Mike L.
In the long Arab war against the Jews of the Middle East we seem to have come to a moment of stasis.
While much of the rest of the Middle East is in flux... as Arabs run around rioting and killing one another... the Arab-Israel conflict is not. By ruining whatever potential there may have been in the possibilities of a negotiated settlement, the Obama administration has brought us to a moment of moderated status quo.
It is difficult to know just what to make of this political moment. For many years prior to Barack Obama's ham-handed demolition of the "peace process" many of us still held out some hope for a negotiated settlement. Oslo may have been limping along, but it was limping. Now it is dead.
So where does that leave us?
One thing that I can say, for certain, is that progressive-left Jewry is generally clueless. They still seem to hold out some vague, usually unspoken, hope concerning a negotiated peace, which is the most generous reason that I can think of as to why they have so much hostility toward their fellow Jews in Judea. But if there is one thing that I have learned over the years it is that Arab-Muslim intransigence is not going to end any time soon.
My suggestion has been that Israel, therefore, take matters into its own hands and declare its final borders, despite the results of the Gaza withdrawal, leaving room for whatever Palestinian terrorist-criminal entity that they create for themselves. Much of the Jewish right, in contrast, wants to annex Judea and Samaria, despite the demographic challenges of such a position.
What the Jewish left wants to do remains a mystery. End the "occupation"? Sure, but what does that mean, exactly?
In the mean time, we remain in stasis. And, I have to say, stasis is certainly far better than a third terror war against the Jews in that part of the world. Stasis won't last and it shouldn't, but for the moment that seems to be where we are.
I favor a unilateral declaration of final borders, myself. I'm not claiming it's the greatest idea, but it's the best that we can hope for at the moment considering the Palestinian intransigence you mention. Which won't end any time soon, and why should it? Yet another boat of anti-Israel European idiots are now serving as propaganda tools for the terrorist group Hamas, while still not one flotilla is scheduled to land just a bit north in, say, Latakia any time soon.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course, there is no end to the number of other Western useful idiots willing to play the same role.
Therein lies the rub. As long as the so-called 'occupation' plays out, these assholes remain relevant. Again, it's not exactly a great solution, but I don't really see a better one; and it'll be much harder (or close to impossible, though I'm sure many will still try) to continually demonize and blame Israel for the problems others have created for the Palestinians, once they have their own (basketcase, criminal terror) state. Won't it?
Of course that doesn't solve the rocket-range problem, so I don't know.
Perhaps maybe kinda sorta the world will once again possibly come to its senses and defend a tiny country desperately seeking only to continue prospering and surviving, despite the violent intentions of its racist, genocidal neighbors?
Perhaps I'm just an impossible dreamer.
In closing, this is only my opinion as an American, and ultimately it's up to Israelis to choose the best path. I remain, supportively...
Perhaps maybe kinda sorta the world will once again possibly come to its senses and defend a tiny country desperately seeking only to continue prospering and surviving, despite the violent intentions of its racist, genocidal neighbors?
DeleteSee, that's the thing. The western progressive-left simply doesn't see it that way.
They look at a tiny, traditionally oppressed minority of Jews in the Middle East that is armed to the teeth in order to defend itself from its hostile neighbors and they declare that tiny minority to be the aggressor.
They have no clue whatsoever about the long history of Jewish dhimmitude and oppression under Muslim imperial rule century upon century and they could hardly care less... which, of course, gives the lie to the notion that they actually care about a little something that we call "social justice."
The reason that they are almost entirely unaware of the history Jewish oppression in the Middle East is our fault, because we have not educated ourselves about this and, thus, have not educated them about it, either... which is why Dan is absolutely correct when he says that we need to simply tell the truth of the matter.
We cannot do that, however, unless we, ourselves, know something of that history.
The Palestinians, furthermore, are not some separate and distinct Arab ethnicity. They share the same language with other Arabs. The same religion. The same traditions and foods. And they, themselves, did not consider themselves anything other than Arabs and Muslims, from this or that family or tribe, until the latter third of the 20th century.
They are also on the front lines of Arab-Muslim aggression against the Jews and if they suffer, that is precisely why they suffer. Arab citizens of Israel have greater freedom and civil liberties than Arabs do any place else throughout the Middle East, yet they are trained from the cradle to despise Jews and the Jewish state and are, in fact, used as weapons by the larger Arab world against the Jews of the Middle East. This is particularly true of non-Israeli Palestinians in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza who have been raised to venerate suicide bombers.
What diaspora Jewry needs to understand, and what the larger western world needs to understand, is that Israel is not the oppressor, but the victim in this hideous ongoing saga.
Arabs outnumber Jews 50 or 60 to 1 in that part of the world, yet decades of Arab and Soviet propaganda has convinced will-meaning, but ignorant, "progressives" that they are the victims, despite the long, long history of Jewish oppression in the region.
5.5 million Jews in the Middle East.
300 to 400 million Arabs and around 1.5 billion Muslims throughout the world who, for the most part, do not approve of Jewish sovereignty on historically Jewish land.
All the tiny Jewish state wants is to be left the hell alone to produce their computer software and to send Natalie Portman's out into the world.
Not only are those Jews under siege, they are blamed by many "progressive Zionists" for the violence against them.
What a disgrace.
Great comment, lots to think on here.
DeleteLet me start by saying that while I agree with this fact...
"The Palestinians, furthermore, are not some separate and distinct Arab ethnicity. They share the same language with other Arabs. The same religion. The same traditions and foods. And they, themselves, did not consider themselves anything other than Arabs and Muslims, from this or that family or tribe, until the latter third of the 20th century."
...they also clearly qualify as a nationality these days, and define themselves as one. And hell, so do their Arab neighbors define Palestinians as such, in states where they suffer actual and literal apartheid. So that's all that really matters now, though I agree that the history is valuable to teach as well.
Fully agree with all of this -
"They are also on the front lines of Arab-Muslim aggression against the Jews and if they suffer, that is precisely why they suffer. Arab citizens of Israel have greater freedom and civil liberties than Arabs do any place else throughout the Middle East, yet they are trained from the cradle to despise Jews and the Jewish state and are, in fact, used as weapons by the larger Arab world against the Jews of the Middle East. This is particularly true of non-Israeli Palestinians in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza who have been raised to venerate suicide bombers."
I see that I left something out of my comment above which I should have noted, that they've also created very many problems for themselves, too.
Admitting that would require taking responsibility for one's self, however, and as has been amply demonstrated by the current Palestinian leadership, be it the dictator in Ramallah or the terrorists in Gaza who hear trees talking to them, they are simply incapable of doing so at the current moment.
I mean, why do the hard work of nation-building and building up an economy, and stop doing things like paying salaries to imprisoned terrorists, when you can just whine about how other countries are no longer funding you, and about how mean the Jews are? Particularly when there is no end of Western useful idiots willing to lap up and echo such nonsense?
Israel could set a date or time period in which it will declare borders. Palestinians may toll the period if they negotiate in good faith.
ReplyDelete