HAMAS AND FATAH - TWO PEAS IN A POD

In yesterday's blog, "Allegiance to the United States," I wrote that "We are constantly subjected to the false but politically correct assertion that Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction of the Palestinian Authority are 'moderates'..........." In today's TownHall.com, Caroline B. Glick's column, "Ignoring Failure in Gaza," reveals that I was not blowing smoke. Here are some excerpts from Glick's column:

"It should be pointed out that Hamas's victory (in Gaza) over Fatah was not a victory of extremists over moderates in any real sense of the terms. Both Hamas and Fatah share the aim of destroying Israel. This was made clear most recently in the lead-up to the Annapolis conference last November. As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the coming of peace, Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas refused to recognize Israel's right to exist.

Moreover, there is little to distinguish between the groups' embrace of terrorism as a means of achieving their aim of destroying Israel. Fatah forces have carried out more attacks against Israel than Hamas has.

Hamas's refusal to even pretend that it is willing to live at peace with Israel is what distinguishes it from Fatah. And the Palestinians' embrace of Hamas after Israel withdrew from Gaza demonstrated that the withdrawal increased the popularity of the prospect of continuous war against Israel among the Palestinians."

Glick maintains that when Fatah, as opposed to Hamas, says it is willing to live in peace with Israel, it is just paying "lip service" to the international community. According to Glick, what really sets Hamas apart from Fatah is that, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas is financed and armed exclusively by Iran, while Fatah is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, with some additional financing by the U.S. and European countries.

One of Israel's problems in dealing with the Palestinians is that its society is deeply divided. The Peace Now movement, Israel's far-left peacenicks, is willing to compromise the nations security if that's what it takes to disengage the Jewish state from its sworn enemies. Glick points out that Israel's "elite" hate the settlers. There is the deep divide between the religious and secular Israelis. The religious Israelis and the settlers, most of whom are religious, take the most hardline approach against the Palestinians while the elites seem eager to accept the illision that Abbas and Fatah are moderates.

Then there is also the political divide. Kadima and the Labor Party represent the left-wing while Likud is the right-wing party. None of those parties can win a majority in the Kneset (Israel's parliament) in order to form a government without the alliance of some of the splinter parties that represent the religious Jews, the settlers, the Russian immigrants, the communists and other special interest groups.

Hamas and Fatah are like two peas in a pod. Kadima and Labor are willing to accept the illusion of Abbas and Fatah as moderates while Likud is under no such illusion and sees them for what they really are - radicals in sheep's clothing bent on destroying the State of Israel.