IT'S ABOUT ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION, NOT OCCUPATION

The Palestinians' True Agenda - Charles Krauthammer (TIME)

• Just about every story you'll see will characterize Israel's invasion of Gaza as a continuation of the cycle of violence. This is as false as calling American attacks on Taliban remnants in Afghanistan part of a cycle of violence between the U.S. and al-Qaeda.
• The origin of the current wave of violence in Gaza is very contemporary. It occurred less than one year ago. Before the eyes of the whole world, Israel left Gaza. Every Jew, every soldier, every military installation, every remnant of Israeli occupation was uprooted and taken away.
• What have the Palestinians done with Gaza, the first Palestinian territory in history to be independent? On the very day of Israel's final pullout, the Palestinians began firing rockets out of Gaza into Israeli towns on the other side of the border, on civilians in the pre-1967 Israel that the international community recognizes. A thousand rockets have fallen since.
• Before the withdrawal, attacks across the border could have been rationalized with the usual Palestinian mantra of occupation, settlements, and so on. But what can one say after the withdrawal?
• The logic for those continued attacks is to be found in the so-called phased plan adopted in 1974 by the Palestine National Council in Cairo. Realizing that they would never be able to destroy Israel in one fell swoop, the Palestinians adopted a graduated plan to wipe out Israel by accepting any territory given to them and then using that sanctuary to wage war until Israel is destroyed.
• Gaza is free of occupation, yet Gaza wages war. Why? Because this war is not about occupation, but about Israel's very existence.