7-6-2014 Why isn’t the West Bank rioting, too? - Larry Derfner +972

http://972mag.com/why-isnt-the-west-bank-rioting-too/93056/


And why doesn't anyone in Israel seem to notice this? Answer: for the same reason that the Palestinian riots started in the first place.

With Palestinians protesting violently in East Jerusalem and the Israeli north, and with Palestinians in Gaza, or some of them anyway, firing rockets into Israel's south, who are the only Palestinians in this land who are not raising hell these days?

The Palestinians of the West Bank... Even in the last few days, following the discovery of Mohammed Abu Khdeir's burnt body, when Palestinian violence has spread through East Jerusalem and Israel's "Arab Triangle," when we're on the verge of war with Gaza again, there's little news from the West Bank….

 

We didn't notice then, like we don't notice the relative quiet in the West Bank today. And it's because we didn't notice what Abbas was doing for us – not because he loves us, but because his interests coincided with ours – that we pissed away the best chance we ever had or ever will have to make peace with the Palestinians. Not only didn't we make peace, but the Israeli government and public grew steadily more contemptuous of the Palestinians, beginning with Abbas. And it's because we're so contemptuous of the Palestinians that we're incapable of acknowledging that they're doing anything good, that they're helping us instead of hurting us, that we should appreciate what they're doing instead of trashing them. And, in turn, it's because of that callous indifference of ours, years and years of it while we enjoyed "a reality of quiet borders, a quiet West Bank and astonishing stability," that we're seeing the Palestinians finally erupt.

Except in the West Bank, where Abbas' men are still holding the fort, still protecting us. We'll notice them when they're gone, not before.

 

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

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