Amok in the Land of the Chosen

During the, what can only be described as monstrous , attack on Gaza beginning on December 27, 2008 the Israeli government claimed that Hamas was using civilians as shields. We now know that it was the Israeli soldiers that were using civilians as shields according to a recent U.N. report. This is so typical, the people who actually are perpetrating a crime, in this case the United States and Israel, will often accuse an intended victim of things that the accusers themselves are guilty of. A minor point yet an interesting one to me. The U.S. accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons, this from the nation with by far and away the largest stockpile of nuclear warheads and to date (let’s hope and pray it stays that way) the only nation to use atomic bombs on civilian populations deliberately and only after firebombing the rest of Japan’s cities. Oh yes, I know, the good war, only there wasn’t really anything good about it. One fine day the entire world went absolutely insane. What's so damned good about that? It gave birth to the Cold War which has delivered us all to the dire straits we now inhabit fraught with run-away corruption in the government tied to an industry of death. The shell of a Democracy itself in shambles representing the corporate giants solely while everyone else twists in the wind, futures dimmed, hopes squashed.

I think the most important point to recall is that the Palestinians are a people without a state and that Israel wants to keep it that way. To my way of thinking understanding this one crucial point is well, for a lack of a better word, crucial to understanding the Israeli/Palestinian relationship if it can be regarded as such. This fact lies at the root of the failure of all the presidents who have ever tried to resolve this conflict. It’s a simple fact really which is Israel is not interested in a peace agreement because they want to drive the Palestinians out completely so Israel will do whatever it can to prevent Palestinians from gaining any kind of legitimacy or political power. And that includes a two state solution; they just want the Palestinians disappeared. That this is driven by overt racism seems obvious. What other possible explanation is there? If the Palestinians were essentially Europeans like the Israeli do you think Israel would treat them the same? Really and truly? And though Obama claims racism has been banished here in the States (a ludicrous claim) he has no problem supporting Israel and its racist war against the Palestinians.

Israel’s behavior toward its neighbors has been atrocious its equal being handily found in our own back yard here in the States with our own dealings with Native Americans, a group more wronged than any other by the United States government and its citizens. Personally, with the state of affairs as they are today if it were up to me I’d give it all back to the Native Americans and I’d wish them good luck with the thing. Talk about adding insult to injury.


Just to prove a point once again the invaluable Jason Ditz has the story on the peace talks which as always were doomed from the get-go.

Link

Though officials termed the meeting as a “good” one, the second straight day of talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US envoy George Mitchell again failed to yield any agreement on a settlement freeze that would allow the resumption of peace talks.

Though the perception, if any, among Americans is that the Palestinians have torpedoed peace talks it is in truth the Israeli who have prevented any peace agreement because, again, to make peace would be tantamount to giving the Palestinians legitimacy as human beings. To do that would mean the Palestinians had rights and to recognize that they had rights would lead the Israeli down a road they do not wish to travel.