Monday, March 23, 2015

Israel and Palestine in Layman's Terms

Yep, Israel and Palestine are in the news again.  The crux of the most recent iteration of page one news is that Benjamin Netanyahu came to the U.S. and delivered a speech to Congress.  In the speech, Netanyahu supported a two-state solution to the Palestinian problem.  This caused a major drop in Netanyahu's domestic ratings immediately before an election, so he retracted, and he got re-elected.

Fast forward a few days.  America is pissed, and our official line is that the Israeli occupation of foreign land must end, and there needs to be a lasting peace.  Now it's time for my two cents:  They're all full of shit, and here's why...

Let's go back thousands of years.  Around three thousand years ago, Israel was a reasonably large empire.  This empire was based on a covenant with the One True God.  For the next thousand years or so, Israel's empire ebbed and flowed.  Around zero B.C. Israel was effectively a state in the Roman Empire.  Let's fast forward a bit more, and for the sake of oversimplification, Israel effectively ceased to be a country.  Historically speaking, most people in this situation would either be eradicated, or would be assimilated into the conquering culture.  This didn't happen to the Jews.  For thousands of years they managed to maintain their heritage.

Now, let's fast forward to the Holocaust.  Millions of Jews were exterminated.  I submit that the world must have experienced some sort of guilt over this, so the UN created a new Israel.  Look, in all reality, the Arabs were understandably pissed about this.  After all, they lost some of their land.  So, over the next 20-odd years, they let their anger fester, and they decided to kick Israel's ass.  But Israel was smart.  They struck the first punch and in six days, they managed to double their land, and completely remove the country of Palestine from the map.

Here's my take.  Israel saw the writing on the wall.  They knew they were going to get their asses kicked, but they didn't wait to get attacked.  They, justifiably, struck first.  When all was said and done, Israel said "Hey, we'll give all of your land back, as long as you acknowledge that we have a right to exist and leave us alone."  EVERY country involved said "Oh, HELL NO!"  Egypt has made peace with Israel since then, but that's effectively where we are today.  The Arabs don't want to recognize Israel's right to exist.

Here's my take.  It's a little bit nuanced, so bear with me...

There were a bunch of bullies on the block who wanted to kick Israel's ass.  They all started following Israel home after school one day.  Israel saw what was happening though, and opened a can of whoop ass on ALL OF THEM.  Palestine got the worst of it.  They lost everything.  This wasn't a fair fight to begin with.  Israel was way overwhelmed, and they STILL managed to kick ass.  Palestine, who was one of the original aggressors, lost everything, and how they're whining about it, and acting like they're the ones who were wronged.  Fuck them!

Now, with that said, I have nothing against them trying to carve out a homeland like what Israel got after the holocaust.  In fact, I applaud them for going to the UN, the same international body that magically created the country of Israel.  But I CANNOT support the UN creating a new Palestine at this point in time.  The Palestinians fought Israel and lost.  Now they're saying "we want our country back."  Where are the consequences of aggression?  I will admit that it's reasonable for there to eventually be a Palestine, but not today.  The Palestinians absolutely CANNOT have their country restored while the original aggressors still live, or else there is no real consequence for their aggression.  In fact, I believe that the consequence should last through their children's generation, and their grandchildren's generation.  That's the time that the retribution will be fully paid.  The UN can consider creating a new Palestine after the death of the last grandchild of the original generation of aggressors.  Not before.  Otherwise, aggressive countries will believe that they can act with impunity.