列人常常不理解这种矛盾。许多加沙人鄙视法塔赫的腐败无能，他们不喜欢哈马斯的过激和镇压。但是，当他们遭受痛苦和羞辱时，他们很高兴看到哈马斯反击。

当然，在这种情况下，以色列被深深地激怒了。以色列要求延长与哈马斯的停火协议，埃及愿意调解 -但哈马斯拒绝了。当以色列遭到哈马司炮轰，以色列必须做一些事情。

但是，以色列有权做"一些事情"并不意味着它有权利做"任何事情"。根据以色列人权团体的统计，自从2001年哈马斯开始炮轰以色列，一共有20位以色列平民被杀害。这并不能证明以色列全面地面入侵是正当的，以方的入侵造成了超过660名巴人死亡（现在还很难知道有多少是武装人员，有多少人是平民） 。

那以色列能合理地做些什么呢？轰炸加沙走私武器的隧道将是一个适度的反应，如果以色列能到此为止，空袭哈马斯的某些目标也没有错。一个更好的办法是减轻加沙地带的围困，也许创造一种可以使得哈马斯同意延长停火的环境。这当然值得试一试--不管怎样都比将产生更多坏结果的动武强。

“这并不能使以色列更强大。”GISHA执行主任Sari Bashi说。GISHA是一个着重加沙问题的以色列人权组织。 “加沙150万人一直以来承受的创伤将对共存的忍耐有长远的影响。"

“我的同事在加沙地带的以色列机构工作。她在学习希伯来语，她是那种能够与之创建未来的一个人。每次炸弹从空中掉下，她和6岁的侄子，一开始感到害怕，然后说-希望是-也许是哈马斯在向以色列发射火箭弹。 ”

以色列的战略已经使得普通巴勒斯坦人不再那么敌视哈马斯。这就是为什么，从2007年开始，以色列减少对加沙地带运送公共事业设备用的燃料，也就是为什么现在以色列空袭加沙之后，80万加沙居民缺乏自来水，Bashi女士说。

“以色列对加沙地带的政策对外宣称针对哈马斯，但实际上这是一个针对加沙150万居民的政策。 ”她说。

我们都知道，最合理的解决方法是两国并存，大致跟美国前总统克林顿提议的一样。很难说我们如何能达到该目标，但关键的一步是要加强阿巴斯总统和他的巴勒斯坦民族权力机构。

相反，初步报告表明，对加沙的攻击激起了阿拉伯人对阿巴斯先生和温和的邻国比如约旦的愤怒，破坏了和平。

正在加沙的，勇敢的纽约时报同事Taghreed el-Khodary 引述一名在11岁的女儿尸体边哭泣的37岁的父亲的话说： “从现在起，我是哈马斯。我选择反抗。”

奥巴马很少就加沙的形势发表看法。首先，鉴于哈马斯的挑衅，这是可以理解的。但是，随着地面入侵，更多的生命丧失，他需要跟欧洲领导人一起呼吁一个新的停火协议-在他上任后，他必须提供如世界渴望的，真正的领导才能。

亚伦大卫米勒长期任美国在中东地区的和平谈判人员，在他的新书“太乐土(The Much Too Promised Land)”上写道总统应给予以色列"“爱，但强硬的爱。 ”

因此，奥巴马先生，找到您的声音。给予以色列强硬的爱。