> Umm, I hope you realize the Palestinians say they're the victims
> because they ARE "THE" victims, as in the ones who first took the hit
> by losing their land. This formulation sort of puts me in mind of Dr.
> Phil counselling the Bobbits to "just leave all that anger in the
> past" and start fresh, as if the anger came from some other place than
> real, material grievances.
Sure, the Palestinians were the victims in that respect. Sure, the Israeli government is being terribly brutal against them now, with all the material power at its disposal. On the other hand, I have never understood why the suicide bombing tactic was such a brilliant idea.
If a population your country had victimized periodically set off bombs in restaurants and on buses in your town, killing whoever happened to be on the spot, would you feel disposed to give them what they wanted? The Palestinian anger comes from a real grievance, but it's not surprising to me that the Israelis are a bit ticked off, too -- wouldn't you be?
Whatever the original rights and wrongs of this dispute were (and my understanding of the history of it, perhaps mistaken, is that if anyone deserves to pay for screwing that part of the world up, it's the Brits), I think the way it's being conducted at this point is just about guaranteeing that it will go on forever. I'm 100% in favor of the U.S. cutting off all aid to Israel tomorrow, but how do you answer people who respond to that sort of proposal with two words: "suicide bombers"?
This tactic is just not helping the people who would like to be allies of the Palestinians put as much pressure as they could on the Israelis to stop their atrocities. Luke was right:
> I don't understand 3). Suicide bombings are a consequence of the
> political culture of some groups of Palestianians. As is often the
> case with terrorism, they're a response to perceived injustice (the
> perception is often veridical). The actual terrorists amongst the
> Palestinians tend to be the least desperate.
It might sound foolish to say "leave your anger in the past," but unless someone makes a move in that direction, there will be no end to it. And frankly, after this many years of a seemingly hopeless situation, and without my having any direct stake in it, I'm at the point of giving up trying to work up sympathy for either side. All I see is brutal people slaughtering innocent people. Tell me there is some transcendent point to it all.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ Belinda: Ay, but you know we must return good for evil. Lady Brute: That may be a mistake in the translation.
-- Sir John Vanbrugh: The Provok’d Wife (1697), I.i.