The journey from there to here

There's no end to the number of articles written demanding that Israel's response to Hezbollah is improper. Yet in all of those blogs, only one offers a solution, and, ironically that solution is one that opponents of Israel's foreign policy would even find appalling. That solution is, of course, Emp's solution of the complete extermination of all Israelis. Not surprisingly, Emp's solution is also Hezbollah's solution.

The lack of real, viable solutions for Israel is part of what is making the peace process so difficult. There are many who would demand that Israel stop doing what it is doing, ignoring the fact that if Israel stops doing what it is doing, then the extermination of Israel WILL be the end result, as the nation will find itself unable to protect itself from the missiles that strike its cities daily, under the terms of the ridiculously suggested unilateral cease fire.

While Hamas, as the politically dominant party in Palestine, has some accountability to world leaders for its actions, Hezbollah has no more accountability than, say, the Lions Club. They are accountable to themselves, and any cease fire drawn up by the UN would not be binding on this organization. Only on the nations in which the organization operates. And while the UN has some muscle (wrongly given, in my opinion) to regulate foreign policy, history has proven that the UN is weak in regulating domestic policy, even in the cases where it has attempted to do so (Darfur, anyone?). You simply cannot conduct negotiations with a political entity that does not exist.

We cannot pretend to address the problems in the middle east by simply insisting that Israel cease firing on Lebanon and Palestine. We must address them with real solutions that give Israel an answer to the attacks carried out on its own nations, if we are to do anything at all. My personal belief is that "doing anything at all" has been our first problem. While I'm hardly a hard line isolationist, I think we're too wrapped up in the political battles of other countries, and that our lack of objectivity in Middle East politics may one day cost us dearly. And not just in the price we pay for gasoline at the pump.

I believe the best solution is to contain, as best we can, the conflicts of the Middle East to the Middle East. Let them duke it out, and simply address the problems when they spread to our nation or to those of our allies. This is a battle that's about FAR more than a piece of land or a few oil wells. It is about the fundamentally held beliefs of two divergent religions, both of whom are acting like stubborn toddlers fighting over a toy. And as long as they can appeal to their "big brothers" to fight the battles for them, they are unlikely to find real, lasting solutions.


Comments
on Jul 28, 2006
To: GideonMcLeish

"This is a battle that's about FAR more than a piece of land or a few oil wells. It is about the fundamentally held beliefs of two divergent religions, both of whom are acting like stubborn toddlers fighting over a toy. And as long as they can appeal to their "big brothers" to fight the battles for them, they are unlikely to find real, lasting solutions." [Bold added.]

It certainly is. It's also about the 'Umma', the Muslim world community in which every Muslim feels involved. The Umma ensures that these conflicts can't be contained in the way that you suggest. Every Muslim everywhere is a part of the Umma, and therefore every Muslim everywhere is involved in every struggle of Muslims everywhere. The Koran tells them so. And many young, disaffected Muslims seem to be coming, in increasing numbers, to think that there's an obligation on each part of the Umma to struggle directly, to fight.

Containment of the struggle along the lines you suggest simply will not work. The publicity provided by Al-Jazeera alone is enough to make it impossible.

"The lack of real, viable solutions for Israel is part of what is making the peace process so difficult. There are many who would demand that Israel stop doing what it is doing, ignoring the fact that if Israel stops doing what it is doing, then the extermination of Israel WILL be the end result, as the nation will find itself unable to protect itself from the missiles that strike its cities daily, under the terms of the ridiculously suggested unilateral cease fire." [Bold added].

Israel is already in that position and will become increasingly vulnerable as Hezbollah, as promised, takes its strikes beyond Haifa to the south. The Israelis seem to have seriously underestimated how many missiles Hezbollah has in its possession and how rapidly they could be deployed. And for all their air-strikes the Israeli Air Force seems unable to destroy the majority of the launchers.

A unilateral ceasefire couldn't make this situation worse than it already is.

"That solution is, of course, Emp's solution of the complete extermination of all Israelis. Not surprisingly, Emp's solution is also Hezbollah's solution."

Actually, I think the entire region should be made some sort of American Protectorate, brought under military law and be subject to direct military rule - Israel, Lebanon, Iran and Syria. But since that's hardly likely to happen without properly thought out plans for invasion and conquest, the return of the draft, and years of war, I think it's best all round if we nuke them all, from Damascus to Tehran - Jerusalem included.

That won't happen either, unfortunately. So we'll continue to work with the proposition that Iraq is a success, that the incursions into Lebanon are actually motivated by concern for kidnapped soldiers, that Afghanistan is a working democracy and not a corrupt cabal of warlords, poppy growers and drugdealers. Things will go on as usual - until Israel nukes Iran's nuclear facilities (the ones they know about) just as it attacked and destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor.

Jews have always had stiff necks. They won't be told: they have to be compelled. What one of the Caesars had to say of the Germans is true of Israelis today - they're either at your throat or at your feet. They need to be reminded, forcibly, of which state is the client in all of this.

But they won't be. Not until they do something so egregious that the evil consequence of letting our regional 'attack-dog' run off its chain for so long can't be contained any longer. Not until they do something that so seriously threatens immediate and vital interests of our own that the consequences of not dragging the Israelis to heel carries costs too great to be born.

Until then it'll be business as usual: bullshit in the morning, bullshit at noon, and bullshit by night.