Oh, very valid point, Pgardn, and I think the Palestinians should have burned Arafat in effigy for turning down the deal offered a few years' back that gave them 95 percent of what they wanted. But I don't think Palestine is likely to recognize Israel any sooner than Israel recognizes Palestine. And Hamas being elected hasn't helped any. It also puts us in a tight spot-- we wave our "Democracy! Democracy!" banner all over the place, and then get confronted by nations who democratically elect factions we don't like. If we recognize them, we tacitly support enemies of our allies. If we don't recognize them, we look like big hypocrites-- charging into Iraq and decimating the nation to establish "democracy" when we by our actions in other nations indicate we may not respect what a sovereign nation's people choose.
Oh God, this makes my head hurt. No wonder people like to watch that American TASS, Fox News-- it keeps it easy: "Us good! Them bad!". The truth, on the other hand, is almost always much more complicated...
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