Ed Weick wrote: > But haven't the Jews always been in the wrong > place? It isn't too surprising that they must now feel much as they must > have felt in the Warsaw ghetto or in the many other ghettos that they were > forced to live in.
An Israeli officer fighting in the occupied territories told his colleagues that they must "internalize the lessons of earlier battles [, i.a.] how the German army fought in the Warsaw ghetto." (quoted by Amir Oren in Ha'aretz, 25 January 2002) Indeed, the Palestinians' destitute bantustans and refugee camps look a lot more like a ghetto than Israel does. A ghetto is under the power/jurisdiction of the "surrounding" enemy (who created the ghetto in the first place) and under the administration of a puppet leader -- all this does not apply to Israel, but does apply to the Palestinian ghetto(s). > What you have is an impossible situation. Israel is where it is; the Jews > are where they are. But that's an impossible place to be. Even if they > were very very nice to the Palestinians, even if they moved their > settlements off Palestinian lands, there is absolutely no guarantee that the > leaders of Islamic Jihad or Hamas would like them any better. Even if Palestinian children were very very nice to the Israelis, even if they would never throw a stone against an IDF tank, there is absolutely no guarantee that the leaders of Israel would like them any better -- they would keep bombing and demolishing their houses and keep talking of --and implementing-- "transfer" (euphemism for expulsion). > Arafat might > like them better, but he no longer counts. Much as one wants to dislike > Sharon, one can only wonder if there is an alternative. Gush Shalom might like those kids better, but Gush no longer counts -- worse, Sharon wants to take them to court for treason (for writing a few letters to IDF officers), the only deed for Israelis that is punishable by death in Israel. Just for some balance... Chris
