Mr Khan said:
There are reasons to support Israel beyond armageddon, I certainly should have clarified, just that i feel that a lot of the kneejerk pro-Israeli reactions you get in the American media comes from the religious Right. On the left, it is because American Jews (almost uniquely outside of the US and Israel itself) tend to veer Left, but are still on Israel's side of things. However, i feel that our tendency to side with Israel to the point of irrationality (like this) is due entirely to vote pandering, which in lart part has to do with the fundies. One important point that you made is that a lot of "support" for Palestine comes from political expediency rather than genuine concern for the Palestinians, however i disagree with your assessment that the global community would simply stand aside and let Israel ethnically cleanse the whole thing. At varying points since the disaster in Rwanda, *someone* in the international community has always stepped up to prevent mass murder or mass expulsion to some extent (weakest being in Darfur, but even there, the African Union put folks on the ground). Hell, Jordan would intervene if Israel started pushing all the West Bank people out simply because Jordan's electoral system is almost overwhelmed with Palestinian expats already, and Jordan wouldn't want more of them in country (not that Jordan could do anything against Israel, but it would mean that one of Israel's neighbors would be quite invested in the idea that Israel not simply annex the whole thing and push all the Palestinians out). Both sides, in the end, will have to stomach a lot of what they don't like, but they'll have to stomach it or continue the current situation, which is untenable. I mean, that's the nature of compromise: find the one solution that everyone hates equally |
Sure the situation is untenable... for the Palestinians.
I'm not sure what makes it untenable for the Israeli's though.
They are more or less free to have private illegal settlers build up the lands they want... until they have everything they want.
Once built up enough nobody will ask these population centers to be moved.
Then they can just go with another unilateral disengagement, taking all the land they want and a unified Jersualem.
Then they get everything the want, and essentiallly leave Palestine with the scraps and simply say "you can form a country there if you want."
Which really is the problem with "Finding a deal everyone hates equally". The Palestinians expectations are built on the belief that they are two equal negotiators when in reality, the power gulf between them is wide... and if anything, only grows over time. Palestine has gotten some nice symbolic victories but not any that have led to any real world gains.
A deal today would be worse then a deal under the Bush peace process, which was worse then the Deal under Clinton one.
Abbas position right now publically is to claim they will make no concessions... in doing so, i believe all he is doing is causing future concessions to be needed.
All things are doing is leading to Israel making it's own borders.
