I sure do wish those people luck. Palestinians in general have been ill-served by their leadership for over 50 years now. This latest choice for leadership seems as questionable as their choice of Arafat. What good did he ever bring to them?
I'd wish them more luck if they could get over their hate of Israel. Yeah, yeah, they got a bad deal in the last century. Europe did take advantage of them by dumping the Jews not killed by the Germans there. Hey, like it or not, the Jews never gave up their claim on the land just because someone bigger came along and threw them off of it, and jeez, that was over 1900 years ago. Israelis might want to make a note of that. Just as the Jews never gave up the idea of eretz Israel, do present day Israelis really want 2,000 years of a blood feud with Palestinians? If the past 50 years is any indication, I want to get out of the line of fire. I do not have a dog in this fight. However, my sympathies are much more pro-Israel than otherwise. I know dozens if not hundreds of Israelis and only a smattering of Palestinians. The ones I know on each side I like, and consider them both to be reasonable people.
To the Palestinians I would offer this advice: play the hand you've got. You need to get a grip and start improving the life of your people. Get over losing part of your land. It could have been worse, and it can always get better.
To the Israelis, I offer this advice: Might does not make right. You are in danger of losing your very souls. Times have changed since the days of marching into a land and destroying all the male inhabitants and all the women who have known men. You can't get away with that shit anymore. The whole world is watching and the world has announced its intention of holding you accountable to the standards of the world. If you deny the very humanity of the Palestinians, it's going to come back and bite your asses, possibly for as long as two thousand years. Please, for all of our sakes, find a way to deal with the Palestinians. You have the greater responsibility because you have the greater awareness.
I wish everyone over there well these next several months. From what I read and hear, nothing will happen until after the Israeli election. Everyone needs to know who the negotiating parties are. It wouldn't hurt for the Palestinians--that means Hamas right now--to indicate their willingness to be pragmatic. The Israelis I know don't give a fuck if you like them or not, but they're going to continue to do everything they can to keep suicide bombers away from their buses and their daily life. If Hamas continues to sound like a terrorist organization, Israel is going to elect some really hard-ass people who are going to kick their sorry asses. Oh sure, it may blow back into their faces in a hundred years or so, but right now, most Israelis are thinking about right now. Oh yeah, and tomorrow: They've been building a fence.
Well, we might think about who we're going to elect in 2008. If it was a choice between some organization such as Hamas and a Bush, I know who would get my vote. I get upset that Palestine has been kicked so many times, and that we go over to Iraq and drop bombs because of imaginary WMDs, but Isreal gets away with having weapons they shouldn't and them being in violation of many UN resolutions, but Iraq's violations were pointed at and painted as the most horrible thing ever. I understand what you are saying and agree to a point. I'm betting the change might surprise us. I know it surprised the bush admin. They're already saying they won't make deals with terrorists and using that as an excuse not to pay aid money to Palestine.
Posted by: oldwhitelady | January 29, 2006 at 05:19 PM
Lately I feel like my own life is a constant of building fenses and breaking them down.
Posted by: Wenchy | January 30, 2006 at 10:21 AM
Right on!!
Posted by: Brenda @work | February 02, 2006 at 09:18 AM