Guerrilla battles can last indefinitely, as we learned in Vietnam, when the rebel population outnumbers the enforcers. * Establish a truce, regardless of how difficult or obnoxious it may be. It's in Israel's best interest, too. Talk is better than bombs any day of the week. If no one believes Israel really wants peace any more, then she is doomed. Perception is a sometimes evil stepsister to truth. Get rid of war mongers who think bombing is social engineering and barbed wire is urban development.
* Undercut the reasons for revolt. Provide a better reason for living, like economic opportunity and institutional services with stability, in this case water as a first priority, and transportation to the marketplace. Make it safe to be a farmer again, much less a high tech dot.comer. * Make some progress towards civilization as we know it. Move away from the methods that did not work, created more animosity. Be creative and fearless. Defending the status quo is self-defeating. Pessimists need idealists more than idealists need pessimists. An aside: don't you think that the current domestic terrorism over several weeks in the metropolitan DC-N. Virginia area will evoke many of the same public emotions and sympathies to what the Israelis and Palestinians have been experiencing? To date, it seems focused on law enforcement and gun registration specifically, but this is a first for most Americans: canceling soccer games or having them in non-publicized locations 150 miles away, school recess indoors, draped gas stations, afraid to go to the market, business impacted, etc. I have a 21-year old daughter in school in Fredericksburg. Her apartment is a mile from the station where a man was killed. She says you can't believe the tension. There are a lot of policy makers and think tanks in this area, as some FWers know firsthand, and this is also the region affected by the Pentagon plane crash and anthrax scares. This certainly affects perceptions, as both Friedman and Safire have acknowledged in recent columns. Immediately, I understand that there is concern many people will not stand in lines to vote. I will mail in my ballot here in Oregon with some guilty relief but will be much happier as a mother and citizen when this is resolved, mindful that the across the water in Israel and Palestine, they do not sleep, live or work as we do normally and all deserve better. - Shalom. Karen When there is no hope, there can be no endeavor. - Samuel Johnson Without endeavor, there can be no hope. - Karen's corollary Outgoing Mail Scanned by NAV 2002
