Commentary by Yossi Sarid, Israel's opposition leader, in today’s Yediot Aharonot, is a real gem.
Allow me to translate some of it (well, most of it actually):

“…The situation in the territories is very bad, and it’s getting worse every day. It’s one big pressure cooker, the pressure is increasing, and everyone knows that the cooker will explode – and soon. For how long can curfews, encirclements and closures be imposed on hundreds of thousands of people before they uprise? For how long will people wake up in the morning to another day of unemployment, children at home, no school and no bread either? What have they got to lose, with the cries for help of the sick and the hungry deafening them? Whoever decides to break the hunger – will break with all on the way to food. The pressure cooker will soon explode – and, as usual, the explosion won’t differentiate between Arabs and Jews.

[…] It’s definitely legitimate to fight the terrorism against us. It’s not legitimate to use the weapon of starvation against a whole civilian population. This weapon is wrong in any case, and those who make use of it – Sharon, Fouad (Ben Eliezer), Peres, Efi Eitam and also their partner Bush – is in danger of committing a war crime.

What’s coming is quite clear: In a few days time the situation will be unbearable and the Palestinians will violate the curfew orders. The pain, the suffering, the hardship and the degradation will blind the eyes. They won’t see tanks. They won’t see soldiers. They won’t hear the megaphones. They will just march en masse. Even though it’s no surprise, we’ll all be surprised…

[…] At the moment of uprising, the soldiers and their commanders will have no choice and they will shoot at the enraged crowd. There will be tens of victims. There will be a public uproar, how could this happen? The International community will be agitated and will condemn and demand it’s right to send a commission of inquiry. The government will have no choice but to set up it’s own commission of inquiry. The ensuing situation will force Israel to immediately retreat from all Palestinian population centers. It’s happened before: Operation “Grapes of Wrath” in Lebanon ended with the tragedy of Kafar Kana, and operation “Defensive Shield” ended prematurely with the Jenin tragedy. This will be the end of “Determined Path”, as well…”

Yossi, Yossi, Yossi! We’ve heard all this before. This is exactly what you guys were saying before the current “Intifada” war commenced in September 2000 – It’s too much pressure, they’re suffering too much, the closures and the checkpoints are too cruel, it’s going to explode. (Hey, maybe it’s a reprint of an old article?)

I’m not saying that the situation was not extremely unpleasant for Palestinians in those days, but there was a process going on. There were serious discussions between the Palestinians and us. We thought peace was going to break out any minute. There was hope for the suffering Palestinian masses. That’s why we were surprised. You were right then. It did explode. But were you being prophetic when you warned us, or were you being exploited?

With hindsight, now that it is pretty certain that the so-called “Intifada II” was not a spontaneous street level uprising, it seems to me that you and your friends were unknowingly, naively, being used as mouthpieces for Palestinians master-manipulators (at least one of them bearing a startling resemblance to a certain, rather annoying, but comical character in popular English children’s classical literature - see my posting from yesterday). I’m risking being overly conspiracy-minded here, but it could be that they were purposefully feeding Israeli left-wingers and foreign do-gooders and journalists with this pressure cooker stuff, so that when they began the war against us, it would seem like a popular outburst, and not a planned, orchestrated and particularly brilliant offensive (at least propaganda-wise), which is what it was, in fact. (Anger on the Palestinian streets in those days, was largely aimed at Arafat and the fat cats of the PA).

So what have they been feeding you this time, Yossi? And what’s behind it? Pro-Palestinians have been talking about a million unarmed civilians marching on Jerusalem for months now. This isn’t new. And it hasn’t happened yet.

Is this wishful thinking, Yossi – a complete change in Palestinian tactics to suit your outlook on life? The Palestinians would suddenly all understand the concept of non-violent resistance that you and your pals have been trying to teach them for years now. The problem: Given their cultural background, a large percentage of Palestinians find it difficult to grasp the power of non-violent resistance (as do many Israelis, given their experience of just sixty years ago in Europe).

If you’re not talking about a non-violent march, but about an angry (violent?) hunger demonstration, not unlike those we’ve been seeing recently in Gaza (aimed at the PA, not Israel, or haven’t you noticed?), I think you’re underestimating the ordinary Palestinian’s common sense. Contrary to what Arafat tells us, most Palestinians don’t really want to die. There aren’t really a million Shahids, and most Palestinians would rather hide it out and not face the bullets, whatever they say.

But what if Arafat, has plans, plans to keep him in power, Arafat-survival plans, manipulative plans? Why not use his little Israeli and foreign helpers to prepare the already sympathetic World opinion? It worked so beautifully last time. All he needs is a massacre, one little massacre. Is that too much to ask?

If I had read your commentary without knowing it was written by an Israeli, I have no doubt I would have thought it was written by the other side. What side are you on, Yossi? By the way, what do you mean, exactly, by “the Jenin tragedy”? It is universally accepted that there was no massacre in Jenin. Apparently, our Yossi thinks differently.

All this is not to say that the Palestinian people’s suffering is not real, that it is just propaganda. Their suffering is very real, and I’m truly sorry for them. I feel for Palestinian mothers who can’t get their sick kids to hospitals when they’re having an asthma attack, or worse. I’m deeply saddened that cancer patients may not be able to get to their chemotherapy or radiotherapy sessions. And I know it’s not only people in life-threatening situations that are suffering. I think their situation is horrendous. But I think it’s even more horrendous that many ordinary Israelis seem to care about the Palestinian people’s suffering more than the Palestinian leaders do.

I suggest these so-called leaders share their purloined millions with their people. And then they should think of stopping the violence (the real reason for the Palestinians’ suffering), before they send their Israeli spokesmen, like Yossi Sarid, to soften us up.

Given the impressive failure of the ideas of the Israeli left, I would expect people like Yossi Sarid, always so critical of Israel, to publicly suggest these novel ideas to their corrupt little friends from the Palestinian leadership, before telling us what we’re doing wrong.