I am not an alarmist by nature...or perhaps, I didn't used to be. Six years of Bush madness may have made me sensitive to the insanity of our times. Even so, by any standard, the latest Israeli/Palestinian idiocy is mind-boggling, and threatens to
explode across the Middle East.
Yes, I know, the Israelis are quite expert in smacking down any attempted invasions by their neighbors. I truly believe, however, that the current situation threatens to become very different. A toxic mix of religious extremism in several of the countries involved, a connected sense of self-righteousness in all concerned, and increasing desperation have left a very short fuse on a very large powder keg.
More on the flip side.
The situation is, by all accounts, horrific. The UN believes that the Gaza Strip is
mere days away from a "deadly humanitarian crisis" while the EU
begs both sides to "step back from the brink" of disaster.
The kidnapping of the Israeli soldier is tragic and criminal, but the response redefines the term "overreaction." The Israeli government is preventing all resources that could restore clean water to much of Gaza from reaching the Palestinian Authority, which could result in mass dehydration and disease during the height of a brutal summer. There are nearly one and a half million people crowded into the Gaza Strip, into which the Israeli government recently promised never to return. While the Israelis have retaliated with overwhelming force before, I get the distinct impression from the articles that the widespread targeting of the civilian infrastructure is unprecedented -- perhaps the lack of Israeli settlements in the Strip has freed their hand. (In my more paranoid moments, I wonder if that was the true purpose of the withdrawal.)
As the violence escalates, especially with the region already inflamed by years of American occupation of Iraq, I see a rapidly increasing chance for the entire region to explode with violence. I hesitate to label the result a war; call it a super-mob, meta-terrorism, the primal scream of hate from a million voices as people just snap at the sheer insanity of it all. What I don't see is any way to stop it; the Israeli government seems to have gone mad, and a military force capable of stopping them would only create more violence as their reaction appeared (to them) to be justified by the counterattack. The idiots holding Cpl. Gilad Shalit seem content to watch Israel prove them right, no matter how many of their own people die as a result. The Hamas government would seemingly rather protect their hard-line cred than genuinely work with those who might resolve the crisis, though with the Israeli PM saying that he's willing to use "extreme action" (what does he call the current invasion, a slap on the wrist?), it's anyone's guess whether there's anyone to negotiate with. Meanwhile, America turns a blind eye to the crisis (okay, Condi's been wringing her hands at the Israelis), while its/our erosion of the UN has made them even more toothless in the face of this disaster.
I really don't know what to suggest. If the US were to seriously discuss sanctions against Israel, that might get us somewhere, but that seems about as likely as Bush joining the Communist Party. All I know is that if someone doesn't do something soon, we may all be facing a humanitarian crisis. The war of the all against the all, one that could devastate the fragile web that holds our global economy together, looms large in the bloody shadow of that tiny strip of land. It seemed to promise the beginning of a true road to peace all too recently. Instead, that road now seems paved with the best of intentions, with the destination beginning to glow ominously in the distance.
I am open, as the saying goes, to suggestions.
--
(/) Roland X
Fleeing the Chenon tyranny, the last Battleblog, Galactikos, leads a rag-tag fugitive web, on a lonely quest; a shining concept, known as Truth.