LA Times columnist Max Boot points out that the Palestinian reaction to the Gaza pullout disproves the idea that settlements are the root cause of the Mideast conflict:
Now the Israeli decision to remove its settlers from the Gaza Strip and a small portion of the West Bank should provide a further test of the belief that Jewish settlements are the root cause of this conflict. If this were in fact the case, you would expect that a partial pullout would lead to at least a partial melting of Arab hostility toward the Jews. Maybe this will occur; and maybe the Gaza Strip will overnight become as peaceful as Switzerland.
The early signs are not good — literally. Gaza City is decked out with green Hamas banners proclaiming, “Resistance wins, so let’s go on.” The banners from the supposedly more restrained Palestinian Authority reveal the same mind-set: “Gaza today, the West Bank and Jerusalem tomorrow.” Far from being sated by Israeli concessions, the Palestinians are emboldened to demand more. Many will not be satisfied until — in the words of a 15-year-old would-be suicide bomber quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle — there are no more “Jews on this world.”
