Why the Arabs Splinter Over Gaza

[ProgressiveProfessor]

BEIRUT, Lebanon — On Thursday, nearly three weeks into Israel’s war on Hamas, reporters gathered here to ask whether the Lebanese president would be attending a proposed Arab summit meeting to address the issue.

The answer, delivered by the Lebanese information minister, Tarek Mitri, was that Lebanon would follow “Arab consensus” in deciding whether to attend.

No one laughed, but the comment could have passed for black humor. Arab leaders remain cripplingly divided on how to respond to the crisis, which has left more than 1,100 dead in Gaza. Despite a rush of diplomatic meetings — two simultaneous ones on Friday in Qatar and Kuwait, and two more expected next week — there was still no agreement on convening the Arab League, the body that is meant to bring Arabs together on issues of mutual concern.

In the end, the Lebanese president, Michel Suleiman — having struggled to find a balance between the conflicting demands of his country’s own factions — attended the meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Friday. But leaders of three of the most important Arab countries — Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — refused to attend, and so the meeting did not qualify as a league summit and only underscored the region’s divisions.

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From: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/weekinreview/18worth.html?_r=2

Some here are shouting how the Arab world and the Palestinians are fully united behind Hamas and are rejecting Fatah and the PA as quislings. This and other articles show how wrong they are.

[Vegasaurus]

1. I think those very same people

who purport to show sympathy for the Palestinians, undermine their efforts by supporting Hamas, as opposed to Fatah or the PA, which are their best options for getting a state.

As long as those people don't care if the Gazans are stateless and miserable, it makes sense to support a bunch of thugs and terrorist like Hamas.