New Yorker's Remnick: Israel's "Occupation" to Blame

Jack Coleman over at Newsbusters has this great response:

If the "occupation" by Israelis of the West Bank is the reason for the latest flareup, why aren't Palestinians lobbing rockets and digging tunnels into Israel -- from the West Bank? Instead, this is what they've done from Gaza -- which Israel relinquished nearly a decade ago. Israelis are no more obligated to negotiate a settlement with Hamas, terrorist thugs committed to their demise once and for all, than Americans are to negotiate with al Qaeda.

I'm still waiting, most likely in vain, for a prominent liberal in American media to reverse the order of his or her "yes, but" statement on Gaza, so that the obligatory criticism of Israel comes first, followed by the unequivocal denunciation of Hamas.

Remick does get it right in a narrow sense and not in the way he intends. Hamas and other radical Palestinians won't end their war against Israel until Israelis ends their "occupation" -- of Israel itself.