Hi Lazarus Long; Re: "It appears to [me] that if the Palestinians quit attacking the Israelis, Israel will quit attacking them."
I don't think that this is exactly true. There are several Israeli terrorist organizations that will probably continue attacking the Palestinians. I think that the thought you are expressing is that if ALL Palestinians quit attacking Israelis, then the Israeli GOVERNMENT will quit attacking Palestinians. As the situation now stands, the Palestinian GOVERNMENT may or may not be attacking Israelis (depending on who you ask), but there is no denying the FACT that individuals on both sides are continuing to attack the other side, and that the Israeli government is continuing to attack Palestinians. There is also no denying the FACT that the Israeli government does not treat Israeli Arabs fairly and equally.
The situation is reminiscent of that in the US 30 or 40 years ago. A lot of blacks believed, correctly, that they were not treated fairly and equally by the government. Some blacks took up arms and attacked the US. For those who've forgotten, here's some links to remind them of the "Black Panthers" and all that:
learnhistory.org.uk
umich.edu
This one is worth reading again, also note the contemporary commentary on the Vietnam war:
...
Let me give you an example. I’m black. I know that I’m black. I know that I’m a human being. And I know with that comes certain dignities that all human beings have. One of those is that I’m able to enter a public place. But now there are some dumb honkies who don’t know that. So that every time I try to enter a store, the honky gets in my way, shoots at me, bombs my church, kills my children, or beats me up. ‘Cause he doesn’t know that I’m a human being. So the white folk in Washington, DC got to write a Civil Rights Bill to tell this honky, "When I come, get out my way. . .get out my way. . . get out my way."
So that what they've done is they've civilized this honky-- because I'm the same man I was, I'm just going to the store. The only trouble is that he is now forced to recognize my humanity. That's very important. And the same thing is true about the Voting Rights Act. We're black, we know we should be able to vote, every time we try to vote some honky stops us. So they got to pass a civil rights bill to stop him from denying us our rights. They don't give us anything! You've got to get that clear in your mind.
...
courses.washington.edu
If the response of the US to the lawlessness of the black power movement had been the same as the Israeli responses to the lawlessness of the Palestinians, we'd probably have blacks blowing themselves up here in the US. And I'm not saying that the Israeli response was abnormal. No, what the Israelis did, putting the other guy down and keeping him there, is the natural human response to this problem that's been repeated over and over throughout history. Usually it works, because the group on top has sufficient power to make their rules stick. But the Israelis are horribly outnumbered by the Arabs, and so their power is assumed by the Arabs to be temporary, so the Arabs keep on fighting.
No, my point is that what the US did, which was to sacrifice power for whites so that blacks could also have power, a policy which was sufficiently successful that blacks now show up in all parts of American society (except, perhaps, football quarterbacks), is an example of the innate goodness of this country, an inbred inclination towards fairness and compassion that Israel does not share.
Israel is not our equal nor our ally. They are a drag on us. Our motto is the Statue of Liberty, which I quote:
The New Collossus
Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!"” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
factmonster.com
By contrast, Israel has no Statue of Liberty. The central theme of their country is a place for just one type of people; they are an exclusionary state. Moslems aren't even allowed to marry Jews in Israel. Far from the shining inclusionary example of the US, Israel explicitly provides legal advantages for people of one religion over another. Instead of welcoming and helping the poor and downtrodden, Israel trods them down. And of course the result of this has been violent for them. So why should we get involved on their side?
-- Carl |
