The Old Times Were Better

 
The BBC has a report on Gaza that is largely their usual chorus of the “poor Palestinians” mantra, while downplaying the lawlessness:

	All this has to be kept in context. Much of the upheaval has been confined to the south, and to the town of Rafah in particular - and much of the turmoil has about it an element of show.
	There have been few casualties, and very little serious, sustained violence. Protesting gunmen who occupy government buildings often leave as soon as they have made their point.
	[...]
	The chaos has its roots in many problems.
	This society has been radicalised and traumatised by its confrontation with the Israelis, who occupied Gaza decades ago and only evacuated their settlers and troops last summer. Thousands of Palestinians have been killed, injured or lost their homes during years of violence.

And that’s not all. Since Israel pulled out, who can they fight with now?

	There are numerous armed factions that used to channel their violent energies into attacks on the Israelis - but they now have little on which to focus.
	In this broken, crowded, poverty-stricken place there is an intense struggle for resources that can lead to lawlessness. A number of the kidnappings have been carried out by militia groups demanding jobs in the formal security agencies.

And it’s the Palestinian Authority’s fault, of course, for not being able to keep the levee intact. Just how many fingers can they put in a dam so full of holes that it looks like Swiss cheese? The clans and militia groups often team up opportunistically to fight the police and then the latter back off. People ask for jobs at gunpoint. That doesn't bode well for employer morale. The truth is, most jobs are those within the government, which is riven by factions and paranoia.

Thank you, Arafat. What a legacy you have bestowed on these people. Being an Egyptian, they were never "yours" anyway, were they? More like your golden goose, the ones the world's useful idiots paid you to take care of.

But as anarchy descends, someone is finally willing to speak up and call it correctly (and the BBC, after paragraphs of excuses, is willing to give him voice):

	But there is now a growing appreciation of the depth of the malaise in Palestinian society.
	Hafiz Barghouti, the editor of the newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeed, has written: "It appears we are neither prepared to change, nor admit that we have failed in running our own affairs. Everyone is busy calculating how to make the biggest possible gains at the homeland's expense.
	"While most Palestinians find it easy to blame the occupation for all our ills, it is a fact that the occupation was not as bad as the lawlessness and corruption that we are now facing."

So the Palestinians are learning the hard way that getting what you pray for can be more than you ever wanted or were prepared to pay for. In the Old West, it was “shoot first and ask questions later.” In Palestine, they’ve eliminated the second clause.

All they know how to do is detonate.