Take Out Henry

Henry Siegman, a favorite target of mine, director of the U.S./Middle East Project and a a research professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, has another silly and irrational op-ed published:-

Bring in Hamas

It is illogical, unfactual and even conspiratorial.

Illogical:-

Saudi Arabia took the lead in fashioning the Mecca agreement on Feb. 8, 2007 that joined Fatah and Hamas in a Palestinian unity government. Although Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and other Arab countries are themselves threatened by internal Islamic movements, they nevertheless advocated such a unity government because that would make it possible for the unity government to recognize Israel and to negotiate an agreement without Hamas making an ideological transformation of which it is not yet capable...Hamas also committed itself to submit the agreement to a popular referendum and to abide by its outcome.

Instead of embracing this creative approach - one that would also serve to encourage the moderates within Hamas - both Israel and the United States rejected the unity government. They insisted on Hamas's ideological capitulation - and, should it refuse to do so, on its violent removal by Abbas's security forces, which were being armed, financed and trained by the United States for this purpose.

Unfactual:

Abbas knows that Hamas has consistently rejected Al Qaeda's efforts to exploit the Palestinian tragedy to advance a Wahabi jihadism...

...It's time to take advantage of Hamas's offer of a mutual cease fire that would not only end the killing in Gaza and the West Bank and the rocket fire on Sderot and Ashkelon, but also prevent a potentially calamitous escalation threatened by Barak.

...To be sure, Olmert and Barak will rail against such a course, but a majority of Israel's public favors reaching out to Hamas.

But where is the conspiratorial, you ask?

I asked myself that question because in copying from the IHT web site, something disappeared.

See for yourselves. Here's the entire article in print:



And this bit was gone from the web site:



That VF article, you can find here. It claims:-

After failing to anticipate Hamas’s victory over Fatah in the 2006 Palestinian election, the White House cooked up yet another scandalously covert and self-defeating Middle East debacle: part Iran-contra, part Bay of Pigs. With confidential documents, corroborated by outraged former and current U.S. officials, David Rose reveals how President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National-Security Adviser Elliott Abrams backed an armed force under Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan, touching off a bloody civil war in Gaza and leaving Hamas stronger than ever.

Whether or not this fairly tale is true or not, I'm more interested in knowing why the IHT site dropped the reference.

And as for Henry, we need hinm out more than Hamas.