Some topics are better left alone. Some cannot be ignored. The tragedy in the Middle East falls into the latter category.
People favor stability and safety in the Middle East regardless of where their sympathies lie. We prefer peace to its alternative.
Why does this conflict persist? Why cannot the people there live in peace? What’s the problem? Who’s to blame? If you are an American, you will likely favor the Israeli cause. If you live in most of the rest of the world, you see Israel, and its proxy, the United States, as the transgressor.
Consider this another article about the proverbial immovable object meeting an irresistible force. More words, and nothing more. Others who are far smarter and more eloquent than I have analyzed this problem, yet the fighting continues. Words do not work.
Parents and mentors over the ages say actions speak louder than words. Recall Jesus’s parable about two sons. The father asked for help in the vineyard. One son said yes, the other no. The one who said yes did not help, the other did. Who did the will of his father? Actions speak louder than words. They matter more. They expose our motives and portray us as we are.
There has been so much talk about who has been on the land the longest, who has the most just cause, and whose state was created in 1948 by foreigners who were not consigned to settle there and suffer the consequences. Endless talk about endless animosities.
One of my dear friends is vehemently pro-Palestinian, so much so that he discredits the (psychological and real) threat of violence on Israel because the Jewish state is stronger, pens up Palestinians, deprives them of jobs and dignity, and engages in ethnic cleansing. He believes that nothing we read in the American press can be believed because it merely parrots the views of the Israeli lobby, thus rendering its content useless.
The International Community labels Israel as occupiers, and that is enough to negate the validity of any offensive (or defensive – the wall) action it may take to defend itself. Many say Israel’s building that huge fence/wall contributes more to its insecurity than security. Some praise Ha’aretz, an Israeli paper critical of the government’s Palestinian policy, as being most accurate in describing the conditions on the ground. Read a sample article.
My aforementioned friend has been to Israel, seen the fence, and sent pictures. It is an intimidating and troubling sight.
Other friends hold strong feelings, too, but in support of Israel. They cannot accept Palestinians attacking civilian populations intentionally and indiscriminately simply because they are unable to compete with Israeli military forces. Those who support such tactics point to, among other places and times, our militias during the Revolutionary War. Our troops reportedly hid behind trees and picked-off the Redcoats unsportingly. Yet the redcoats were the enemy. Using that analogy to condone or explain Palestinian action against civilians is specious and inaccurate, if not intellectually dishonest. See a letter circulating around the Internet allegedly from an Israeli family.
It is simply impossible to address comprehensively the rights and wrongs in this conflict. First, length does not permit it, even assuming I accurately know all its aspects, and I do not. Second, people must first agree unequivocally on who is the devil and who is the saint before taking up a cause, and garnering such agreement on this issue is most unlikely.
At the risk of being derided, I believe both sides have devils and saints. The moral issue is which is more reprehensible than the other. My sympathies lie with the Israelis, but so what? A philosophical study of comparative atrocities committed during this longstanding conflict would be of academic value at best. It would be of no meaning in the real world where suffering occurs that I can only imagine within the safe confines of my middle-class American existence.
Success depends on leadership. Except for national or ethnic pride and moral posturing, which are admittedly significant, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders must commit to peace and sacrifice their own lives to achieve it, if necessary. Remember what happened to Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat? They died trying to bring an enduring peace.
Some may say that their deaths were useless, as violence continues. Excuse my coarseness, but far more leaders may need to sacrifice their lives before a just solution is achieved. This peace, however, must be defined by those in the Middle East, not those of us on the East Coast of the United States.
Until and unless Israel stops further settlements and Palestinian leaders prevent attacks on civilians, peace will not come.
Barack Obama will inherit this and other enormous, seemingly intractable problems in the next few days. He and his advisors need wisdom – and our prayers. Many feel he will favor the Palestinians. Yet an election campaign speech before an Israeli group seemed intended to reassure them of his support.
We and soon-to-be President Obama need to be pro-peace, and let the chips fall where they may. The cost of peace is dear. But the cost of war is greater.
Fred W. Apelquist, III
Approximately 860 words.
© January 11, 2009
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