By Licia Corbella
It's telling, or should be, that for hundreds of Palestinians, the light at the end of their tunnel is, literally and figuratively, Israel.Since Hamas has taken control of the Gaza Strip following bloody battles with its Fatah rivals, women, children and Fatah fighters have cowered in a now squalid tunnel hoping to enter Israel and safety.
Think about that.
Even though the state of Israel does not appear on either Fatah or Hamas maps and even though both political parties' stated goals are the destruction of the tiny Jewish state, this group of Palestinians believe -- or rather know -- that the countrymen of their sworn enemy will treat them better than their fellow Palestinians.
These Palestinians languishing in the Erez Crossing tunnel want to get to the West Bank through Israel rather than through Gaza because there is no question in their minds that the Israeli government and the Israeli people will not randomly kill them because of their political affiliation or for what they think.
Even after Hamas declared a general amnesty for Fatah fighters following its victory in Gaza, the Associated Press reported that "frightened civilians and security officers have not been reassured."
In other words, Palestinians don't believe their own Palestinian leaders. Why? Because they are proven serial liars. They simply cannot be believed.
And yet, Israel is constantly criticized by the world community and those very same Palestinians for doubting what Palestinian leaders negotiate out of one side of their mouth, even as they plan another suicide attack or shelling out of the other.
According to some news reports, many Palestinians are now saying, their lives were far better under so-called Israeli "occupation" than under Palestinian rule and if Palestinians were given the choice, anywhere from 50% to 70% of them would vote to have the Israelis take control of Gaza again, rather than be ruled by either Fatah or Hamas.
Israel occupies just one-sixth of one per cent of the land of the Middle East -- the only beacon of light at the end of a very large and dark tunnel.
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