“To kill various Palestinians…”

A BBC mole sent Stephen Pollard a “Mini briefing on the Israeli and Palestinians” that was either written by or forwarded by Jeremy Bowen. Read it, and Stephen Pollard’s comments, here. One memorable phrase:

the way that Palestinian society, which used to draw strength from resistance to the occupation, is now fragmenting.

Emphasis added. Readers might like to discuss the meaning of “strength” in this passage.

The “kill various Palestinians” bit came from this description of Ehud Barak:

(Among his many exploits was disguising himself as a woman during a raid in Beirut to kill various Palestinians).”

Pollard comments that this is, “written as if he did so for the sake of it.”

It is also written as if the Palestinians to be killed were selected randomly, like, er, the way Palestinian suicide bombers select their victims. Innocent civilians were killed in that Israeli operation, as well as those most definitely guilty – but the intended targets were not just any Palestinians but senior members of the PLO. The operation was part of the effort to kill those responsible for the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes. But mentioning that would spoil the story.