This should get me nailed to the wall by both sides - but, I am sick of the posturing.
I was reading Aldous' diary and the comments therein. It is fascinating to watch the different sides direct fire at each other. I find myself not agreeing with anyone at all.
After watching the same people (including myself) writing the same damn thing day after day it seems that this whole thing is a parody of itself. In this diary I am going to fire on both sides so don't think I am unfairly being asinine - I am being asinine both ways
SO I am coming clean on what I believe - and I hope others will. Frankly, I doubt this will be well received but, I sincerely hope that everyone looks deep within themselves and frakkin' admits to their motivations.
Join me on the Other Side
Though I am Pro-Israeli I don't like Bibi or the settler movement in the least. So I can't defend him or his policies including "natural growth". Natural growth - you have to be fucking kidding me - that is just an excuse to build more housing on land that should not belong to Israel. Yes, Israel won it legitimately in 1967 (yeah you heard me right) but, no one wants them there. Of course, the idiots at Khartoum could have had it back but that was one of the many bad calls in this conflict.
I remember walking around and seeing that the Arab Villagers really were just pretty mellow people and wanted to be left alone. There was a small variety of Anti-Jewishness there but, it was casual and different from the insanity of Anti-Semitism here or in Europe. People welcomed me into their homes knowing full well what I was. Their big thing was that being ruled over by Jews was just something they could not deal with. Were the Israelis brutalizing them daily a la Tom J diaries (gimme a break with just portraying one side as monsters). Nope, that simply was not happening but, were they treated well? No pretty far from it.
The settlers were another story. Generally I found them to be pretty bigoted, self-righteous and generally amongst the kind of people I would not and did not like. Sure, they were friendly to me as a Jew, until they found out that I was a friend of the Ma'arach then it was like a wingnut in the South meeting an Obama campaign worker. Some of the things they said to me disgusted me. They really are not the good guys in this.
I believe in a Jewish Homeland in Israel. It is the historical home of the Jewish people, but, the concept of Greater Israel has got to be one of the STUPIDEST IDEAS EVER! Today's world of 2009 is not 900 B.C.E. I don't like fundamentalists of any stripe so I have as much respect for their world view as I have for Sarah Palin (and that aint much).
My final rip on my own side is - and let's not bullshit shall we - Bibi may eventually want to settle this peacefully but, the man is an ass. He is trying to stall out and has no intention of giving the Palestinians anything unless it is pulled from his clutches by the Big Four. He does not care about doing the "right thing" here - because he is a major thug. I love Israel, the people, the culture, the fact that I think they are truly the most IMHO enlightened society (or were) in the Middle East. I think Bibi is destroying that and playing to the worst in Israel.
BUT - Please don't think I am going anti-Israel on anyone.
First of all the posters here talk about how we Pro-I people should be sensitive to how we make our points, yet they crank some beauties that only people in the highest levels of Anti-Jewish organizations would come up with. They quote our leaders out of context taking a sentence here or a sentence there to prove a point when there is no context included. To wit, when someone posts something from the JPost it is roundly criticized but when something from those jokes of people like Ilan Pape or Finkelstein are quoted that is seen as an unbiased source. Hey guys guess what - they are not respected by our side. Those guys opnions to me are as valid as the thing stuck to the bottom of my sneaker. I would say stop complaining about being sensitive when you pull those jokers out.
Second, Day after day we are bombarded by - OH teh terrible Israelis did this or that. What's your real agenda? What are you really trying to accomplish posting the same crap over and over again? Aldous pulled his diary out today even though it is the exact same issue and diary discussed previously and everyone happily engages in yet another round of the same ole' same ole' self congratulatory we hate Israel rhetoric. Great Bibi is an ass. There.
Guys (and gals) - your side makes mistakes too and plenty of them. Hamas - spews anti-semitic crap on a daily basis yet many of you talk as we should trust those assholes - to the point of saying - Well we know their charter says "Kill you all" (to paraphrase) but.... just ignore that part - they are really just cuddly little bears. I realize no says that, but, it seems to us on the pro-I side that they get a free pass every which way.
And of course there is the crowd that says "anything in resistance is Ok because Israel levelled Gaza. Well first of all - no it's not. It's not ok to kill school children in a targeted raid like in Ma'lot. It is not ok to kill athletes at the Olympic games. It is not ok to bomb Pizza Places and discos, and it is not fucking ok to shoot rockets into the middle of cities indiscrimminately. All that happened before Cast Lead. So using that as an excuse is BULLSHIT. Terror in any form is not legit. It was not legit when Begin and Shamir did it and it is not ok now. Did you ever think that part of Cast Lead and the Israeli turn to the right has to do with the dumbass rejectionist crap that comes from the people you support? DID YOU?
Just as I excoriated my own side for being less than honest - I am saying the same to you. Stop trying to equivocate. If you hate Israel and want to see it destroyed - say it. If you support a two-state solution say that upfront. If you want a One State solution that looks like workers paradise, give me some of the drugs you are taking because at this point I need them. (Just kidding)
Now there are some very reasonable people here on both sides that want to make peace. The other day Thomas C. (someone who I generally disagree with a great deal) reached out to Dean and tried to bridge the gap. THAT IS WHAT WE NEED HERE. DKos is a site where we would mostly agree on 90% of issues because we are all progressive.
I did not write this diary as an intellectual exercise I wrote it because at least I have the (insert word here) to be honest. I hope everyone else will do the same.
Peace Out that is my Rant.
Update 1: Shout out to Jay Elias for his diary. It is well written and bridges a gap. Check it out http://www.dailykos.com/...