John wrote:
>
[snip]
I think there is a lot to be seriously thought about in this
posting. But, during the past couple days, I have especially
been thinking about:
> 4. The United States has not been a fair mediator in the
> Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It appears from what little I have read that the British
promised more to the Jews and to the Palestinians than
was available (1 + 1 when they only had 1.5?).
In such a situation, the bet that can be hoped for
is for everybody to be moderately unhappy. But the
Palestineans have been a lot more unhappy than the
Israelis. I think a reasonable U.S. position would
have been to urge the Israelis to give the Palestineans
(give back to the Palestineans?) a reasonable part of the
disputed territory, including -- in a spirit of
enlightened culture and hopefully an enlightened
religion, giving the Palestineans *more* than a
fair shake in Jerusalem. Then the U.S. could
with good conscience defend a somewhat unhappy Israel
if the Palestineans proved unwilling to live with
a somewhat unhappy situation.
Instead, it seems U.S. policy has signalled to
Israeli extremists that they could do anything they wanted
to the Palestineans with nothing to fear except
whatever the Palestineans could scrape together to
throw back at them. Like a bully
going out and beating up other kids and knowing he
can run home and mommy will protect him.
I in no way think the Palestineans are culturally admirable.
But people who get abused long enough will have no
motivation to help their perceived oppressors enjoy
a life they feel their peceived oppressors are enjoying
largely at their expense. Did the U.S.
really think we wouldn't be struck at by "these people" sooner
or later?
All the self-righteous talk about "fighting terrorism"
sounds to me partly like yet another way of suppressing the
people rather than addressing their problems.
It may well be too late now for them to accept compromises that
would have seemed magnanimous to them only a few years ago.
I only regret that "we" includes individuals such as
you and me, who, while not nearly so miserable as the
poor of the mid-East, are ourselves oppressed by
capitalist alienation of labor, etc. (For we will
suffer as individuals for what we are associated
with only as "headcount". Few of us
have anything to fear from the Angel of Warcrimes
Tribunals -- but "our country" does.) As Elie Wiesel
said:
Don't compare! All suffering is intolerable!
But that does imply that the Palestineans' suffering
is insufferable *too*.
Yet again, the country blessed with the richest
assets, technology, industrial base, intellectual
(or at least graduate-schooled...) class, etc. in
history, does not seem to have lived up to
a standard it may not have applied to itself, and
that may be itself part of its problem:
From those to whom much has been given,
much should be expected.
The alternative, I would argue, is for those to
whom little has been given to take away everything
we have unless we can keep them all at bay by 24-7 shoot-to-kill
military force applied everywhere. (Of course, that won't work
if there are any unhappy campers *among us*, which
we know "our society" in its glorification
of economic opportunism ("deregulation", etc.)
is busy producing lots of!).
--
I sincerely hope that the Universal Culture which
arose in The West but which, as I have said, The West
hardly deserves, shall not perish due to the
negligence with which The West has failed with
only few exceptions to conservate it.
I would like to live in it, but at least I will die
knowing it was a possibility.
+\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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