How many wars against Israel do the Palestinians and by extension the Arabs have to lose before they will except that Israel and the Israelis are not going anywhere? Each succeeding war or infatada has only made their plight worse than before and hardened the resolve of the Israelis.
Let's be clear it is the Arabs that declared war against Israel in 1947 not the other way around. Although the Arabs feel they can tacticly lose repeated wars and still triumph in the end, the Israelis implicitly understand that they cannot lose even one. To think that if they were to lose, that the Arabs would not commit another horrific genocide is to deny history and their own declared intent. One virtual constant of history is that people who wage war against their neighbors and lose is that they lose territory as well. The shifting map of Europe over the centuries is ample proof of that. Who among us would propose that the Germans have a "right of return" to those territories east of the Oder river that now comprise nearly a third of Poland? It absurd on its face.
Israel withdrew in stages from Sinai in exchange for a lasting peace with Egypt. A peace that has survived even the assassination of Anwar Sadat. They withdrew from Gaza on the promise of peace. It wasn't the Israeli that betrayed that promise.
Are there bad actors among the IDF? Undoubtably. Just as there are undoubtably bad actors among Hamas and the Palistinian Authority. War does terribly things to people. Often instilling an incredible indifference to human life that those not involved can not begin to fathom. This war is no different than any other, filled with atrocities on both sides. The kind of things that can burn scars into people's souls that can never be forgotten.
My father had nightmares about things he encountered in the Philippines until he died. If he had had the strength he would have cursed the Japanese with his dying breath. I've known veterans of Viet Nam who feel the same way about their experiences. So who's to say if some of those IDF soldiers filmed shooting at Palestinian children hadn't seen a relative or friend blown to pieces in a suicide bombing? We can't possibly know. There is no excuse for the slaughter of innocents by either side. But to the best of my knowledge the Israelis do not systematically teach their children the kind of hatred and asperations to martyrdom that can be seen on Palistinian television every day.
Is there any solution to this terrible war or the seemingly endlesness of man's cruelty to man? I can only suggest that that can and will only happen when the Palistinians and by extension, the Arabs and Muslims in general, except Israel's right to exist and seriously mean it. Only then will it be possible to negotiate any change of status for Jerusalem or the withdrawal of Jewish settlements from the West Bank.
Or perhaps it can't be solved by man alone and will only be resolved when Christ himself returns and shakes the Mount of Olives.
To me History repeats itself. What is different from the Nazi and the Warsaw ghetto and Israel and Gaza. Herd people to a ghetto ,bomb them,denied water, food and wonder why they have nothing to lose!Understand the rightfully paranoia of being on edge with the Muslims wanting and screaming kill Jews but back a person into a corner and they become trapped and desperate and do not care about life anymore!
ReplyDeleteBig problem with your argument. It wasn't the Israelis who confined the Palestinians to the refugee camps. It was the Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanonese. They deliberately refused to let integrate into their societies or grant them Passports. The Egyptians and Jordanians further refused to allow them to establish an independent Palistine in Gaza and the West Bank. Please get your history straight. No one is stopping the importation of food and medicine to Gaza. All they have to do is stop trying to smuggle in arms and launching indiscriminate attacks.
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