I rarely write entries on the perpetual Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mainly because it’s impossible to have a rational discussion about it with 95 percent of the people. If your comments are (perceived as) 51 percent against Israel, then you are anti-Semitic who wants Israel’s destruction. If your comments are (perceived as) 51 percent against the Palestinians, then you are an imperialist lackey who supports the genocide against them.
I was going to say that if you live in the US, any criticism of Israel makes you anti-Semitic. But then I realized it’s a little more nuanced. You can criticize specific actions the Israeli government of the day, provided that you provide at least 10 times more criticisms of the Palestinians in the same comment. But one thing you can never do is cast aspersions on their motives. They must always get a blank check for any mistake they make. If they a bombing raid causes ‘collateral damage,’ it’s the fault of everyone in the village for “tolerating” terrorists in their midst. Because an unarmed can easily go up to a guy with a cellar full of Uzis and tell him f- off. You can say the Israeli military and government make mistakes, so long as you figure out a way to blame someone else.
Unless you’re on the far left of the US or any part of the left in Europe, in which case you must state that Israeli soldiers willfully slaughter Palestinian children and drink their blood at parties. You must also point out that the global warming, world poverty and AIDS in Africa is also the fault of the Israelis. If an Israeli soldier coughs without covering his mouth, you must send out a missive to all your leftist friends denouncing Israel for intentionally spreading disease to ravage the Palestinians; you must also insist that the occupation of Palestine is ALWAYS the worst, bloodiest and most severe humantarian and political crisis in the world, no matter how much more expontentionally severe the crises in Darfur, northern Uganda and eastern Congo would be, according to any objective person. If a pizzeria is bombed in Tel Aviv or a some village schoolhouse gets hit with a rocket, it’s the fault of the Israeli government for the occupation. Not the guys who intentionally targeted civilians for murder. Probably the one thing I agree with Fox News (sic) about is their use of the phrase ‘homicide bombings,’ because that’s exactly what they are. Their main purpose is not suicide, but homicide.
I’m one of those rare people who believe there is that there is plenty of blame to share on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides and that blame is pretty close to equal. As well as the Arab, western European and American sides as well.
This is where I’m supposed to say they’re both to blame but (because I’m an American) the Palestinians are far more to blame or (because I’m on the left) the Israelis are far more to blame. It’s marginally acceptable to blame both sides, so long as you quantify it. I won’t quantify because it serves no purpose.
We live in an world where people can’t remember what they had for lunch two days ago but people in the Middle East can tell you in great deal all the wrongs that allegedly happened to their ancestors 60 years ago.
The bottom line is that there’s so much irrationality and hysteria surrounding this problem that it’s difficult to know how it will be solved. The only realistic solution I see is for divine intervention to give everyone in Israel and the Occupied Territories mass amnesia and everyone in the US and the Arab world the temporary inability to speak.
This is the part where I comment on a current events story. And where the rough balance of 50-50 blame goes to 55-45 and I end up accused of hating Israel and being anti-Semitic (which are of course the same thing, we’re told).
While Fatah ran the Palestinian Authority government, the Israeli government did everything it could to undermine it. It said they coddled terrorists. It said they were terrorists. It said they should be able to control things better despite having one hand tied behind their back by the Israelis. It said they were corrupt. It said that Yassir Arafat, and later Mahmoud Abbas, was not a partner for peace. Basically, it tried to delegitimize Fatah at every step.
Then, Israel’s strategy ended up working too well. The weakened Fatah was spanked in legislative elections by the fanatical Hamas organization. This wasn’t unexpected. Such puritanical movements always gain support when the regime in place is seen as corrupt and illegitimate. Think the Taliban in Afghanistan or Islamic Courts in Somalia. This development was far worse for Israel, or far better for Israeli extremists.
The US and European Union should how much it would respect democracy by placing an embargo on the democratically-elected government of the Palestinians. The already miserable living conditions in the occupied territories got even worse.
The Hamas prime minister went on a regional tour and collected tens of millions of dollars to replace the suspended US-EU aid. But Israel (who still control external borders) refused to allow him to return to Gaza with the money. They allowed him to enter Gaza, but without the money. The Israelis contended might be used to buy arms.
So imagine my shock when I read this piece which said that Israel would allow a shipment of weapons and ammunition into Gaza to Abbas’ presidential guard.
So the Israelis won’t allow into Gaza money SOME of which MIGHT be used to buy arms but they will allow into Gaza actual weapons? 2,000 automatic rifles, 20,000 ammo clips and some 2 million bullets, to be specific.
The Israelis spent years weakening Abbas but now that he was so weak that he lost control of the parliament, they decide to back him. Now the Israeli government is taking sides in internal Palestinian conflicts.
It seems clear that the Israeli government does not want a stable, peaceful Palestinian society. They probably feel that it’s better for Palestinians to take out their anger and murder each other than Israelis. The only problem is that without a stable, peaceful Palestinian society, the Israelis will never be able to extricate themselves for the mess that, by now, most Israelis want to eventually extricate themselves from.
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