While Israel and Hamas war, and Hamas and Fatah clash, and Israel and PA pussyfoot, each day the Parrots and Crows take to their bloody screens and do battle for glory, god and ideology. Day after day after day after day, the same comments are made, the same insults repeated, the same facts disputed. This diary is a proposal to make our I/P war on KOS more efficient.
From now on, I propose that we identify the following favorite and oft-repeated comments by letter and number only. First the Crows' chants in favor of the Palestinian side:
P1 -- Israeli occupation imposes substantial suffering and humiliation.
P2 -- Israel has killed hundreds now more than a thousand civilians, and its missle attacks on Gaza inevitably result in civilian causalties.
P3 -- The blockade of Gaza is brutal and illegal collective punishment.
P4 -- Israel has no intention of making peace, i.e., it has never offered to withdraw from the West Bank.
P5 -- Israeli settlements on the West Bank is theft of Palestinian land.
P6 -- Israel irrationally refuses to recognize and negotiate with Hamas, which has "implicitly recognized" Israel.
P7 -- Israel is destroying the Palestinian people and culture.
P8 -- Israel is a colonialist enterprise.
P9 -- Israel is an apartheid state.
P10 -- Israel purposely commits war crimes.
P11 -- Zionism is facism
Now the Parrots' chants for the Israeli side:
I1 -- Israel offered to withdraw from 94% of the West Bank, with a 2-3% land transfer compensation at Camp David / Taba, but Arafat failed to accept the offer.
I2 -- Israel doesn't have a peace partner.
I3 -- Hamas is a terrorist organization that should be shunned.
I4 -- The lack of a Palestinian state was caused by the 1948 attacks on Israel, the Egyptian and Jordanian occupation of West Bank and Gaza, and the 3 nos of Khartoum.
I5 -- Israel had a legitimate security issue with suicide bombings.
I6 -- Hamas brought the Gaza war on the Gazan people.
I7 -- Palestinians need to shape up before they get a state.
I8 -- Anti-Zionists are anti-Israel
I9 -- Anti-Israel is anti-semitic.
* * * * *
Whether or not my suggestion is put into practice, I am retiring from this game. I have become excessively addicted, and I play Kos insteasd of doing my work. So tomorrow I am asking my office's IT folks to prevent me from connecting to Kos anymore. Withdrawal will be difficult, and I have no faith in a higher power, but somehow life will go on. before leaving, I wish to share these following final thoughts:
- With U.S. caused civilian deaths in Afganistan totaling over 800 in 2008 and sure to rise in 2009 with our increased troops and missions, I assume there will be as many diaries about the US and Obama being war criminals as there will be similar-themed diaries about Israel and Netanyahu.
- If in the comfort and security we all enjoy we can't be civil and respectful to one another here on Kos, how can we expect civility and respect from the Is and Ps, as well as all other groups locked in tragic conflict.
- Being here for the last 2 months was a good experience for me. It made me think, research and reevalute positions that had grown stale from lack of being challenged. Thank you, each one of you, for creating and sharing the experience.
Peace. Shalom. Salaam.