Dear Barack,
It's been awhile since I had a chance to write. I've been stranded in town by flooding of the area that I live in. Fortunately, I have not suffered any loss as a result.
I'm glad to see that you are taking a harder line with the Israelis over their treatment of the Palestinians than previous administrations have.I understand that they are the US's main ally in the region, but to ignore their inhumane policies would be to fall in the old trap that the US has been falling into for decades, namely supporting tyranny because the tyrants are "friendly" to the US.We know how those situations have turned out. If the US wants to be seen as having some sort of moral high ground, you have to try to reign in their excesses.
The Palestinians of course do not make things easy. Firing rockets into civilian areas continues to inflame the nationalistic sentiments of the more extreme of the Israelis,but we have to cut them some slack, after all they have been dispossessed of their lands and homes, and continue to be harassed and mistreated by not only the extreme Zionists, but also the government of Israel.One must also take into account the power imbalance between the two parties.
It amazes me that the Jewish people, after the treatment they had inflicted on them by the Nazis, and their constant referencing to those events, now find themselves treating the Palestinians in similar, though admittedly not as extreme, ways. I guess they are driven by a "never again shall we allow this to happen to us" attitude, which is somewhat understandable, though to then oppress another people shows no gain in empathy or understanding.They condemn the monsters of the past whilst becoming monsters themselves.
I agree that probably the only hope of peace is a " two state" solution. It's a pity that so far the Israelis have not agreed to this idea. You need to insist, perhaps even withdraw some support and aid, to help them come to a realisation that they are becoming that which they fear. It is an easy thing to do, and we are all at risk of this happening to us, but we have to find the courage and the empathy to move beyond our fears, as individuals and as nations.
Keep up the good work, Ed
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The Israelis are way past what you call "that which they fear". The reality is that hard-line, Zionist Israelis fear almost nothing at this point in time. They have an arsenal of 200-odd nuclear weapons and their Muslim antagonists have none. The ONLY thing the Zionists fear, therefore, is the idea that one day the Muslim states will acquire nuclear weapons. What the rest of us need to fear is that the Zionists will one day use their nuclear arsenal to preemptively strike at a Muslim nuclear development program.
ReplyDeleteAll of this is, of course, blowback from the Cold War arms race. It was predicted long ago that, as developed nations move away from nuclear technology, underdeveloped nations would acquire that technology. Of course, the development of more and better nuclear weapons went ahead anyway. The imperative bankrupted both the Soviets and the West. Today the developmental work is all done. The nuclear cat is out of the bag and any nation that acquires the technology can build nuclear weapons at whim. The only reason anybody still tests the things is to show off the fact that they've got one. Witness the blustering North Koreans. . . .
This is getting too long. I quit.