In the 19th century, papers reported the latest terrorist attack of groups of Braves raiding homesteads and killing and raping. There was no negotiating with such barbarians and no treaty could stop their violence. As General Butler(?) said "Even little nits grow up to be lice." These were people committed to nothing short of the annihilation of the white people and could only be dealt with through force.

Unless you believe that the soldiers at Sand Creek or Wounded Knee were just cold blooded killers, you might understand that a state of mind built upon the fear and loathing of native americans might drive normally good people to commit horrific crimes. And if you were to study the Rain Dance, Cargo cult or the words of Crazy Horse or Geronimo, you might understand the fear and loathing of the white man by native Americans and the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Racism drives much of what is going on in the Middle East. David Sugerman provided a good example of that with his post about walking down the middle of the sidewalk in NYC expecting people to get out of his way. It took him awhile to quit acting like he owned the place and others were just intruders. He said he got that from Israel. I was there on two occasions and I question if he was there at all, except to say if you've been in a queu for a bus in Jerusalem, well that's how it is. It has nothing to do with Jews being arrogant or happy they are free of the SS, but just trying to get a seat on a bus or just to where they want to go.

Still there is this strange American perception that all Israelis are manning the ramparts against the barbarian horde, protecting the last bastion of liberty upon which our own very lives and future were at stake. Nothing could be further from the truth. Which brings me back to my Native American allegory.

In 1993 the world was treated to what was considered a major milestone in peace in the Middle East; the Oslo Accords. Arafat actually uttered the words "Israel" and agreed to mutual recognition with separate borders. Israel responded by initiating the greatest illegal settlement building since the Six Day War. Within a year of the Accord Israel ordered the appropriation of 86.5 percent of Arab land from East Jerusalem. Thirty four percent was immediately approved for the construction of Israeli settlements. At the same time Prime Minister Rabin approved the construction and seizure of land for 1,000 new homes in the illegal West Bank settlement of Alfei Menache. The government also announced plans to build over 70,000 new settlement houses in East Jerusalem and it's environs over the next ten years. Throughout the nineties thousands of illegal permits for expanding settlements in the West Bank and Gaza were approved. New illegal settlements claimed by radicals were ignored by the military. Permits filed by the Palestinians for building new homes or renovating existing homes this period (numbering 18,000) were rejected by the Israeli government. Between 1993, the year of the Accord and 1998 more than 600 Palestinian homes were destroyed while an additional 1,800 orders were carried out over the next three years. An Israeli ministry charged with building and construction recommended an addition 116,000 homes to be built on 1967 Arab lands over the next 20 years.

No less insulting, the Israeli government approved archeological digs otherwise known as "the tunnel" to the Wailing Wall despite the protests of Arabs and risks to the Dome of the Rock. Their is supposed to be a joint Arab-Israeli group to approve archeological investigations, but the group is slanted against the Arabs and the group is merely window dressing to appear bipartisan when it is in fact not. The arabs in the committee have no real veto power.

But back to the first analogy. Our nation's so called free press never reported on how every treaty made by our government with the native population was broken. They did not report on the illegal settlements that encroached on Crow, Cree, Navaho, Apache, Comanche or Cherokee land, only the reaction to this by the natives. Failing any action by our government the they took things into their own hands and the papers gladly recounted the attacks and raids and blew them up even beyond their actual acts. Blood sells.

By the same token, the NY Times who gladly told us what a glorious war we would have in Iraq and how many WMD Judy Miller would personally uncover for us, is more than happy to tout the reaction of Palestinians to having their land taken, their houses bulldozed and their children shot down, without actually explaining that happened. Instead we get suicide bombers and child rock throwers who only kill Israelis because for some odd reason they identify with Nazi Germany and are only doing this because they want to wipe out the Jews.

This stuff gets so out of control that this propaganda has now this weekend expanded to people who should know better telling us if we quit Iraq the entire Iraqi population will swim the Atlantic to come rape our babies and convert what few they don't kill to Islam.

What you are seeing in the Middle East is the the Palestinian reaction to Israele territorial aggression. Those that believe Israel should not exist are a small minority who could easily be tossed aside if Israel would just accept a Palestinian state. They are less inclined to do so than even Hamas is to recognize them. Make no mistake. This Israeli and Bush administration embraces the farthest extreme of AIPAC which sees and Isreal from the Med to the Jordan river. In the mean time the Palestinians are isolated and waiting for their own Wounded Knee. You know the one where our descendents will read about in school and offer mea culpas for our actions while secretly glad we killed them off and took their land.