As I type this, the Palestinian people are once again having to endure fear and death from the never ending power struggle between Hamas and Israel.  I am of Jewish descent and my views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are well known to those who follow my writings (http://aberantnews.org/?p=32).  And, while I feel much of the burden of violence and hate in Gaza are manifested by the radical right of the Palestinian politic – I cannot help but think much of the violence and distrust in the region is also the fault of Israeli right wingers as well.

A staunch supporter of Israel’s right to exist, I often wonder how Israelis would feel if the roles were reversed.  If the Palestinians were given the right of sovereignty over the land of Canaan – and it was Israel that was pushed onto the edge of global society. The Palestinians have as much claim to this territory as do the Jews.  Remove the power zealots from each camp, and the two have the same roots in Abraham and the rule of law as children of the book.

Once upon a time Palestine was the jewel of the Middle East. Will it ever return to its former glory? Is the quest for martyrdom taught by the power mongers of Islam going to be the death of all that was great and good in Palestine?  Are the Zionists that preach dominion over all the Arab lands going to make Israel the global symbol of intolerance and hubris?

I sit here today, a Jew in genetics only, trying to understand the tactics of Israel.  The never ending, unguided, poorly designed rocket fire from Hamas was more a reminder of political failure than it was a threat to life and limb.  In the last 10 years nearly 6,000 rockets have been fired and less than a couple dozen Jewish casualties had resulted. So, militarily speaking, the Hamas rockets were of little threat. More people died of auto accidents in Israel than Hamas rockets. As a military tactic, the latest attack of Gaza by the IDF is analogous to swatting flies with a sledge hammer.  More Israeli casualties will result – and far more Palestinian & Islamic hate will result – from this assault than all the Palestinian rockets could cause over the last 10 years.

So who is giving the advice in Israel?  Don’t they know that generous food and humanitarian aid to Gaza would trump Hamas’ grip on the population there? But then, who in the Islamic world are secretly hoping that Hamas will be eliminated? Surely Fatah has much to gain if Hamas is broken. Egypt, Jordan and others fear the tactics of Hamas as a means to an end.  But then, so do I.  It’s my opinion that most of Hamas is a bunch of power hungry organized crime figures that are holding 1.5 million people psychological hostage. I’m not alone in that assessment, even right wing Arabs and Hezbollah insiders think poorly of Hamas. But when Israel attacks Gaza Hamas becomes stronger.

Israel has many enemies. They are the favorite target of any Muslim that wants to become powerful – either politically or religiously.  But in truth, if the Muslims did not have the Jews to hate, they would simply hate each other. Many more Muslims would die at the hands of other Muslims if the ‘Zionist” common enemy were not there.

Ok, so much for sharing blame… what is the answer?  The elimination of Jews? The elimination of Palestinians?   All of you that think either of these is a workable solution raise your hands… then leave this blog. Because you are part of the problem. You will never be part of the solution.

For the rest of you, let’s try this; Israel: insure that all Palestinians have food, clothing shelter and justice. Yea, justice. Like giving back the land and liberty they once had – before they listened to the other Arabs of the region and screwed everything up (circa 1948). Long lived occupations, embargos and blockades only serve to empower your enemies and punish the innocent.  Palestine: You have made your point. The Zionist land-grab of 1947 was unfair. Life is unfair. The native Indians of the U.S. lost an area 400 times that of Israel.  Get over it. History is not kind. You have children and grandchildren to think about.  Stop putting your trust in Hamas and start demanding justice and the countries of the world Will stand by you!

Every time someone tells you to take up arms against another… stop right there. Whether Israel, Palestine, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, the USA,… makes No Difference; dictatorship or democracy, monarchy or theocracy – no form of government is immune to the corruption of power. We should all live by the same standard – giving each other the same respect and allow each to live, worship and behave as if we had to live on this planet together forever.

This may all sound naively ideological to many, but we are becoming a Global society. Economies are global; the internet & communications are global; resources are global; politics is soon to be global; … we are no longer a world of isolated people, cultures and deeds. We are in the infancy of an information technology driven world order now.  Those that understand and influence this new order will reign in perpetuity.

JB

Sources & References

Annonomus (2009). Protests mount as Israel unleashes ground forces, New Zealand Herald, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10550483

Paul Beaver (2009). War amongst the people, Al Jazeera, retrieved January 3, 2009, from: http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/war_on_gaza/2009/01/200913772015547.html

Sultan Al-Qassem (2009). Hamas must step down as Gaza’s keeper, The Daily Star, retrieved January 6, 2009, from: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=98859