I understand the compulsion to write about the terrible situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip (and northern Israel, near Lebanon). But I regret to read what I found in your latest “cabinet.”
____________________
First, one can readily acknowledge that Israelis have made numerous errors in humane responses,, over the course of the past 75-plus years. And no fair-minded person could absolve PM Netanyahu for all that he has done (somewhat Trump-like) to make things worse. The beleaguered people of Israel have carried out numerous excesses at various times throughout their history.
(I, personally, would find it hard to judge such people, who live with frequent, sporadic sirens announcing incoming rockets and maintain their own “safe rooms,” and must individually decide when to place themselves in them, as each alert is heard.)
____________________
But I can think of only one reason for placing the burden for the welfare of the Palestinian people on the shoulders of the frequently attacked, and invaded, citizens of Israel. How and why can the whole of this, from 1948 forward, be something for Israelis to resolve—on behalf of the miserable and seemingly feckless Palestinians?
The best and strongest international forces for peace in the area ought, most-naturally, to fall to the Arab neighbors, surrounding. Egypt could have built the Gaza Strip into a powerful force for independence—the “two state solution.” Yet, they have not.
Queen Noor, the Palestinian-American queen of Jordan, was heard this past week, explaining why Palestinians are not welcome in her country.
This weekend, I heard of an experiment undertaken by one of the farther-removed countries in the region. Was it Qatar? Iraq? Kuwait? I don’t recall.
The result of that generous experiment was reportedly that the Palestinian groups (in whichever country, which I unfortunately forget) set up their own, individual state-like parts in the larger country. Violence and dissension was the result. The refugees, numbering a number of some-hundred thousand in all, were ultimately expelled.
____________________
The cause of all this Middle Eastern strife, at this point, is two things.
One is the unwavering determination, of some of the area’s Islamist groups, to create a single Caliphate in the whole of the region. (Such a caliphate is to include all of the area’s Muslim nations. Thus, no area or sovereign nation there is safe.)
Thus, the enemy of the entire region is not Israel nor the Palestinians. The enemy is the Islamist-terrorist state.
How anyone can believe that this situation is one that Israel, alone, can solve, can be attributed to the second of the two motivations that drive the violent discord between Israel and any of its neighbors.
The Second Thing:
There’s a word for that belief. I would rather not name the world-wide bigotry, but you surely know that term.
Such a beautiful installment: this captures much of what I have wanted to express about the current crisis in Palestine/Israel—and much I didn’t even know that I wanted to express. For me, reading, like writing, is not so much the discovery of what one already knows, but the discovery of what one doesn’t know that one knows. A work of wonder. Thank you.
I understand the compulsion to write about the terrible situation in Israel and the Gaza Strip (and northern Israel, near Lebanon). But I regret to read what I found in your latest “cabinet.”
____________________
First, one can readily acknowledge that Israelis have made numerous errors in humane responses,, over the course of the past 75-plus years. And no fair-minded person could absolve PM Netanyahu for all that he has done (somewhat Trump-like) to make things worse. The beleaguered people of Israel have carried out numerous excesses at various times throughout their history.
(I, personally, would find it hard to judge such people, who live with frequent, sporadic sirens announcing incoming rockets and maintain their own “safe rooms,” and must individually decide when to place themselves in them, as each alert is heard.)
____________________
But I can think of only one reason for placing the burden for the welfare of the Palestinian people on the shoulders of the frequently attacked, and invaded, citizens of Israel. How and why can the whole of this, from 1948 forward, be something for Israelis to resolve—on behalf of the miserable and seemingly feckless Palestinians?
The best and strongest international forces for peace in the area ought, most-naturally, to fall to the Arab neighbors, surrounding. Egypt could have built the Gaza Strip into a powerful force for independence—the “two state solution.” Yet, they have not.
Queen Noor, the Palestinian-American queen of Jordan, was heard this past week, explaining why Palestinians are not welcome in her country.
This weekend, I heard of an experiment undertaken by one of the farther-removed countries in the region. Was it Qatar? Iraq? Kuwait? I don’t recall.
The result of that generous experiment was reportedly that the Palestinian groups (in whichever country, which I unfortunately forget) set up their own, individual state-like parts in the larger country. Violence and dissension was the result. The refugees, numbering a number of some-hundred thousand in all, were ultimately expelled.
____________________
The cause of all this Middle Eastern strife, at this point, is two things.
One is the unwavering determination, of some of the area’s Islamist groups, to create a single Caliphate in the whole of the region. (Such a caliphate is to include all of the area’s Muslim nations. Thus, no area or sovereign nation there is safe.)
Thus, the enemy of the entire region is not Israel nor the Palestinians. The enemy is the Islamist-terrorist state.
How anyone can believe that this situation is one that Israel, alone, can solve, can be attributed to the second of the two motivations that drive the violent discord between Israel and any of its neighbors.
The Second Thing:
There’s a word for that belief. I would rather not name the world-wide bigotry, but you surely know that term.
PS: RIP the fine genius of an artist: Bob Irwin
24 hrs ago
Such a beautiful installment: this captures much of what I have wanted to express about the current crisis in Palestine/Israel—and much I didn’t even know that I wanted to express. For me, reading, like writing, is not so much the discovery of what one already knows, but the discovery of what one doesn’t know that one knows. A work of wonder. Thank you.