I’ve really been trying to not say too much about the whole Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the last few weeks. Partly it’s because it’s been such a polarizing sort of dispute, reflecting the various answers in the Poll I’ve been running. Partly it’s because every time I think about it for more than a few minutes, I start either grinding my teeth to the gums, or else getting a splitting headache.<\/p>\n
But as I listen to pundits weigh in on one side or the other, as I listen to news organizations slant stories in one direction or another, I realize that just because it’s a damnably awful thing to choose sides in this conflict, that doesn’t mean saying nothing is any better.<\/p>\n
Israel has not worn a purely white hat over the decades since its founding. It has more than once acted as a bully, it has been unreasonably stubborn on repeated occasions, its settlement policy has been at best counter-productive and at worst downright evil, it has been guilty more than once of excessive force, and its actions in Lebanon at times mirrored the worse of America’s own darkness in Viet Nam, complete with massacres-by-proxy and worse.<\/p>\n
But for all that Israel has done to squander quite a bit of moral high ground over the years, for all that its gunfire has gone astray, that it has sometimes been careless, and sometimes even cruel with its superior military might against the Palestinians … if backed into a corner, I have to support it over the Palestinian cause.<\/p>\n
Israel’s biggest problem is that, on the surface at least, it is not<\/i> the underdog. Even if you discount anti-semitic sentiment in some corners, it’s far too easy for a lot of folks to look at Side With Tanks vs Kids With Rocks and back the latter as a sentimental favorite.<\/p>\n
At least until one of those kids — or his older brother, or his father, or even his sister, walks into a resort town restaurant during a holiday feast and blows himself and a few dozen other people into a bloody paste.<\/p>\n
The fact is, if you put aside the Kids vs Tanks thing, and concede its right to exist, Israel wins the debate hands-down. Her Arab neighbors have sought her destruction since Day One — and Israel has had the ill grace to not only successfully defend itself, but actually gain territory in the process. The Arabs who lived in that area — never recognized before Israel’s founding as being their “own people” — have been pushed into refugee camps. But they’re there largely because none of their oh-so-supportive Arab brethren have been willing to take them in (except, on occasion, as guest labor, and then shipping them back to the refugee camps once their usefulness was over). <\/p>\n
And, frankly, none of that in any way, shape, or form excuses decades of terrorism. None of that justifies a single car bombing in a marketplace, a single suicide bomber in a pizza restaurant — none of it.<\/p>\n
The problem is, the Palestinians want it both ways. They’re willing to act as though they are at war — attacking not just military Israeli targets, but civilians as well, seeking quite explicitly the destruction of all Israel and her people. But when Israel actually uses the tools and tactics of war against them, then they cry out for international support, denounce the brutality of their “oppressors,” and parade women and children before the cameras (the same women and children who, had they been born a dozen miles away, might have been random victims of a suicide bomber).<\/p>\n
I want peace in the Middle East. I want justice. I want the decades of recriminations and killings and counter-killings and bloodshed to end. I want to believe that Jews and Muslims, Arabs and Israelis, can live together in harmony and peace and even love.<\/p>\n
But as much as I cringe to hear the extremist rhetoric from Ariel Sharon, himself implicated in war crimes in Lebanon, as much as I shake my head every time a civilian Palestinian death is reported (though why Palestinian civilians are off limits while Israeli civilians are fair targets is beyond me), as much as I hate seeing war and hate twist the Israeli democracy and culture into something rather unpleasant …<\/p>\n
… I would not see terror win. I would not see Yasser Arafat — a “democratically-elected” leader who has been more than happy to toss his opponenents into prison (or let them get lynched) and who put off the scheduled elections that might threaten his position, who shares his terrorist pedigree with some of Israel’s own founders but who is a clear enough threat to any country he’s in that none of his Arab “allies” want him anywhere in their<\/i> nation, who has preached peace in English and jihad in Arabic — I would not see him win. Because as much as I want to see the Palestinian Arabs live in dignity and peace, I don’t think that’s the cards for them no matter which side succeeds, and because I won’t see it over the bodies of Israel.<\/p>\n
I really hate what’s going on there. There are plenty of times when that “nuke the whole place into a parking lot” option sounds like a great Gordian-knot-cutter. And there are plenty of times when I devoutly wish I had a solution beyond hand-wringing, one that didn’t hinge on the good will of Israeli religious fanatics and Arab religious\/political\/ethnic fanatics, a solution that couldn’t be derailed by intransigence or violence. <\/p>\n
I don’t think Israel’s force of arms can cleanly and quickly clear this up — but the status quo is not acceptible. And sometimes, when things are going from bad to worse, you can only act, boldly, and hope that you don’t make them even worse than than they’re already trending.<\/p>\n
I hate to support Israel in this, because it’s supporting not just the good they represent but the evil that they’ve done, too. But I can condemn Dresden and Manzanar while still being glad that the winners of WWII were who they were. And I can condemn Israel’s transgressions while realizing that things would be far worse if they lose this war. Far worse for everyone concerned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve really been trying to not say too much about the whole Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the last few weeks. Partly it’s because it’s been such a polarizing sort of dispute,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geopolitical-brouhaha"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1946,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/04\/04\/poll_results_2.html","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":0},"title":"Poll results","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 4-Apr-02 10:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"The results of my blog poll on \"Mid-East Madness\" (N=43) 41.8% - The US should seek a just, lasting peace for both sides in this intractable conflict, and hold both...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging & Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging & Internet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135515,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/04\/north-korean-hostility-us-not-just-tyranny-lies.html","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":1},"title":"North Korean hostility to the US is not just about tyranny and lies","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 4-Dec-17 6:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"During the Korean \"police action,\" US strategic bombing of the North killed an estimated (by the US) one fifth of the population. One might argue that the populations of Germany, or Japan, or even North Vietnam might have a similar grievance. But there's a crucial difference: the Korean conflict never\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/north-korea-statues.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":30557,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/10\/09\/please-listen-carefully-our-menus-have-recently-changed.html","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":2},"title":"Please listen carefully. Our menus have recently changed","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 9-Oct-12 9:32am","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been involved in tech support on both sides of the equation -- being the support person on the phone trying to patiently\u00a0extract the key information that will actually explain the problem beyond \"It's broken,\" and being the customer person on the phone with the detailed list of error messages\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16436,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/12\/16\/tweets-from-2009-12-16.html","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":3},"title":"Tweets from 2009-12-16","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 16-Dec-09 11:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Good news: Blackberry is working! Bad news: the password has been changed and IT person is not in the office yet. # Last day in office before heading out for holidays. Almost as much to do here as at home. Yikes! # Backberry back in my hands, new password set\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132124,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/29\/will-this-conflict-of-interest-bite-trump-on-the-butt.html","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":4},"title":"Will this conflict of interest bite Trump on the butt?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 29-Nov-16 10:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"Trump insists that, as president, he can have no \"conflict of interest.\" He means that legally, but he states it as though it applies ethically as well. Unfortunately for him, it may not apply contractually.Donald Trump's business is leasing the Post Office Pavilion in Washington as the Trump International Hotel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14568,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/04\/17\/a-snowy-thumb-not-a-green-one-this-weekend.html","url_meta":{"origin":1955,"position":5},"title":"A snowy thumb, not a green one, this weekend","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 17-Apr-09 10:19am","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, with plenty of snow forecast for today \/ tonight \/ tomorrow, and a blanket already on the ground, so much for another weekend of potential yardwork. Of course, it's a lot less necessary than it was looking to be. Our lawn-cutting guy came by on Tuesday, and offered for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Home Improvement"","block_context":{"text":"Home Improvement","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/home-improvement"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}