Two articles about the Middle East

It’s rare that, on the same day, two articles come out that neatly bookend a single subject.  Today, though, that happened, with the first article being a Mona Charen piece about Israel, which discusses its overall humanism (despite a few bad apples) and which points out the difference the wall has made in Israel.  As to that last, no one can doubt that the wall has stopped the cycle of violence everyone on the liberal side decried.  Without Palestinians intentionally blowing Israeli citizens into little pellet and nail ridden pieces, Israelis are not forced to go into the territories and mow down the houses that hid these same mad bombers.  Sounds good to me.

Having read that, check out this glowing San Francisco Chronicle review about a Palestinian activist who decries the wall as a totally unfair abomination, but who is nevertheless viewed by the Chron as an even handed, clear-eyed assessor of the Palestinian scene.  As to that last, it’s not because he recognizes that the Hamas people are cold-blooded killers bent on genocide, but because he, like everyone else who isn’t completely brain-dead, can tell that Hamas’ murderous tactics may be just as bad for the Palestinian people as they are for the Israelis.