Don't forget Islamic Jihad

In the fighting simmering between Fatah and Hamas, don't forget that other major faction of the peaceful Palestinian Arab people - Islamic Jihad, that "other" group that is responsible for a large percentage of terror attacks and that is the current "bad cop" in a situation where the Hamas terrorists can't figure out how to present itself to the West and Fatah pretends to be moderate.

A glance at recent Islamic Jihad statements shows that:

• They say that the best way to Palestinian Arab unity is to shoot more rockets into Israel
• They slammed Hamas for even implying that a temporary state in the post-1967 borders is acceptable, saying that no Palestinian Arab state is possible unless Israel is utterly destroyed
• Another article on their website utterly rejecting any deviation from the 1964 Fatah charter that calls for the destruction of Israel
• An article supporting the Tehran Holocaust "conference" as a decent, scientific inquiry

In other words, even if the rapidly fading sanctions against the Hamas government would force Hamas to pretend to recognize Israel, there is still a sizable force that can and will torpedo any movement towards co-existence, no matter how temporary.

Fatah and Hamas are fighting over the leadership of their thoroughly screwed people. No one can imagine a scenario where they would fight Islamic Jihad over their terrorist attacks - the "heroism" of shooting rockets and sending suicide bombers is something that is fundamentally agreed upon by all Palestinian Arab factions.

(It is notable that a Nazareth-based British "journalist," Jonathan Cook, who writes not only for the usual assortment of ultra-left rags like Counterpunch but also for the Guardian, just wrote an article praising Hamas for not agreeing to recognize Israel. He is trying mightily to make Islamic Jihad's goals acceptable for the mainstream.)

Even the most liberal wishful-thinker, who pretends that a Hamas in power will become peaceful, who pretends that new Palestinian Arab elections will bring a responsible government, who pretends that Oslo and the Roadmap are still alive and are bases for peace - even that person needs to come up with a creative way to wish Islamic Jihad away.

And so far, no one has.