Mahmoud Abbas Fiddled...

Or is it Ariel Sharon? Hard to say, but after the tragedy of people being ripped from that which they'd spent a lifetime building in Gush Katif, the Palestinians have shown what a truly civilized people they are. As the Israelis look in their rear views and Abbas celebrates, the Gazans raided and looted the former Israeli settlement at Gush Katif

But the violence went well beyond the scope of religious extremism and militancy. The stampede into Jewish settlements touched off large-scale looting by people from all walks of life, who were reeling from poverty after five years of intifada.

Many spoke of their first visit to the settlements as a chance to do one-stop shopping before the Palestinian security forces started to crack down on their escapades.

While housewives and unemployed men lugged off rubber, copper wire and sheet metal, stacked in trucks, vans, strapped on bicycles, ladders, or even donkey carts. Some men almost came to blows over who would cart away a bashed up water heater.

Maybe it's time for the Palestinians to do a little thing that we in the civilized world like to call "self control". Or perhaps they're just imitating the criminals in New Orleans. So this is the noble and ancient Palestinian culture? These are people who are ready for self-government? Please, this is a class of people who have been oppressed by their own leaders and made to fear the bogeyman of Israel so long, there is nothing remotely civilized about their society. They are an artificially created Third World culture, a creation of their own leaders and fellow Arab nations' greedy desires and international machinations, and now we see the result.

Even a 10-year-old boy, no more than four-feet-tall, was banging a tiny hammer at a door that was twice his size, hoping to surprise his parents with a replacement for the broken door at home since they couldn't afford one on their own.

The Next Generation...

And let's not forget the sensitive respective Muslims who don't hate Jews, just Israelis.

Religious extremists Hamas and Islamic Jihad raised their flags on the community's temple and smashed windows. In another show of force, black-hooded Islamic Jihad militants toting rockets and Kalashnikovs threatened to burn the religious sanctuary to the ground Monday.

Very tolerant, model of civilized behavior. Anyone who doesn't see this whole mess as an uncouched disaster must be blind, deaf, and very dumb. My heart goes out to the poor residents of Gush Katif who were ripped from their homes. They are further casualties in a war that will definitely end badly, no matter the outcome.