Thomas Friedman, "Iron Empires, Iron Fists, Iron Domes": Tired Toupees

Surely you recall Thomas Friedman's recent rowboat ride from Turkey into Syria to meet with the rebels. Well, the rowboat didn't sink, and Friedman is back with more bunkum.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Iron Empires, Iron Fists, Iron Domes" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/opinion/iron-empires-iron-fists-iron-domes.html?_r=0), Friedman declares:

"Israelis have responded to the collapse of Arab iron fists around them — including the rise of militias with missiles in Lebanon and Gaza — with a third model. It is the wall Israel built around itself to seal off the West Bank coupled with its Iron Dome antimissile system. The two have been phenomenally successful — but at a price. The wall plus the dome are enabling Israel’s leaders to abdicate their responsibility for thinking creatively about a resolution of its own majority-minority problem with the Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem."

Hey, Tom, let's first get the facts right. Some ninety percent of that "wall" separating Israel from the West Bank is in fact a fence. And anyone who has ever driven on Israel's Highway 6 knows that the walled portions of the separation barrier are intended to prevent sniper fire into Israel.

Moreover, there is no "wall" between Jordan, once comprising 77 percent of the Palestinian Mandate and where Palestinians constitute the majority of the population, and the West Bank.

Friedman goes on to say:

"The far-right group running Israel today is so arrogant, and so indifferent to U.S. concerns, that it announced plans to build a huge block of settlements in the heart of the West Bank — in retaliation for the U.N. vote giving Palestinians observer status."

More rubbish. First, "plans" are just . . . plans. If and when the Palestinians are ready to talk peace - Barak and Olmert offered them statehood along the 1967 lines with land swaps - I am confident that Netanyahu will be willing to offer similar concessions.

A "huge" block of settlements? Do plans for 3,000 housing units comprise a "huge" block of settlements? Friedman forgets to mention that Israeli settlements are built on less than two percent of the total territory of the West Bank.

The "heart" of the West Bank? Sorry, but I've examined more than a dozen maps of the West Bank, but can't seem to find the "heart" to which Friedman refers.

Tom concludes:

"I am glad that the wall and the Iron Dome are sheltering Israelis from enemies who wish to do them ill, but I fear the wall and the Iron Dome are also blinding them from truths they still badly need to face."

The "truths" that Israelis need to face? Israel unilaterally evacuated Gaza in 2005, and since that time, more than 8,000 rockets and missiles have been fired from Gaza at Israeli towns and cities. This is a truth that Israelis have been unable to ignore.

Before lecturing Israelis and the rest of the world on how they need to conduct themselves, it might behoove Friedman to first get his facts right.