Facing Reality
Lest you get lost in the posts from those who spout the propaganda of the folks that started this latest conflict, here is an argument that counters, and proposes a realist approach to the resolution. There is so much that is likely to occur in the coming weeks, with high risks and equally high stakes. For example, what happens if Hamas starts sending rockets with dirty bombs attached. Those who decry the response by IDF don't live under a constant threat of these realities.
Facing Reality The answer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. by David Gelernter 01/19/2009, Volume 014, Issue 17 Weekly Standard
Several smart observers have described the root cause of the ongoing battle between Israel and Hamas in the exact same phrase: "irreconcilable differences." America and Europe are warned not to press for pointless negotiations, because the parties are irreconcilable. Israel and the Palestinians both want the same piece of land and can't both have it; Islam and Western democracy or Islam and Zionism can only be antagonists.
Warning the world against pressuring Israel is timely and important, as governments everywhere respond to Israeli self-defense by celebrating the usual worldwide Hypocrisy-Fest (complete with street demonstrations, U.N. resolutions, and the customary savage gaiety), and as Israel's battle against Hamas is denounced as immoral or "disproportionate." A proportionate response would presumably consist of Israel's launching randomly targeted missiles back into Gaza. (Hamas's rocket technique was pioneered in 1944, by the way, in Nazi Germany's V-1 "buzz bomb" attacks against Britain.)
But even though the warning (beware of forcing negotiations) is right, the premise is not. Of course Israel has no choice but to fight Hamas in Gaza. Of course the idea that all problems can be settled by diplomacy is idiotic. Yet we ought to remind ourselves that the supposed "irreconcilable differences" between Israel and the Palestinians are trumped up and phony. The facts are well known to those who care about facts, but bear repeating. The dispute has many causes, but one root cause. If I own an old junker Buick that's worthless to me, and a stranger offers me $10,000 for it, naturally I'll take the money. But at the same time I might grow suspicious (or at least thoughtful): Maybe the thing is valuable after all. Maybe I could have got more for it.
And suppose the new owner proceeds to enthuse rapturously over the old car, and repairs and rebuilds it and makes it shine, makes it better than new, and starts exhibiting it at car fairs and winning big prizes. Under those circumstances, I'm even more likely to feel aggrieved, cheated, angry, and (especially) stupid--if I'm the kind of person who dwells on old hurts and imagined grievances. And my friends can make matters worse by egging me on. (Everyone loves a fight, especially if he can watch from the sidelines.)
Now, every human being on earth who cares about facts and can tell a lie from a truth knows that there was no such thing as "Palestinian nationalism" until modern Zionism created it out of whole cloth, by placing enormous value on a piece of land that used to seem as precious to its landlords as a rat-ridden empty lot in a burnt-out neighborhood in the middle of nowhere, in the suburbs of nothing. The Jews gradually got possession of an arid stony wasteland (where the sun beats, / And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief / And the dry stone no sound of water)--complete with the odd picturesque, crumbling, dirty town; and they loved it. They turned it into a gleaming, thriving modern nation, not only a military but an intellectual powerhouse. And so it is only natural that the former owners' descendants want it back, and remember how much their ancestors loved it, and how the new owners only got possession by wickedness and deceit. Such memories have the strange property of growing clearer instead of cloudier every day.
Only one thing can restore the former owners' peace of mind. They must be kicked firmly in the pants and told "stop whining and get lost" so many times that they finally move on to another grievance.
Any competent psychologist will agree: When someone is mooning over a thing he can't have because it belongs to someone else, the responsible and humane course of treatment is not temporizing sweet-talk but a blunt lesson in the facts of life. "No, you cannot have my wife (girlfriend, husband, etc.), and we are not going to negotiate over it; let's talk about something else." (And it really doesn't matter that the two of you used to keep company; you never loved her.) "Know Thyself" was supposedly carved on the ancient Temple at Delphi; "Face Reality" should have been carved right next to it. There is no irreconcilable difference in the fight between Israel and the Palestinians, no bone-deep dispute that will haunt humanity forever. There is only greed and envy. They never disappear, but can easily move from one target to the next. The problem will be solved as soon as the world stops trying to solve it. When the international community moves on to fresh causes, so will the Palestinians.
Islam too is held up as a basis of "irreconcilable differences" between Israel and the Palestinians. But we ought to remind ourselves that Israel fought the Six Day War in 1967 (and took possession of the West
Bank and old Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and Gaza--as well as Sinai, since returned to Egypt) with the armies of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, supported by Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Except for the Saudis, every one of these Arab governments was a secularist or modernizing autocracy. On the Arab side the most important man by far was Nasser, führer of Egypt, who as a young man had been a "Green Shirt" (modeled on Mussolini's Black Shirts and Hitler's Brown Shirts) and stood for "nonaligned," left-leaning, bellicose secularist nationalism.
Fatah and the PLO were also secular organizations to start, and in some respects still are. (Fatah was founded in 1954, the PLO in '64; they merged in '67.) In the late '60s and 1970s, the PLO made common cause with far-left terror groups such as the Red Brigades, the Baader-Meinhof gang, and other wacko-Marxist murderers. At one point, Baader-Meinhof gangsters traveled to PLO camps for elementary terror training.
The English actress Vanessa Redgrave represents the sort of bloody-minded Westerner who supported Palestinian terrorism in the 1970s. In 1977, Redgrave made an infamous propaganda film on behalf of Palestinian terrorists. But she was hardly endorsing Islam or any other religion. She was a Marxist (and, as far as one can tell, still is). The Palestinian terrorists were members in good standing of a worldwide fraternity that included the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Communists, Castroite Cubans, the Sandinistas, and dozens of other far-left groups that mostly hated religion to the extent they bothered with it at all.
Obviously most Arabs are devout Muslims, and Islam has a long history of jihad. An event of the late 1800s suggests modern Iran: An Islamic leader in the Sudan who proclaimed himself the Mahdi, God-given ruler of the whole Islamic world and (in effect) the messiah, announced a jihad against the British colonial authorities. His army drove the British and their Egyptian allies out of the Sudan. In the process his troops slaughtered or enslaved thousands of British, Egyptians, and Sudanese and presented the Mahdi (as a sentimental remembrance of victory) with the severed head of the British commanding general on a pike. The Mahdist army then launched invasions of neighboring territories, but was finally destroyed by the British at Omdurman in 1898.
No one doubts that the Muslim religion can inspire gigantic ferocity--yet Islam, like horseradish, is available in anything from super-hot to extra-mild. Only with the rise of Khomeini's Iran in 1979, the Saudis' increasingly lavish support for the spread of Wahhabism, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 did modern Islam become the dominant hate engine of the Middle East, powering anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish, anti-Western bloodlust. The Arabs are an intensely religious-minded people, like the Jews, but the same religious devotion that is focused today on blood-and-guts Islam could also be focused on a kinder, gentler variety, such as the one preached in the 19th century by the Emir Abd el-Kader. (On Abd el-Kader, see the book by John W. Kiser, reviewed in last week's issue.) Religious devoutness persists from generation to generation, but can take many different systems and causes as its target--as Jews are well aware.
The Bush administration, which has done so many small and medium things wrong and the biggest of all things right, could leave the world a parting gift by introducing some appropriate resolution in the Security Counsel or General Assembly. A proclamation that "anti-Zionism is a form of racism" might be just the thing. (The infamous "Zionism is racism" resolution, passed in 1975 and rescinded in 1991, remains a perfect symbol of depraved worldwide attitudes to Israel.) Or a U.S. resolution might call on the U.N. to take the unprecedented step of enforcing its own charter and booting out members that preach the destruction of Israel. (Article 2 part 4: "All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.") To start the ball rolling, Iran might be designated for immediate expulsion.
The resolution would be savaged and hooted down. But here and there it might make people think.
David Gelernter is a contributing editor to THE WEEKLY STANDARD and a professor of computer science at Yale.
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"The Jews gradually got possession of an arid stony wasteland" - Not True
Using only a Zionist source (you'd probably cry lies if I used any other source)
Israel Zangwill, most ardent Zionist, who stated as early as 1905
"Palestine proper has already its inhabitants. The pashalik of Jerusalem is already twice as thickly populated as the United States, having fifty-two souls to the square mile, and not 25% of them Jews ..... [We] must be prepared either to drive out by the sword the [Arab] tribes in possession as our forefathers did or to grapple with the problem of a large alien population, mostly Mohammedan and accustomed for centuries to despise us."
The key is 'accustomed for centuries to despise us'. How many more centuries will this continue?
"Only with the rise of Khomeini's Iran in 1979, the Saudis' increasingly lavish support for the spread of Wahhabism, and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 did modern Islam become the dominant hate engine of the Middle East, powering anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish, anti-Western bloodlust."
This little trip down memory lane is so superficial, it is embarrassing to read.
The Neo-con Weakly Standard (founded by William Kristol) is bullsh!t. And it's bad for you.
The troubles in Palestine started after WW I when the British Mandate encouraged Russian Zionist Jews to emigrate and occupy land that was already long-occupied by native Palestinians. Even Arabs may become testy when you steal their land, kill their livestock, disrespect their traditions and families, and bulldoze their olive orchards to build subdivisions to house even more foreigners.
And I suppose you believe that the US government is responsible for everything wrong in the middle east and the rest of the world? In any case, no realistic solutions are proposed by those who respond. There never are. We grow tired of the same old game. Time for real change.
And I assume Skeptic gets his talking points from Huffington, the Nation, or some other far left junk. At least I know to question everything I read, even the article I posted. The resoultion to the problem is what I found interesting. Time to end it, once and for all. That will save more lives in the long run. Got a better idea, that has not already been tried, and failed? I am all ears.
I got 94,200 for Gaza Marine Gas Field on Google.
timeslip - You suppose wrong. The USA had virtually no involvement in creating the post-WW I Palestine conflict. We certainly help keep it burning, however.
The source for US aid to Israel during Fiscal Year 2007 is contained in the Congressional Research Service’s “U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel,” written by Jeremy M. Sharp, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs, (updated January 2, 2008). According to this report, the US gave Israel at least $2,500.2 million in FY 2007. This does not include the $137.894 million we spent on joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense projects, or the $1.4 billion in loan guarantees made available to Israel in 2007. A November 2008 Washington Report article entitled, “A Conservative Estimate of Total Direct U.S. Aid to Israel: $118 Billion,” by Shirl McArthur, puts the cumulative total even higher. According to McArthur's report:
“[T]he indirect or consequential costs to the American taxpayer as a result of Washington’s blind support for Israel exceed by many times the amount of direct U.S. aid to Israel. Some of these ‘indirect or consequential’ costs would include the costs to U.S. manufacturers of the Arab boycott, the costs to U.S. companies and consumers of the Arab oil embargo and consequent soaring oil prices as a result of U.S. support for Israel in the 1973 war, and the costs of U.S. unilateral economic sanctions on Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria." (For a discussion of these larger costs, see ‘The Costs to American Taxpayers of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: $3 Trillion,’ by the late Thomas R. Stauffer, June 2003 Washington Report, p. 20.)
In contrast, compare the US aid to the Palestinians during Fiscal Year 2007, which is contained in the Congressional Research Service's Report, “U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians”, written by Paul Morro, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs (updated October 9, 2007).
In 2007, the US provided $50 million for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s West Bank and Gaza Program, as well as $77 million directly to the Palestinian Authority. The United States does not fund the PLO or Hamas, which is a legitimate democratically-elected Palestinian political entity. There are also heavy restrictions placed on how US aid to Palestinians may be spent and this is strictly audited.
I agree with your final point completely; we should do all we can to help resolve the Gaza conflict.
Ecellent Skeptic...and sorry timeslip. The best way to keep a people down and the jihad alive and well and still better our interests in the middle east and the vast wealth of oil found there...is to continue on the same coarse of action...there will be no resolution...it is not in our best interests to resolve this conflict. You will pay for the fuel based on the corporations rate schedule...not yours and the tax payer will continue to be abused supporting this folly...because they can and they are in charge...not you.
timeslip
Why do those who criticize the US government need to suggest a solution? Most problems cannot be solved by throwing money and weapons at them. If the money and weapons were withdrawn, then those who are involved with the conflict can come up with the solution themselves. This is between the Israelis and the Palestinians and only them and only they can solve it. US taxpayers should not be forced to contribute nor are outsiders able to suggest a "solution". Any US citizen who wants to contribute in any way should be free to do so as a private individual. The US lopsided support for the Israeli government has exacerbated the conflict beyond repair and damaged the US reputation perhaps irreparably plus brought us to the very brink of bankruptcy. More US intervention will not help, it will only do further damage.
I really don't like speculation, but the thought hit me and is kind of freaking me out: What if the Arabs are just waiting for the whole world to get pissed off at Israel and then take the opportunity to Nuke them on to smithereens, having used the Palestinians as so much shark bate?
mom your are right..however that would not be a solution for our best interests in the region. We have been tampering in this region for quite some time and not just with the some of the countries...but all of the countries. Most of the sound bites you hear are let out for a reason and that is to keep you guessing as a citizen and so that you will be fearful of potential outcomes and some how feel personally affected by the deaths of the Jewish people..our supposed brethren based the fairy tale history of the bible.
A classic setup of fear mongering and a very effective tool that even now is used on our population since the time when we all had drills ducking under desks in fear of a Nuclear Bomb threats in the 60's. Our country has been the strongest and safest country in the world..... with the most fearful population ever to inhabit this planet. This fear can only be planted in our brains and it is planted there very effectively by our government and yes planted on purpose.
A fearful nation is an easy nation to control. Afraid of... breaking the law, not paying your taxes, not paying your bills, not being employed, not educating our children, illegal immigration, homosexual marriage, gang violence, drugs, not enough police officers, anthrax attacks, terrorists, asian flue, bird flue, flue shot, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, food poisoning, terrorists, earthquakes, hurricanes, global warming, fire place smoke, cigarettes, drunk drivers, cell phones, radiation dirty bombs, contaminated food, melamine, terrorists, bad economy, no money for the government, budget shortfall, sewer rate increases, well water contamination, car pollution smog controls, mosquitos, species extinction, fires, floods, levy failure, volcano eruptions, global warming, terrorists, to fat, to thin, to bald, to old, no power, not enough power, blackouts, sinner, going to hell,.........and on and on and on and on.
A nation of people in fear and divided and huddled inside their homes... is not a nation at all...it is a game board to be played by those knowing the game and that hold the rules your world is played by.....think about the possibilities of a world...... not afraid.
The natural response to fear is fight or flee. A nation cannot easily flee, but it can fight. Talk does not help when the other side lobs missles at you, and announces that you must die or leave. Is there any choice except to fight. Or do yo expect Israel to simply cease to exist? Because that is what you are asking for. They have no choice but to defeat those who lob the missles, because those missels represent the message of die or leave.
If Hamas is bent on self-destruction, that is where this will lead. If they were open to an message, I would tell them to stop fighting, and start building up a culture that does not revolve around hatred, and compete with ideas rather than weapons. I am certain that if they did this, even Israel would assist. Because I am a realist, I seriously doubt this will be the outcome.
fitz - I have mentioned before that the US is basically bankrupt. I believe that ever other country knows this & when the dollar crashes, US hegemony will be no more. Israel will be soon alone, like it or not, ready or not. It would have been wiser to invest the trillions of dollars that have been expended over the past 25 years on building relationships not destroying futures.
timeslip,
Your point is well taken and this struggle has gone on since the Jews were given the land and for thousands of years prior...and sadly all based on a lie that was originally designed to control the heathen beast in the populations of the region. Greed comes in many forms and money is just one of them. Power and control can be just as greedy... as can an opinion... when you feel it is correct.
The year is 2009 and we do not have the resources or the time to be putting up with any of this behavior from either side and it is time we step in and end it. Peace by force may be the only solution but "peace" for this world of intellects is way overdue. Some of the most intelligent people on this planet reside in these regions and I for one see their influence all around me and in many many many industries. Clearly pawns are pawns and if we need to take the land away or we need to destroy the rock or we need nuke the whole area....get it done and tame the savage beast in both parties before the whole world ends up going up in smoke over a lie!
Obewan
Thanks for the reminder that fear is so very dangerous, and so easily instilled. I feel like I was in one of those old movies where someone "looses it" and somebody else has to slap them across the face to bring them back to reality....thanks, I needed that. Fear can just creep in and run rampant.
Mom. I love your posts--good level headed stuff which comes from your experiences with the area. There is nothing like hearing from people who have had such close and common interaction. I am really appreciative of the this level headed discourse.
Ironic that there is such a bankruptcy of ideas coming from those who talk about the end of our solvency. What is really strange is how this alleged downfall is a shot across the bow of Israel. Wishful thinking on both counts from the same fringe that thinks the CIA was behind 9/11. If it were not so sad, it would be funny.
Timeslip...
If only you could slip back in time and witness who and how many shot JFK ..Lee just wasn't that great of a shot and after Jack's death....... the war went on as planned by those wanting it too!
Naivety does not become your presence or your potential for true wisdom. May the light shine through the armor you have invented to protect your thoughts. Sheep often will stand at the gate as it is wide open and go no where... fearing for the loss of food from the shepherds tending the flock.