Every day it gets uglier, in a world of Catch 22s...
I know I hold unpopular beliefs, but I have thought them through thoroughly and they are mine and mine alone.
Since I was 12 years old, I have been, and remain to be, a supporter of the state of Israel. I believe in the idea of the country, the religious aspect, the culture, and have studied the politics like I would be tested for a grade (plus actually, I've taken several classes for a grade!). I know the intricacies, I know the problems.
A few points first- As many of you know, I was in Israel the day the ceasefire ended. I was there the day Israel went into Gaza. I know soldiers there, in gaza, soldiers who are not child killers or homicidal manics- certainly none of them are nazis. But I do watch the news, from about 10 different outlets and I see two things, an ugly unfair war on both sides- where children are nothing more than war fodder and collateral damage and I see a media battle, where words become vehicles to twist and meld to fit to the author or editor's beliefs. Who knows what to believe?
I do know that hundreds and hundreds of missiles, be they cheap, be they made from sign posts, be they grossly ineffective, come into Israel-- and a huge subset of people live at the mercy of sirens that allow them 25 seconds to shelter. Even if the odds are that a little old lady in that region will not be hit or hurt by a qassam or ketusha, she still lives with the immense psychological burden of sirens and smoke and neighbors with a house in ruins... maybe this, on the individual level sounds like a survivable stress (not for me, but maybe ya'll are uber tough crazy folk). Now apply it to half of your country. Hamas claims it got a rocket to 25 miles from tel aviv. Folks, this is not a big country. Driving across takes minutes, not hours. It's tiny. And 6 million people live there. People are literally ruled by random acts of violence- life goes on, but it takes a serious toll. 94% of kids in Sderot has PTSD (god knows the percentages on the other side, but isn't that just it?) What point is there for a country if it's people cannot sleep in security at night? Is that a functional country? Would your country not be compelled to take action, after 8000 something rockets in a few years? The area in question was given autonomy, no not perfect autonomy, and the blockade was overdone, but certainly given room to prepare for peaceful full autonomy-- but infighting, hatred towards fatah, and the desire to go "from the river to the sea"- the split even within hamas, for those who want to feed the people and those who want to kill israelis has tragically pulled both sides further from peace. The statistics are baffling, after getting the incomplete gaza control, terror attacks from that area increased 500%. That's kinda nuts. Israel gave gaza millions and millions of dollars to build infrastructure, and most of it went into the black hole of terror-- now the infrastructure that WAS built has been pummeled back into the ground.
The numbers are bleak- Hamas, through Iran, has diverted over 250 million a year to building terrorist shit. I don't remember the words, but I do know approx that one Hamas minister publicly said in 07 that (i'm paraphrasing, but i'm sure it can be googled) "attacking people in Sderot will cause a mass migration that will disrupt life and cause chaos, with no repercussions to us, we lose nothing and the Israeli side is greatly impacted" You want Hamas to be treated as a government? Fine. But if a foreign government's policy is to destroy it's neighbor through sustained terror, you go to war with that government. I wish, really I do, that Israel had gone to the UN, said, "here's what's happening, help us out or we're going in" but Israel, I guess, does not trust the UN and that is a big problem.
Maybe it's hard to believe with media outlets portraying such vastly disparate accounts, but Israel has tried to do right- sending hundreds of thousands of tons of aid, granting tens of thousands of medical visas into israel (several of which were abused, two women for example, were granted visas and caught strapped to bombs in 08), building greenhouses, poorhouses (both the greenhouses and poorhouses were destroyed within hours of israel's withdrawal from gaza), allowing gay kids (who are encouraged to be suicide bombers as repentance) into Israel, and money, so much money, for the people of Gaza. Enough? No, there's never enough that can be done for a starving population, displaced and ruled by a terrorist organization... but would the US, or Canada, or Japan, let alone Lebanon, Syria or Egypt, do the same?
I want peace- peace talks, peace flags, peaceful people- but how can these problems be solved? Hamas tells people, en masse to be human shields. Human shields. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0wJXf2nt4Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J08GqXMr3YE&NR=1
That's the policy. Hamas is no friend of the Palestinian people (Fatah ain't great either, which is why, mona, you better get your degree fast). In order for there to be peace, there must be a partner, someone to negotiate with, who will take concessions for concessions.
But I know that the more you try to knock someone down, the more they will fight to stand up. And the more people think that Israel is all that is keeping them down, instead of hamas, fatah, Egypt, jordan, iran, lebanon, the us, and israel, the more the Palestinian people will unjustly suffer and rise up against Israel. I do not blame the gazans, I do not blame the palestinians- if this is the only world you knew, you would fight for freedom too. For them, and for Israel, I want a two state solution, with borders, and passports and rights- and mostly, I want peace...
I pray that this bloodbath will end soon.
This is scary- from los angeles- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpMbUliY3Ao If you don't have time for the whole thing, just watch the last minute.
Please be respectful if you choose to respond. Mona, a Palestinian in diaspora, who I consider to be one of my very best friends, and I have built a friendship around respectful discourse, without name calling or being sardonic or sarcastic assholes. If you want to join into our debate, just be nice. I know most of my friends are good folk who wouldn't resort to hate speech, but if you do, you'll be booted and will be off my Hannukah gift list next year.
And finally, since this is a huge topic, I know I haven't addressed every aspect of every issue, forgive me, but we can talk as we go, right?
Since I was 12 years old, I have been, and remain to be, a supporter of the state of Israel. I believe in the idea of the country, the religious aspect, the culture, and have studied the politics like I would be tested for a grade (plus actually, I've taken several classes for a grade!). I know the intricacies, I know the problems.
A few points first- As many of you know, I was in Israel the day the ceasefire ended. I was there the day Israel went into Gaza. I know soldiers there, in gaza, soldiers who are not child killers or homicidal manics- certainly none of them are nazis. But I do watch the news, from about 10 different outlets and I see two things, an ugly unfair war on both sides- where children are nothing more than war fodder and collateral damage and I see a media battle, where words become vehicles to twist and meld to fit to the author or editor's beliefs. Who knows what to believe?
I do know that hundreds and hundreds of missiles, be they cheap, be they made from sign posts, be they grossly ineffective, come into Israel-- and a huge subset of people live at the mercy of sirens that allow them 25 seconds to shelter. Even if the odds are that a little old lady in that region will not be hit or hurt by a qassam or ketusha, she still lives with the immense psychological burden of sirens and smoke and neighbors with a house in ruins... maybe this, on the individual level sounds like a survivable stress (not for me, but maybe ya'll are uber tough crazy folk). Now apply it to half of your country. Hamas claims it got a rocket to 25 miles from tel aviv. Folks, this is not a big country. Driving across takes minutes, not hours. It's tiny. And 6 million people live there. People are literally ruled by random acts of violence- life goes on, but it takes a serious toll. 94% of kids in Sderot has PTSD (god knows the percentages on the other side, but isn't that just it?) What point is there for a country if it's people cannot sleep in security at night? Is that a functional country? Would your country not be compelled to take action, after 8000 something rockets in a few years? The area in question was given autonomy, no not perfect autonomy, and the blockade was overdone, but certainly given room to prepare for peaceful full autonomy-- but infighting, hatred towards fatah, and the desire to go "from the river to the sea"- the split even within hamas, for those who want to feed the people and those who want to kill israelis has tragically pulled both sides further from peace. The statistics are baffling, after getting the incomplete gaza control, terror attacks from that area increased 500%. That's kinda nuts. Israel gave gaza millions and millions of dollars to build infrastructure, and most of it went into the black hole of terror-- now the infrastructure that WAS built has been pummeled back into the ground.
The numbers are bleak- Hamas, through Iran, has diverted over 250 million a year to building terrorist shit. I don't remember the words, but I do know approx that one Hamas minister publicly said in 07 that (i'm paraphrasing, but i'm sure it can be googled) "attacking people in Sderot will cause a mass migration that will disrupt life and cause chaos, with no repercussions to us, we lose nothing and the Israeli side is greatly impacted" You want Hamas to be treated as a government? Fine. But if a foreign government's policy is to destroy it's neighbor through sustained terror, you go to war with that government. I wish, really I do, that Israel had gone to the UN, said, "here's what's happening, help us out or we're going in" but Israel, I guess, does not trust the UN and that is a big problem.
Maybe it's hard to believe with media outlets portraying such vastly disparate accounts, but Israel has tried to do right- sending hundreds of thousands of tons of aid, granting tens of thousands of medical visas into israel (several of which were abused, two women for example, were granted visas and caught strapped to bombs in 08), building greenhouses, poorhouses (both the greenhouses and poorhouses were destroyed within hours of israel's withdrawal from gaza), allowing gay kids (who are encouraged to be suicide bombers as repentance) into Israel, and money, so much money, for the people of Gaza. Enough? No, there's never enough that can be done for a starving population, displaced and ruled by a terrorist organization... but would the US, or Canada, or Japan, let alone Lebanon, Syria or Egypt, do the same?
I want peace- peace talks, peace flags, peaceful people- but how can these problems be solved? Hamas tells people, en masse to be human shields. Human shields. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0wJXf2nt4Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J08GqXMr3YE&NR=1
That's the policy. Hamas is no friend of the Palestinian people (Fatah ain't great either, which is why, mona, you better get your degree fast). In order for there to be peace, there must be a partner, someone to negotiate with, who will take concessions for concessions.
But I know that the more you try to knock someone down, the more they will fight to stand up. And the more people think that Israel is all that is keeping them down, instead of hamas, fatah, Egypt, jordan, iran, lebanon, the us, and israel, the more the Palestinian people will unjustly suffer and rise up against Israel. I do not blame the gazans, I do not blame the palestinians- if this is the only world you knew, you would fight for freedom too. For them, and for Israel, I want a two state solution, with borders, and passports and rights- and mostly, I want peace...
I pray that this bloodbath will end soon.
This is scary- from los angeles- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpMbUliY3Ao If you don't have time for the whole thing, just watch the last minute.
Please be respectful if you choose to respond. Mona, a Palestinian in diaspora, who I consider to be one of my very best friends, and I have built a friendship around respectful discourse, without name calling or being sardonic or sarcastic assholes. If you want to join into our debate, just be nice. I know most of my friends are good folk who wouldn't resort to hate speech, but if you do, you'll be booted and will be off my Hannukah gift list next year.
And finally, since this is a huge topic, I know I haven't addressed every aspect of every issue, forgive me, but we can talk as we go, right?