<< However, as a conservative I do not for the life of me understand *WHY*
Israelis would trade land for security when they already have the *F____NG* security. If you honestly believe that rational statesmen trade land when they have absolutely *ZERO* incentive to do so then you are guilty of the worst wooly-headed, liberal, utopianism. In my world view neither Israeli nor Palestinian agents are goining to contravene political-economic rationality that egregiously. >> What kind of security does Israel have now? 20 people were just horribly murdered, and I don't doubt that more atrocities of this kind will continue to occur. I think conservatives are guilty of the most short-sighted self-congratulatory delusions if they think that Israel can long survive by attempting to maintain the status quo. No nation can put up with this kind of war of attrition (people who can will simply start to emigrate; those who can't will begin to suffer effects of traumatic stress). Israel's economy will decline, more and more reservists will refuse to serve, and there will be even more political polarization than there is now. A phrase that will mean nothing to self-styled hard-headed conservatives (bone-headed is more like it) is that there is a moral dimension to Judaism that is being corrupted by the occupation. Not that Israel should simply give the territories back (not until the Arabs offer peace), but there is something inherently wrong in seeing Jews act just like everyone else. Not that we are better than anyone else, but we are supposed to behave better. That's what the term "Chosen People" really means - God expects more from us. Israel is supposed to be "a light unto the nations". Jews perform acts of charity not by choice but because it is the only proper thing to do. This occupation is morally degrading - and even from a hard-headed security point of view, inherently unstable - and for those reasons and more Israel must find a way to end it, even if it is risky and even if the Arabs don't truly deserve it. Not for the Palestinians' sake but for Israel's own soul, the occupation must end and the two peoples completely separated. Tom Beck "I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I didn't realize I'd also see the last." - Jerry Pournelle
