It seems like a long never ending war with some extended periods of quiet - while everyone reloads.

My frustration with the Israel / Palestine issue is that it is often presented (at least here in the US) as a nation (Israel) defending itself against terrorist attacks (from the Palestinians). While that is certainly true (in the sense that Palestinian terrorists do attack Israel), it is extremely misleading to only look at the situation in that light.

For example, while you frequently hear reports of suicide bombers killing a bus-full of women and children, you rarely hear (at least in the American media) that *many* more Palestinian civilians (including children) have been killed by Israel than vice versa.

I also don’t hear much talk about how Israel is currently continuing their long history of violating international law, including specific resolutions against their actions; but then when it is a country or government that the US doesn’t arm and financially support (at least not anymore) such violations are inconsistently used as a key piece of the argument to justify invading and overtaking them. (Or at least an increasingly key part of the argument as the other “key” pieces keep getting debunked).

*** [OK, OK, sorry for the sidetrack in that last section.]

I’m certainly not “taking sides” by any means; nor am I saying that this justifies acts of terror by either party, but just saying that it’s important to recognize that BOTH sides continue to commit deplorable acts and should BOTH be criticized, whether they are committed by individuals, a dictatorship, a western democracy, Israel, or anyone else.

Both sides attempt to justify their actions by claiming that their violent acts are the only possible response to the wrongs that the other side has committed against them. Both sides completely believe that they are in the “right”, and insist that they are only doing what they need to do to defend themselves. I believe both are wrong.

While it is true that political and diplomatic approaches have so far been unsuccessful, in terms of completely ending the conflict, many polls show that the majority of the “common” people on both sides favor a peaceful resolution which includes compromise. Thus far it has been the hard-lined leadership (again, on BOTH sides) that has been unwilling to pursue such paths. To Israel’s credit, they have made huge strides in the right direction (in my mind) in the last year, but I fear that this current situation may loose much of the ground that has been gained.

However, to use the fact that diplomacy and political attempts have so far not been successful to justify acts of violence that both sides are taking in this is both immoral and illogical. If you want to make that point, then you could just as easily counter with the fact that they’ve also been trying violent responses for a really long time too, and that certainly doesn’t seem to be effective either. So, if you want to give up on things that aren’t working, that will have to be included in the list.

So, just for my education… What kind of crime would a person or nation actually have to do to be labeled a “bad guy”? Point illegal missles at another nation’s civilian neighborhoods? Bomb their third largest city? Massacre thousands of their own people? Pay for or aid in the bombing deaths of thousands of civilians in other nations? Just wondering.

The trouble Israel is in now is different in some significant ways, one of them being that they are one of the parties in a conflict where BOTH sides are acting in ways that are inexcusable, such as murdering large numbers of innocent civilians and claiming that their actions are justified.

My only hope is that the ever-expanding news coverage (although due to very unfortunate circumstances) will at least cause a lot of people who really don’t care about the issue right now to learn more about it.

So, Randy, you don’t believe there are ANY possible solutions, huh? I think they do exist. They aren’t simple, and they have to take into account that the issue is not black & white, with “good guys” and “bad guys”, and if they are to ever succeed they will certainly require compromise from all parties involved. Does this mean they will never happen? Possibly, but even that wouldn’t mean that solutions do not exist.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3279147,00.html

To which Merkel responded,
“Remember that in 1933 many people said it was just rhetoric.�