Letters to the Editor
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The British kept Canada
after the Revolutionary War. It was called British North America until 1867, I believe.
It's very American for you to believe in negotiations, but there is no chance for peace. Jerusalem is not negotiable, the right of return is not negotiable, it's time to admit that there is not and never was a chance of peace between the Jordan and the Sea. They are doomed to fight forever.
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Juan Cole Has a Pipeline to "The Truth?"
As I read Prof. Cole's piece on Ariel Sharon, I kept wondering what it is exactly that the Israelis could do that would meet with his approval. The pullout from Gaza was just a ploy to put more Palestinians in poverty. The wall is an attempt at Apartheid. Ariel Sharon is an war-monger whose only goal is to destroy the Palestinians as a people. Etc.
Let me be clear: I am no big fan of Sharon. His idiotic behavior in Lebannon should make clear what kind of man he is. But faced by an Arab world that is hostile to its existence, and has been since before it actually did exist; confronted with current Arab countries that vow to destroy it; existing under the constant threat of suicidal children, egged on by their parents and guardians, blowing themselves up in the middle of bunches of civilians; attempting to continue to exist as the sole Jewish country in the world in the face of continual and often near-unanimous world opposition no matter what their behavior; what does Prof. Cole suggest Israel do, other than decamping and moving to, say, Uganda? Seriously?
Israel is hardly above reproach, certainly. One should also bear in mind, however, the behavior of the Arab countries--their co-religionists--to the Palestinian refugees; they have hardly been a model of enlightened behavior themselves.
When issuing such a negative manifesto, one can only wonder what, aside from national suicide, is expected of Israel other than their current behavior. Perhaps next time, Prof. Cole can provide some suggestions rather than just heaping abuse on Israeli heads.
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Nothing but an Arab Propagandist
For someone who is supposedly a Professor of Middle East History, Juan Cole's article reveals nothing but his ignorance at best regarding the situation in Israel and his penchant for disseminating Arab propaganda at worst.
Mr. Cole refers to the Israeli residents of Gaza and the West Bank as "Colonists". His characterization is not only offensive, but historically inaccurate -- Jews have lived in areas of the West Bank (notably Hebron) and even Gaza (Kfar Darom) well before the creation of the State of Israel (and I am referring to the 1800s and early 1900s, not just Biblical times). He claims that Israel has refused to demarcate its borders with its "neighbors" implying that Israel has expansionist designs on Jordan and Egypt -- an argument that smells of the Arab canard that Israel, as evidenced by the design of the Israeli flag, wishes to take over all Arab land from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Mr. Cole also remarks that the situation for the Palestinians living in Gaza got worse under Israeli occupation. He ignores however, that the standard of living for Palestinians has gotten worse in direct response to the amount of terrorism employed by the Palestinians themselves. Prior to their use of terrorism, Gazans were able to freely work and travel to Israel. With regards to the West Bank, prior to the last Intifada, there was no Separation Fence. Moreover, as Palestinian use of terror has increased, less and less territory has been on the table for a Palestinian state. Mr. Cole neglects to mention that following the 1967 War, Israel offered the entire West Bank and Gaza back to their former possessors, Jordan and Egypt, but these countries refused to take back the territory and give it over to the Arab residents of those areas.
Mr. Cole can blame Israel all he likes for the current Palestinian state of affairs. Palestinian misery, however, is a direct result of the Palestinians' ill-advised strategy to engage in terror; their attachment to corruption; and their refusal to make any compromises regarding territory or the status of the Palestinian refugees.
Until the Palestinians take responsibility for their own role in creating their current situation, the lives of the Palestinian people will never improve.
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Cole indeed has a pipeline to the truth...
Look, let's set the hysteria aside for a moment.
It's interesting to note, having gone through this myself recently, that no one challenges the truth of what Cole says. They just dislike the fact that he was rude enough to say it.
Israel is not in imminent danger of destruction. Most or all of the Muslim states of the world have accepted and will continue to accept Israel's existence and right to exist.
Runaway paranoia is all well and good. But the fact is that Israel has a lasting peace with Egypt and solid relations with Jordan. Syria has not been a threat in thirty years. No muslim state has seriously threatened Israel in a generation.
In 1992, Saddam fired a few Scud missiles that landed in the desert and tried to draw the whole arab world into a great big apocalyptic battle - Islam vs America/Israel. Guess what? He had no takers. No one cared, no one was going to get involved.
So yeah, sure once in a while Islamic politicians like Iran's current loon, talk tough. So what, Israeli politicians talk tough themselves. Its all rhetoric.
No one in the Muslim world can ignore the plight of the Palestinians. But no one is going to be riding to the rescue either.
Now, the thing is, Israel is no different than the United States or Canada, or Australia or New Zealand. It's not different than Algeria or South Africa tried to be. It's a settler state. It exists because it stole its land from the people who were living there. Canada and America stole their land from the Indians, Australia from the Aborigines and New Zealand from the Maori. Each of these countries wrestles, on an ongoing basis, with the wrongs we've done to our native peoples and we struggle to right those wrongs.
The difference is that Israel is still in the "screw them dirty injuns" mode. Well, geez, that's very nice. But let's all grow up, this isn't the 19th century.
Israel has the power and its got the money and the weapons and the international support. All the Palestinians have is poverty and a few remaining slices of land that they find themselves being pushed off of. It seems to me that if all the Palestinians are being offered is the same life that America offered its Indians in 1890, then yeah they're probably going to kick and fight about it. A life like that, most of us would prefer to die fighting.
Is the situation unsolvable? Is it all doomed to perpetual war and misery? Is Israel doomed? Are the Palestinians? I don't accept that. But I do say that the bullshit of the past has proven it doesn't work and it won't work. I think that the Israeli's are a better people than to simply build their lives on the misery of their neighbor. And if they are not, then who should bother to respect them.
The world is a small place, and getting smaller. We grow increasingly unable to afford this nonsense. What we do to each other, ultimately, we do to ourselves. We are called upon to be better people, we are called upon to transcend our greed and hatred, to heal the wounds of the past, to try and set right the things that were broken.
Ultimately, we must learn to live together. Or we will surely die together.