While eating lunch, I was thinking about the middle east situation, ostensibly prompted by the latest article in the LA Times. All over the weekend, I’ve been seeing post after post on Facebook about the conflict. I have Jewish friends posting memes in favor of Israel. I’ve got other friends posting articles in favor of Hamas, or just wanting peace. I’ve come to realize that many people don’t understand the situation. Here are some quick thoughts on how I see it.
First, and foremost, recognize that Hamas currently does not recognize that the state of Israel has a right to exist. No right to exist as a state. No right to exist as a Jewish state. It is really hard to negotiate an agreement with someone that does not view you as legitimate. That underlying lack of recognition is at the heart of why this conflict is so hard to resolve. Hamas, and the other organizations and many nations in the area, simply want Israel to go away. They view the country as a continual thorn in the dream of a large collection of Islamic “democracies” in the region, governed by Islamic law. They don’t want Israel there, and until that attitude changes, they will do what is necessary to make that happen.
Secondly, recognize that Hamas (and many organizations in the area) exist in a bubble, similar to the bubble that many in the Tea Party live in. They follow only the Islamic news sources, which present a biased view of Israel, her motivations, and her actions. This is similar to the brainwashing Fox and RedState and other outlets do that Obama is the source of all evil and the scourge of the world. Similarly, the media followed by Hamas has Israel being the source of all evil, and their lives would be so much better, if Israel was just gone. Of course, from a neutral point of view, we recognize that isn’t true, but they’ve been in the bubble so long they can’t see any other reality. Popping the bubble is difficult.
Thirdly, recognize that the area is small. We’re essentially talking about Manhattan attempting to secede from New York State. That’s actually a good analogy, for Gaza is dense, with military targets intermixed with civilian targets. This is likely intentional, but whether it is or isn’t, it means that collateral damage is hard to avoid. In Israel, the military targets are more separated; when Hamas kills civilians, they are targeting civilians.
While we’re talking about size, a bit of a rant. We have people getting upset about 13 Palestinians killed, or Israeli deaths in the single digits. Where is the outrage for the thousands of civilians killed in Afghanistan or Iraq? Where is the outrage for the thousands of US soldiers killed attempting to defend civilians (i.e., not in an actual battle with the other side [e.g., trench warfare with the enemy]). Where is the outrage for the millions starving to death or under attack in Africa? Get some perspective folks. Death of innocents is bad, no matter how it happens. Let’s work to stop it where we can have the greatest effect.
So, you’ve probably figured out by now that I don’t have a problem with Israel defending herself. If Puerto Rico started lobbying missiles at Florida, would the US retaliate? Probably. Any other country has the right to defend themselves. Hamas has a very easy way to stop the hostilities: Recognize that Israel has the right to exist as a country, and that a Jewish state has a right to exist in the Middle East. From there, it’s just drawing lines on a map. Without that recognition, any negotiated peace will be tenuous at best, and the most we can hope for is a North Korea/South Korea extended truce fire, which is fraught with tension.
Right on!
Honestly, both sides are living in a bubble. As is evidenced by the omission of another obvious fact from your post: Israel is illegally occupying territory that does not belong to it and in the process, crippling the economy and livelihood of the people who are living there.
And while common sense would seem to dictate that lands in dispute are just that — lands in dispute — Israel’s strategy seems to be a de facto seizure of certain lands through its policies of aggressive settlements without going through any kind of internationally recognized process.
That said, Hamas deliberately targets civilians and it’s about time people stopped glossing over that fact. While Israel should not take the easy way out and flippantly take the position that collateral damage is inevitable (and to be fair, I don’t think they do), I find it appalling that Palestinians deliberate target shopping malls and coffee shops without the same level of criticism that Israel gets when they target known terrorists.
I don’t agree with your lumping in Palestinians with the rest of the Islamic world, as if the problem with Israel is simply that Muslims want a Middle East-wide caliphate that would be called an “Islamic democracy”. It sounds hollow and it sounds like propaganda, which is what it is. The Palestinians have shown more actual commitment to democracy than any other Muslim society in the Middle East, except maybe Turkey. And this was before the Arab Spring made democracy cool.
The fact that Hamas controls the Gaza Strip is democracy in action, although certainly with an imperfect result. Palestinians in Gaza did not believe that Fatah leaders were conducting their affairs satisfactorily, so they voted in new leadership. The fact that that leadership consists of people that Israel doesn’t like doesn’t mean that the process wasn’t democratic.
Like most long and drawn out conflicts, it’s largely a case of both sides having their heads jammed firmly up their asses and there’s plenty of virtue and blame to go around to all sides. It’s a constant roller coaster ride where one moment, Israel is being perfectly reasonable and the Palestinians aren’t and the next moment, it’s the other way around. Frankly, I’ve long been sick of all of these people — Fatah, Hamas, Likud, Kadima, the whole lot of them.
Surely the solution can’t be this hard to figure out. Create a viable and democratic Palestinian state out of the occupied territories. Stop the settlements that are causing so much contention. Place all strategically significant areas (such as the Golan Heights) under strict international supervision. Jerusalem can be an international demilitarized city that can serve as the capital of both states. And put a formal defense pact into place with Israel that obligates NATO and the US to come to her defense if attacked to serve as a deterrent. Perhaps even admit Israel to NATO, since that’s what we used to do with countries that we were worried about coming under attack.
But I’m not holding my breath for both sides to ever be reasonable at the same time.
As I said, Israel having boundaries where its neighbors recognize its right to exist would be a start. A lot of the problems would probably calm down if they got that.
However, as for “the solution can’t be this hard to figure out”. That’s a western attitude. I suggest you read “From Beirut to Jerusalem”. Often, what we think in the west is the solution is very different than the way of thinking in the Middle East.
I actually have From Beirut to Jerusalem, though I haven’t had a chance to read it all the way through.
I understand that the people of the region see things very differently and I’m not saying we should ignore that. On the other hand, in any conflict, an outside perspective is often needed because the involved parties are too wrapped up in emotion to see things realistically. In nearly every article I read about the situation, I see examples of an astounding inability of all sides in the conflict to 1) acknowledge their own shortcomings and 2) stop demonizing the other side. Until those two fundamental issues change, I’m not optimistic about seeing progress.
I should add that three points should be non-negotiable in any peace process: 1) Recognition from the major Palestinian political factions of Israel’s existence right to exist as a state 2) Renunciation of terrorism against civilian targets and 3) addressing of Israel’s legitimate physical security needs (for example, not handing the Golan Heights back to the lunatics in Damascus, among other concerns).