Cathy Young of the Boston Globe addresses Russia using Beslan as an excuse to crack down harder on Chechnya, adding important points of comparison between the Chechen and Palestinian conflicts:
The Palestinians, like the Chechens, have specific demands for independent statehood. But even there, the differences far outweigh the similarities.
The Palestinian militants seek the destruction of Israel, not just a state of their own; not even the most extreme Chechen factions want Russia destroyed and all of its lands turned over to the Chechens. Israel, unlike Russia, was willing to negotiate with the Palestinian leadership and accede to virtually all of its demands for autonomy.
Finally, whatever human rights abuses Israel may have committed in the occupied territories pale in comparison to the Russian Army’s wholesale atrocities in Chechnya…
