Doomed, you say? Maybe so. But let's give it a shot.
In general I don't mind participating in flame wars; indeed I don't see anything wrong with flame wars when we're talking about matters of life and death. But anybody who cares about this issue--or anybody who cares about humanity--has to be sad and scared at the moment, and I, for one, don't feel like cyber-yelling.
Plus there's no question that the nastiness of I/P threads deters many, if not most, Kossacks from participating in this discussion. So a humble attempt to create a safe space...
But enough about you, let me tell you about me. On this issue (on most issues) I'm on the left. I'm on the left not because I don't care about Israel but because I do. Like many of the more vocal critics of Israel on this site and elsewhere, I'm a Jew, the son of a Holocaust survivor (my father didn't apply that term to himself because he survived in hiding, not in the camps. He called himself a Holocaust refugee.)
I feel a little sheepish laying out my Jew-cred; but hey, nothing wrong with a little identity politics, no?
Leaving aside for the moment all questions of morality, I believe that Israel's policy with regard to the occupied territories--including the blockade of Gaza and these latest attacks there--is maddeningly self-destructive and doomed to fail. Is there a person out there, regardless of your views on the overall conflict, who believes that the attacks will decrease Hamas's power or its ability to launch attacks?
Okay: Hamas. Defenders of Israel seem to think people of my political persuasion approve of it, or at least refuse to denounce it. So: I. Denounce. Hamas. How could I not? Hamas kills children. Palestinians have long suffered from poor leadership, and Hamas is perhaps the worst yet. It's my view that Hamas and Israel's government are essentially partners, perpetuating a cycle of violence.
Why, then, do I focus in my blogging on Israel's atrocities, as opposed to those of Hamas?
- Because Israel has vastly more power, as evidenced by the many more deaths it causes. And with greater power comes greater culpability and greater responsibility.
- Because the United States, my country, funds and supports Israel. I helped to pay for those F-16s doing such damage in Gaza. I feel I have the responsibility to try (in my miniscule way) to influence its policy.
That said, I'm not unsympathetic to the argument that Israel has shown relative restraint. After all, the United States invaded and occupied two countries in ostensible response to one brutal act of terrorism. And unlike Saddam's WMD, Hamas's rockets actually exist.
That said said, this is a very low bar indeed: George Bush's America.
That's my thumbnail sketch of where I'm coming from. I welcome yours.
UPDATE: Thanks so much for keeping the discussion civil. Quite an accomplishment.
It's been an interesting experience for me. I got a couple emails (and a couple comments) from people worrying that I've gone soft on Israel. (Now I know what a pol feel likes!) They in particular are concerned about my suggestion that Israel's actions might be restrained compared to the US's response to 9-11. I don't know how one could infer that I was somehow letting Israel off the hook for its siege of Gaza or for its attacks today. Better than George Bush! That's not even faint praise.
Why did I include the comparison? A couple reasons:
- I confess that as a taxpaying American who didn't set himself on fire to try to stop the war in Iraq, I try not to judge other countries "response" to terrorism from on high.
- For a bit of context. Israel's brutality doesn't arise from bloodlust, it's in part a product of a people and political system traumatized by terrorism. The challenge is to find a way for a more moral and sane approach to emerge from a traumatized country.
More generally, I think this points to one of the reasons people on my side of the debate don't have more support among American progressives. It's hard to find a language that both tells the truth, avoiding euphemism, and doesn't send a lot of people running away with their ears covered. Call the seige "brutal" and you still have people's ear. Call the seige "a crime against humanity" and you've started a fight.
The truth is, I'm so sick of American progressives ignoring this issue, and I think people on my side need to find a new way of talking about it. What we're doing isn't working.
UPDATE II: Things are spiraling quickly out of control, as Hamas's political leader is calling for a Third Intifada.
Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, has called for Palestinians to wage a new intifada against Israel, including a return to suicide missions.
In an interview on Al Jazeera, Meshaal said: "We called for a military intifada against the enemy. Resistance will continue through suicide missions."
Meshaal's call came after Israel hammered Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 220 people in one of the bloodiest days of the decades-long Middle East conflict.
Meshaal said Hamas had accepted "all the peaceful options, but without results."
He said that for there to be any talks with the people of Gaza, "the blockade must be lifted and the crossings (from Israel) opened ... notably that in Rafah," which leads to Egypt.
Such a reaction can hardly be a surprise given the brutality of Israel's attacks in Gaza. So far the number of people dead is estimated to be "at least 230," according to AP, including at least 15 civilians, say Palestinian authorities. With more than 400 wounded, that number will rise considerably.
Reuters places the number of wounded at 700.
This is turning into a crisis of catastrophic proportions, and no one is willing or able to try to stop it.
UPDATE (SUNDAY MORNING): As Israeli air strikes continue, 280 people have died in the first 24 hours of fighting according to AP, which also says that most of those killed are Hamas police. But according toMAAN news agency, a Palestinian news service, most of those dead are civilians.
Meanwhile, Hamas continued to fire rockets into Southern Israel, with no reports of casualties. Remember what I said about the massive power imbalance? To put things in perspective, Hamas's Qassam rockets have killed somewhere between 15 and 19 people in the last seven years (it depends on the source.) Israel is killing that many people in minutes as we speak.
Bush has given Israel a green light for the attack. The European Union has called for an end to the violence. The UN Security Council has called for an end both to the violence and to Israel's blockade of Gaza, which it has maintained for months, reducing the area, as Amnesty International puts it, tobare survival.