Simple Solutions to Intractable Problems
Well, there are no simple solutions are there? On the other hand, sometimes there are. Seemingly simple in theory, but difficult beyond belief in practise. Look at the current situation in the Middle East, where Israel has just withdrawn IDF troops from Gaza. Why were the troops there to begin with? Because Israelis along the border had just about all they could absorb in the sphere of terror raining down from the skies.Peace-loving Palestinians, dreadfully anxious for the opportunity to inhabit their own land and form their own government to claim their inalienable right as a nation among nations cannot fire Kassam rockets across the border into their neighbour's territory fast and furious enough. They're that anxious to achieve nationhood.
That their actions, rather than being constructive are obstructive to the goal is beyond their imaginings. That they have been dreadfully wronged by history and deprived of that which they hold most dear isn't in dispute, but they have themselves been culpable in large part for their misery. Hatred, dissent, discordance, vengefulness, bloodlust avails them nothing but a return of the same for their troubles.
They've got to become serious about civil discourse, agreeable to putting down their hatred and their arms for long enough to enable the statesmen among them to confer and bring to the table, alongside their Israeli counterparts, agreements acceptable to both sides, for both sides realize that in the final analysis further sacrifices to the status quo must be made for an acceptable and lasting accommodation leading to peace between neighbours.
Palestinians, Arabs of all stripes throughout the Middle East keep claiming that Israel, that lonely little nation of six million souls surrounded by a sea of hundreds of millions of bitterly anti-Israel Muslims is intent and capable of taking over the region in its entirety, a mission Muslims swear to forfend in the name of the Prophet and Allah, by the sacrifice of their own blood. The holy mission continues, as fervent Islamists find themselves blessed as martyrs-in-the-making in the name of Islam, a religion of peace and goodwill.
Here's a novel idea: stop attacking, stop the commitment to murder and mayhem, stop educating your young to hate and to accept that their destiny is to destroy another people, another country in their midst. If Islam is indeed a religion of peace, honour that religion and its message of peace. Your olive branch will be met with a dove.
Residents of Palestinian villages and towns have an obligation to deny the would-be murderers among them, to object to being used as cover for jihadists who imperil their lives by inviting the predictable deadly response from an army charged to protect the residents of their country. If Palestinians remain acquiescent to being used as human shields they can really blame no one but themselves for their supine consent to being victims.
But the population that is victimized in this way turns their anger and undying enmity upon those who seek to protect their own, rather than where it belongs - directed toward those whose incendiary brand of hate is so convoluted that they see themselves as the protectors of those whom they imperil. Both the victims and their victimizers turn their blame upon Israel, which has acted in self-defence. Is that logical? Come to think of it how logical is it that the world press takes up the story just as it is presented, unquestioningly, without seeking cause and effect.
Provocative captions and heart-rending photographs accompany the news media's triumphant ndew-breaking stories of yet another perfidiously unjustifiable assault by the IDF against innocent civilians. On the same page, in smaller print, explicable captions and no luridly emotion-grabbing photographs for the stories of a reprisal killing of 41 soldiers in Pakistan; more sectarian murders in Iraq as another 66 are killed; Tamil Tigers claiming that Sri Lankan troops killed 45 civilians.
Israel has launched a formal investigation into the errant bomb that killed 18 civilians, including 8 children, in Beit Hanoun. It has explained that this was not a planned attack, but rather an accident caused by a wayward artillery shell, one of two as yet unaccounted for of a total of 12 fired in the area. However investigation or not, Hamas and Fatah have condemned the "terrible, despicable crime", while taking no ownership of their responsibility of the cause, the firing of Kassam rockets into Israeli territory.
Kassams launched from Gaza after the IDF pull-out continue unabated. One fell near a children's dormitory in Kubbutz Kfar Aza, others in open areas, two in Ashkelon. Earlier four rockets fell in Ashkelon, one near a school, another on a residential street, two near an industrial zone where a major power station and chemical plants are situated. No responsibility for these deadly assaults that terrify Israelis are owned by Hamas, yet it calls explicitly for a continuation of suicide attacks inside Israel to re-commence.
Three months earlier during the Israel-Lebanon war 57 Lebanese Arabs were reported dead as a result of an Israeli air strike. Much later evidence revealed that Israel had in fact, not been involved. The building, used to store explosives hadn't been destroyed by the bombing which had taken place a day earlier, but which later was used to house dozens of women and children throughout a night of bombing. Human Rights Watch later amended the figure to 28 dead, but their identity was vague, they were not the building's original occupants.
As in all such instances, the original story in the blame game sticks.
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, November 09, 2006
<< Home