COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
Well, there is peace, and there is peace.
What most of the earth's people instinctively understand as
peace is not what most Israelis want, I am convinced, and I am convinced solely
by the realities I see, not by beliefs or faith or any other quasi-religious
stuff.
They want, as best we can judge, by a long series of leaders
and the general behavior of its people, peace on their own terms, and that is
not what peace ever really is. Unconditional surrender is not peace.
By "their terms" I mean they want much of the
remaining territory they have illegally occupied for half a century, but they
want it without the people who live there. Nothing else explains Israel’s
history. Where are those people to go? Anywhere, who cares, everything from the
Sinai to Jordan having been advocated.
Israel’s vision of Palestine is a kind of amorphous thing
floating out there somewhere in space, a place with almost no rights or
initiatives, a place that serves as a vast encampment for a reserve pool of
manual labor, pretty much the way they have kept things for half a century.
I don't see how it can be otherwise, judging by actual
behavior and leaders’ words.
It is either less than honest or rather foolish to say that
pressure doesn't help in terrible situations like this. Is the author blind to
history?
How was apartheid ended in South Africa? Relentless
pressure.
How was the Jim Crow South in the United States brought
around? Relentless pressure.
Israel itself is a great believer in pressure and sanctions
as we can see from countless examples, the savage situation in Gaza being the
most extreme, but this belief extends only so far as the things Israel wants,
not to what others want or are entitled. Relentless pressure for whatever it
wants, including the America’s invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a proxy army
of Syria, the invasion of Lebanon, regime change in Egypt, and serious threats
of attacking Iran, a totally peaceful country. Israel is also in bed with such
absolute regimes as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Generalissimo-run Egypt, and others.
Thus while it goes on in speeches about democracy, its best friends and
workmates in the region are tyrants.
The author only offers one more instance of tiresome special
pleading for Israel, as though it were somehow exempt from all the normal
expectations and behaviors of human society.
Sadly, being exempt pretty much summarizes Israel’s entire
brief history: constantly making demands and threats, unleashing extreme
violence periodically, treating millions as rather less than human, a long
series of black operations and assassinations, and just relentless pressure on
everyone, including its chief benefactor, the United States.
But Israel is not exempt. If you want the rule of law, you
must yourself abide by the law, the law being our only protection in the
long-run against the baser instincts of humanity. If we want Israel to join the
ranks of normal countries - instead of continuing as a rather brutal occupying
power which stunts and abuses the lives of millions while periodically stealing
their property, always mouthing empty platitudes about democracy and human
rights - only pressure will achieve it.
The author’s argument is really for the status quo with
words dolled up in attractive window dressing.
_________________
A comment about
Palestinians wanting only to destroy Israel:
Thanks for repeating the official boiler-plate.
We've likely heard that a thousand times in the last half
century, and it is no truer now than it was at the beginning.
Now, if you really believe what you say, it follows
logically that you might begin to ask, well, if that's the case, was putting Israel
where it is a great mistake?
Is Israel's entire future to be nothing but a heavily armed
garrison state? And who will want to live there in future? And is it even
sustainable?
No matter what slogans you repeat over and over, in the end
peace is the only meaningful choice.
