Here is the self destructive mistake that some Muslim partisans make-- they provoke destruction of their own to engender blind hatred, and from that reap new converts to their brand of militant activists. Or, as the world calls them, terrorists.
If Hamas wasn't foolish enough to launch rockets right now, or ever, and if Israel didn't always have to return Armageddon for fire, the venomous cycle of hatred and war would simmer down.
But Hamas is, and Israel chooses to. In the process, hatred is turning Muslims into self destructive zombies. Is it possible that someone whose father and brothers, children and sisters were killed by mindless enemy bombs will not want to kill that enemy, or die trying?
As Gandhi said, and eye for an eye, and the whole world goes blind.
What is miserable is that each wants "the West," or "the US," or someone to help extricate them from this dynamic. And, when the time comes, the West, or US, or the rest of the world, sets the same example-- of demanding and eye-for-an-eye. Each tragedy, each terrorist act succeeds in lowering the sum total of human sanity.
Israel will never kill its way out of this hatred. I realize that it cannot appear week in that part of the world. But a show of force as brutal as what we are witnessing is hardly proportionate. At what point does the legacy of the Holocaust start getting squandered?
The Arabs will gain little if Israel is made to hurt, or go away, and they loose little if Israel stays. The best revenge an Arab can have on a Jew is NOT hate him, but to outlive and out create him. If the Arabs didn't have this baggage of hatred and victimization, if they could work at building institutions, and developing technologies, they would build a civilization that could outshine the tiny Jewish state in their midst.
Working together, with Israel, they could use their vast resources to dazzle the world.
Instead, we have the horror of Gaza.
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I viewed your comment on Ilana-Davita's blog and was interested to note that what you say there differs somewhat from what you say here. About the Arabs "waging peace" on Israel (a comment you do not make here on your blog)--Israel has been waiting for that for years. It would be a glorious sight to see. But from what I've seen of Arab society, what worked in India could never work there. You yourself make the astute observation that "If the Arabs didn't have this baggage of hatred and victimization, if they could work at building institutions, and developing technologies, they would build a civilization that could outshine the tiny Jewish state in their midst." And there you have it. (This goes, by the way, for all of the oil-producing countries in this part of the world. If they invested that money in their own societies rather than on terrorism or palaces, they could be some of the most prosperous people in the world.)
Israel has only ever desired peace. It takes no pleasure in "neutralizing Arab strength." It has started no wars (but fought plenty of them against the Arabs who DID start them), has made efforts to help the Arabs build their own society (which were refused by the Arabs), and has given freely of its land, humanitarian supplies and services to the Arabs and received nothing but violence and bloodshed in return. (Can your Arab friends truly talk about "Arab progress" with a straight face?)
If the offer of "peace for peace" were made, Israel would grasp it with a full heart. But it has never been offered that. It had to trade the Sinai for peace with Egypt, and 10 million cubic meters of water per year for peace with Jordan. The price tag for peace with the Palestinians keeps rising (land, economic and service support, release of terrorists from prisons, right of return of Palestinian "refugees") and we still see no sign of commitment to implementing peace. You can join the chorus and wail about disproportionate response all you like, but given the Indian security service's management of the terrorists in Mumbai, I think in your heart you know what is necessary when dealing with cold-blooded terrorist murderers. (Has anyone complained about India's "disproportionate response" to that incident?)
I invite you to visit my blog and get another perspective about the timing of this counter-attack on Gaza by Israel.
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