Studio 60 on the Gaza Strip
So…
The Israelis are terrified that the Arab world wants to “drive the Jews into the sea”. Inflaming their fears is the fact that the above quote is real.
The Palestinians are terrified that the Israelis want to slaughter them all and steal their land. Their fears are inflamed by the fact that, well, they used to own all of what is now Israel, parts of what are now Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
Naturally, there is going to be tension. The awful, tragic, asinine, terrible thing is that since both sides are terrified of extinction, leaders cannot gain prominence unless they are willing to spill blood. A failure to respond in kind to the “aggression” of the “other side” is an unacceptable weakness.
And so within a few weeks we’ll see a ceasefire. And 6 months or a year from now, the whole sorry cycle will start up again. Where are the underlying conflicts, and how can they be solved? Until we answer those questions– until one side understands why the other side is terrified– we’re going to keep seeing death.
Bah. Happy Friday, everyone.
No related posts.
The Gaza incursion (and there are a lot of people who would use stronger language than “incursion” – and rightfully so) is, as you say Pundit, just another link in the chain and cycle of violence. More to the point, this Sherman’s March to Sea-esque scorched earth policy that the IDF is intent on prosecuting right now is another example of wildly misrepresenting Israel’s “right to defend itself.” It is, rather, the sad death spiral of two false assertions.
First, since the 1967 war, Israel has consistently fought for that which it cannot have. First it was Sinai, then it was the Golan Heights, now it’s the land it begrudgingly ceded to the Palestinians during the progressive peace talks of the 1990s. At some point, moderates in the Israeli government – who, of course, have been effectively silenced since the Gaza operation began – have to step up and assert that, at some point, the right to defense has to be limited to what they’ve got.
Second, and more importantly, Israel will never be taken seriously at the peace table ever again if they go in pounding the table demanding democratic reforms in the Palestinian territories, then go ballistic – literally and figuratively – when they get those reforms and the people vote in avowed terrorists because the current leadership has become ineffective at the local level. At the same time, launching rockets into Israel and popping off about total annihilation does Hamas no favors, and Fatah – and other silent partners in the Palestinian moderate movement – need to work internally to tone that down if we’re ever going to get anywhere. But Israel’s response cannot be the paternalistic shell game of saying one thing and doing another. You have to be prepared for the consequences when you let people vote. Why not try working on hearts and minds a little bit? Maybe work with Palestinian moderates to get their house in order in Gaza. The solution is not genocide and destruction, that only serves to meet Hamas’ domestic political needs and desires, by martyring them.
As always – and as a screaming pinko leftist, I cry myself to sleep when I say things like this – this situation screams for moderates to break through and work across the aisle, ot recess to each other’s camps working towards mutually assured destruction.