Over the past few months the discussions around the Israeli/Palestine conflict have simmered down. There were two schools of thought on exactly why this was happening. One: The election was grabbing everyone’s attention and this conflict was not top of mind. Two: The main contributors to these discussions suddenly realized that there input on this conflict was repetitive and inconsequential.
Well I guess this election was so exciting (and important) that the Daily Kos faithful were distracted. In the past two days over a half a dozen Israel this and Israel that diaries have popped up and I wonder why. In a time that our stock market is plummeting, our unemployment rate is skyrocketing and Iraq is still burning, why are we so focus and putting so much time and energy into this conflict. Well, some might say "We are giving our tax dollars to Israel which could be helping our economy". While that sounds like a valid point the money that goes to Israel come right back at us through defense contracts. Some might say that "people in Gaza are starving". Well what about the people in streets of New York, LA or Washington, they aren’t starving? Some might say "We need to help occupied people". For that I can only say one thing, let them help themselves. Once Hamas and Fatah wake up and realize that they aren’t going to get anywhere with false cease fires, suicide bombers and rocket launches. Once they realize that this is not a "fair" world and they will have to make concessions in order to live there lives peacefully. Not until they do these things will there peace and there is nothing you, I or even President-Elect Obama can do about it. Israel has much blame in this conflict but the Palestinians are going to have to give up a lot of their current dreams for their kids’ future dreams. I know this is harsh but that’s life and there’s nothing we can do about it.