Say what?
From a piece by Mustafa Barghouti decrying the cancellation of local 'Palestinian elections.' But this is far more than an internal Palestinian issue. The only lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians will be based on a settlement negotiated between two democracies -- this was the case in Europe, and it will be the case in the Middle East.Actually, no. The 'settlement' in Europe was based upon the total military defeat of the Nazis and their allies by the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union.
But Barghouti is right that the only way that Israel will ever reach a 'settlement' with the 'Palestinians' is the same way that the US reached one with Germany and its allies: Israel must first totally defeat the 'Palestinians' militarily. Then we can resolve this issue.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:44 PM
3 Comments:
Exactly! I think average Israelis would gladly pay the price to force the issue but their leaders don't think their country wants to pay it. That misperception all but guarantees no end in sight to the conflict with the Palestinians for the foreseeable future.
That's right. A country can't fight a limited war against an enemy that declared total war. Just think what the world would be like if the allies only pushed germany back to their internationally recognized borders and contained them with a land and naval blockade. I think we'd still be fighting them today ad israel is still fighting Hamas and hizbollah; UN is still in a state of war with the north Koreans.
Hi, I'm that woman from Venezuela who wrote to you after the flotilla circus.
The comparison with Europe in WWII is worrying. It took an absolute military victory over the nazis to end the conflict, but that's not all it took.
First and most importantly, it took international support. Everybody who was not Germany knew and understood that Germany had to be defeated, not just for the sake of France or Poland but for the sake of everybody. The big powers of the world united for that cause and managed to fight together until they won. That's hardly the case now, as Israel seems to be the only one who takes the conflict seriously, and the rest of the world seems to be slowly moving towards legitimizing Hamas.
It took splitting up the country and keeping it that way for 40 years. It took occupation of the divided territory by the winning parties. That's hardly imaginable now, as Israel is called all sorts of names for its presence in the occupied territories from the six-days war.
And it took denazification. Nazi officials who were guilty of war crimes were prosecuted, those who weren't guilty were removed from office anyway, nazi symbols were removed from sight. German citizens who weren't involved in the fighting were forced to see the atrocities of their government, and they were made to feel as guilty as the people who ordered them, either by their inaction or by their support of those people. Everyone who wasn't Germany knew that the nazi mindset had to be eliminated from german society. That's HARDLY imaginable today, as the world makes all sorts of excuses for palestinian terrorism and no one seems to care too much for israeli victims.
I do agree that a complete military victory over the palestinians is the only way to end the conflict. But maybe these other things are necessary too, and I don't think they can be met for now, or for a very long time. Bottom line is, it's still nonsense to attempt to negotiate with a party that has openly claimed the intent to destroy you, and that continues to do so.
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