If Not Hope, Then What...?
It's entirely possible to be too hopeful and dismiss caution to the winds of possibility, however remote the desired conclusion appears. Human beings are capable of sustaining hope in the most impossible of situations. That deep-seated emotion sustains us during times of violated realities; it is inextricably wound up in nature's foremost gift to us - our genetically imprinted survival code.What? We're just talking about two disengaged hostilities shuffling back and forth to attend unsatisfyingly inconclusive meetings where the clout of blackmail and promise of enhanced violence is geared to force concessions from an adversary concerned about his own collective surviving of a "peace process". It's not like facing the certain conclusion of an enemy promising instant annihilation by means of nuclear explosion well and truly targeted.
The intent may be similar but the conclusion will be longer in arriving at success. The recognition of the existence of Israel is not to be confused with the recognition of Israel as a determinedly Jewish state. That's the starting point, leaving ample room for manoeuvring. Inclusive of and decisive to the imperative of accepting the "return" of millions of Palestinians claiming to have been displaced through the fleeing fear of their parents, grandparents.
These millions of socially, politically disadvantaged offspring of the original Palestinians who have themselves never lived in the Palestinian Territories; most of whom have never even tentatively and briefly set foot upon that soil, but entitled, nonetheless. Whose inclusion would effectively diminish the stature of the Jewish-diluted state, and produce a de facto additional Arab-Muslim state. Permitting of Jewish presence.
Israel and its people as sick and deathly tired of the status quo and the bloodshed and the deprivation of freedom of thought and security as the unfortunate Palestinians, desperately trying to appease the unappeasable appetite for triumphal success of the Palestinian Authority and its demands. Resulting in the release of Arab prisoners from Israeli jails, while there is no concomitant release of IDF prisoners from Arab detention.
Above all, while Israel is committing herself to neighbouring Arab countries' and international demands that she dismantle West Bank settlements and firm up her borders back to pre-1967 levels, there is no cessation of attacks against the state in ongoing Qassam-rocket barrages. There is hope in the fact that much of the world's nations agree on the urgency to finally arrive at a settlement between Israel and the PA.
But if pressure continues to be applied unevenly for Israel to concede unremittingly to PA demands what then is left for Israel? She is expected to pull back to earlier borders, displacing tens of thousands of Jewish settlers, eradicating their settlements. She is expected to give up her dreams of her national historical capital where resides the heart and soul of Judaic tradition and religion.
She is expected to willingly consign herself to diminishment and eventual dissolution of herself as a Jewish state whose purpose is to provide succour and refuge for world Jewry. This will guarantee her peace. Or will it? Who will control the revenge-driven psychotic jihadist actions of diehard opponents of the existence of Israel? In the words of an ex-prime minister: "We want a sane peace, not a surreal peace."
Amen.
Labels: Israel, Justice, Terrorism, Traditions
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, November 20, 2007
<< Home