Re <<How is my understanding wrong? >>
You are not taking into account the history and circumstances of this conflict.
I live in northern San Diego, about 45 minutes to the Mexican border. If we had people coming over the border, blowing themselves up in public places and killing people, and those people were being trained and encouraged by the government of Mexico, I would support a decisive military situation. Things are different with Israel and Palestine.
First consider this, in many cases Arabs are not allowed to purchase land in Israel, yet any Jew from any country can automatically become an Israeli citizen and own any piece of land. A blatant and obvious racism aimed to have a Jewish only state. Hitler would be proud. So we have Jews move to Israel for religious and philosophical reasons from all over the world. But Israel cannot handle this immigration so it needs new areas. So it needs another war. This has been happening since Israel was created. A war every few years to expand settlement territories. Kill a few Palestinians and kick out the rest.
On the other side you have Palestinians living in “territories”. Not even a country, just some dirt and they must live in it. No military, no national unity or identity, no financial or economical infrastructure. For OVER 40 YEARS! Imagine being a 20 year old young guy, you don’t have a country, you are living under occupation and Israel keeps shooting rockets up your ass. It is not that hard to find some volunteers to blow themselves up.
Sharon is documented war criminal. He only knows war and he is now doing what he likes best. The current operation by Israel, as justifiable as it might sound for someone who has only being following it since sep 11th, does nothing to achieve a peaceful goal. Israelis action has completely destroyed any hope of a meaningful peace any time soon. Sharon has destroyed peace and made life miserable for Israeli’s and Palestinians alike. Sure there is a pause in suicide bombings, but unfortunately those will be back with a vengeance.
The problems is that the long term Israeli expansionist policy, along with Sharon a brutal war criminal who is a sorry excuse for a human sh*t, makes for a perfect atmosphere for terrorists to thrive. As Bush so nicely simplified it, Israeli action has no path to peace. Sharon and Arafat both know that, and they like just like this.
Mani |
