Why Israel Should Not Exist

Suicide bombings=the work of a few, not very well supported FANATICAL INDIVDUALS.

Israeli aggression=the work of a state military, heavly funded and supported within the country AND by the UNITED STATES.

That's probably why the world media may tend to view the Israeli GOVERNMENT as "more" evil (if there is such a thing) than hopeless fanatics who blow themselves up in acts of desparation, hoping to take out a few Jews with them.

 

Let me pose this scenario:

You are the president of Israel. You have stopped Jewish settlements, pulled out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and returned to I believe 1967 borders. You and the PLO have agreed to a Jerusalem settlement.

The homicide bombings continue on a weekly basis. You have tried diplomatic solutions for 6 months and there is no change. What do you do?

 

Shoot the hostage?

 

To my knowledge, Israel has NOT retreated from the land that it stole in 1967.

 

I see that p.o.v. But, here is another one...

Let me post THIS senerio:

You are a lower class Palestianian. (Which most ARE...not very wealthy.) You've been forced out of work because you can't cross into the next town because Israeli troops with tanks have "permission" to kill anyone on site who breaks curfew. Your kids are malnourished and sick, but there's no way to get food or medical help. The dwelling next to yours has been demolished by the Israeli's and 10 Palestian's have been killed, because they were searching for ONE "suspected" terrorist in that building. Of the 9 innocent civilains killed, one is your best friend that you grew up with in the neighborhood.

You have a 16 year old son who is ANGRY, powerless, full of rage due to the oppression and death he sees everyday. He sees his father and realizes the future holds NO hope for himself either. A group of militants come to this desparate, hungry, isolatated, and enraged TEENAGER and ask him to be a part of their cause, fighting off the invading and oppressing Jews. They offer him, weapons, maybe promise to feed or support his family if he straps a bomb to himself, die as a glorious martyr, and strike a blow at their enemies. Since he has absoultely nothing to possibly look forward to, he does the "noble" thing and sacrifices himself to fight the invaders and help his family.

I'm not saying it's right, because it's not, but it is understandable that people with no hope for the future, will take drastic extreme methods to lash out at their enemies. They feel they have NOTHING to lose by killing themselves.

Again, just like the other senerio, it all depends on your p.o.v.

 

I guess violence is the easy answer. I suppose you could say similar things about how Black Americans were treated for 400 years, but they did not resort to homicide bombings. They chose protest and civil disobedience. The people of India choose that path as well. Why did those paths ultimately work? It's hard for the world to watch and do nothing as people peacefully protest a form of oppression. Change is forced on the oppressing party.

It will be up to Israel and Palestine to make that choice. In this case it appeared Israel was willing to do that in the Camp David accords, but Palestine backed out and now both sides are hopelessly out for blood.

 

I have said ad nauseum, they are both right, and they are both wrong.

For the record, while the land Israel got in 1967 certainly qualifies as 'occupied', please remember that it was seized followed an attempted invasion that would have resulted in Israel's destruction. The lack of resolution to the ongoing state of war in the middle east (with the exception of egypt) makes withdrawing to even more indefensible borders a difficult sell to Israel.

Add to that the fact that Israel gets condemned for responding to suicide attacks far more than the attacks get condemned themselves, and well, you have a hard-line, cynical, bitter leadership that wants action, not words.

Kind of like the palestinians.

Both sides need to stand down. Arguing over who is a terrorist, who belonged there first, etc, is a waste of time. They need solutions, not a formal definition of who is right. The terrorists may not be 'state-supported', as you claim Israel's actions to be, but remember that this makes any cease-fire that much harder for the palestinians to enforce, especially for those groups who have sworn to destroy Israel.

The best solution I can think of are peacekeepers. I will happily listen to any suggestions that you may have.

Peace,

V-03

 

...because we all know how fair and good of a proposal Camp David was.



Would you stop bringing up Camp David please? I don't like Arafat, he's a powerless individual that can't make peace, and doesn't want to either. but he was right by backing out of Camp David, that proposal was bad. Really bad.

 

I believe this thread has run its course. I am going to start a new thread that has a more balanced start. PM me for thoughts if you would like.