Hi Nadine Carroll; Re: "The Israelis [Bilow: did you really mean to say "Jews" here rather than Israelis?] are not a small minority in Israel as you seem to think, but a majority with no place else to go."
(a) You're obviously failing to take into account the Palestinian diaspora. You're definitely ignoring the Arab population in the rest of Jordan. The problem for Israel is that, even with the occupied territories ethnically cleansed, you still aren't big enough to be militarily defended in the midst of a hostile region. As far as the size of the Palestinian diaspora, heck, Kuwait recently expelled 300,000 of them. The total numbers are around 60% larger than the population of Israel. Read more here:
en.monde-diplomatique.fr
(b) As it turned out, most of the South Africans didn't think they had any place to go either, but things worked out fine. The rest of the world has heard your sorry story before from other minority groups. Sometimes things work out for them, sometimes they don't. The issue for us is not your lives but our own. The real question we ask ourselves is why should we take a bullet for Israel? I love life, why should I die? Why should I even have to deal with a loss of freedom because my country gets tied up in a 3000 year old grudge match? If you look carefully at history you will see the shallowness of American resolve to help you for your own sake. The US, like any other nation, takes care of itself.
Re: "I think that the sorry history of the Oslo Accords should have proved to everyone's satisfaction that Israel cannot make "nice-nice" with the Palestinian Authority as currently constituted. Yassir Arafat is no Nelson Mandela." Why don't you assassinate him? Or at the very least explain how it is that you're unable to control territory which you're supposed to police. Legitimate governments should be able to eliminate terrorism from within their borders, or at least try. It doesn't appear that you're trying. If Arafat is a criminal, then why don't you arrest him? If his state is a foreign nation, why don't you admit this? How do you think the US will be able to force Syria to eliminate Palestinian terrorism from their territory when Israel doesn't do it from theirs? Answer this question.
Like I said before, if you wait until the US is forced to come in and solve our problems for you, you probably won't like what you will get. There's no way that the US will prevent the Palestinian diaspora from moving back to Palestine, and there is no way in hell that we will allow them to be prevented from voting. We were founded under the principle of one man one vote (which has since been extended to women, slaves, poor people). We were founded under the principle of freedom of immigration. Look at the Statue of Liberty, do you really think we would prevent the Palestinians from moving back? And if we did prevent the Palestinian diaspora from moving back to Israel we wouldn't be able to solve our terrorism problem. In other words, for the US, the Israeli "solution" is our problem.
Re: "Ironically, the more the situation devolves into open warfare, the better it is for the Israelis, who can then use their military strength. The Palestinians have been fighting an assymetrical war with "shoot'n'whine" tactics; but if the cuffs come off Israel, this won't work for them." Then get on with it, you've allowed the situation to fester for far too long already. The rest of us have suffered long enough with the whining from both sides. We're quite sick of hearing about how evil the other side is. Like I said before, if you guys wait for the US to come in and fix things you're probably not going to like it because you're not going to be left in power. We will let the Palestinian diaspora move back. Without our doing that, the situation would remain unresolved. With that freedom, the attraction of the economy of Israel would suck Palestinian diaspora wannabes and fakes off of the moons of Saturn. I doubt if Israel would remain even 25% Jewish after all those people move there.
Re: "Likewise, if the US goes into Iraq and the whole Mideast goes into war, then the conflict will no longer be big bad Israel against tiny Palestine, but small Israel against big bad Iraq. Who will the left root for then?" Since Israel has no borders with Iraq, and still has an excellent air force, there really isn't much of a problem with Iraq. They might bomb you, but bombing has never been very effective, except when the bombing nation had complete control of the air. All the Iraqis could do would be to piss you off. Where Israel has a problem (as you well know) is if you have to simultaneously fight Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. And having he US left on your side won't do much good. They're notoriously non violent, and any sympathies they would have would bring help long after the shooting had stopped.
These are the facts. If your military (and stomach) is strong enough, you need to push the remaining Palestinians out of the occupied territories and fortify (larger) Israel forever. You will have to be so vicious that the Palestinians once and forever give up the concept of moving to their homeland (the dream your own people were unable to give up for thousands of years). You will have to keep that military position into the forseeable future. If your military is not strong enough, you will be forced out of power, so you should begin negotiations for a peaceful transfer of power.
Your problem with being out voted by the Palestinians is exactly the same problem that South Africa had. You will probably take the South African road 10 to 30 years from now.
The problem for the US is that your little problem with the Palestinians is a problem for us too. Sure, you're used to having terrorism, but for you it is necessary to suffer this terrorism in order to keep the government you like. We don't like terrorism, so you might consider your actions in the light of what the US will be forced to do to solve this problem. Like I've said before, if you think the US will be a part of a plan to prevent people who are (or who even claim to be) Palestinian from moving home you're dreaming. Such a plan would be contrary to US goals for peace as well as our (often ignored) ideals for human freedom. When Israel is restored to freedom of movement and democratic elections, the Palestinians will out vote you. Until that time, we will either suffer terrorism, or you will have to perform such a brutal repression against the Palestinians that you will likely have to continue it forever.
Now do you understand why I see the Intifada as being not so "stupid"? My guess is that you are not militarily strong enough, nor are your stomachs strong enough, to so brutally repress the Palestinians that they lose all desire to fight you.
-- Carl |
