Intellectually honest
The devil in Jonathan Freedland's details are not convincing to me, at this point. But his framing of the problem of trying to end Hamas through military force is strong, I think.
Israel has plenty of tactics for war, but none for peace
"All those involved, and most of those following the bloodshed in Gaza from afar, are sure who is in the right and who is in the wrong. They know who the innocent victims are and who are the wicked perpetrators. These certainties are held equally firmly by those who will be demonstrating in solidarity with the Palestinians in London today and those who plan to stage similar shows of support for Israel later this month.
Both sides see the conflict in moral terms. For supporters of the Palestinians, it could not be clearer. Israel is committing a war crime, killing people in their hundreds, hammering a besieged population from the sky (and soon perhaps on the ground too), claiming to aim only at Hamas but inevitably striking those civilians who get in the way.
Israel's cheerleaders are just as clear. Israel is the victim, hitting out now only belatedly and in self-defence. Its southern citizens have sat terrorised in bomb shelters, fearing the random rockets of Hamas, since 2005, longer than any society could tolerate without fighting back.
Both sides say they would have maintained the six-month ceasefire that had held - albeit imperfectly - until December 19 had the other side not broken it first. And who did break the deal first, Hamas with its rockets or Israel with its blockade? Both sides point at the other with equal vehemence, a Newtonian chain of claimed action and reaction that can stretch back to infinity.
So perhaps a more useful exercise - especially for those who long for an eventual peace with both sides living side by side - is not to ask whether the current action is legitimate, but whether it is wise."
This is the question Israel faces today. I'm far from convinced that this operation was either wise or worth the deaths of so many civilians.
The burden is on Israel, at this point, to demonstrate that the deaths of civilians was worth more than peace of mind for Israeli leaders.
If no real peace comes of this operation (which is very likely will not) or if conditions for peace are made worse, Israel needs to finally acknowledge that a military path is not a viable one to peace.
If an invasion resolves the matter (and I have very little confidence, as with Lebanon 2 years ago, that it will), those committed to a peace process, like myself, need to rethink our commitments.
In any case, if this military exercise does not end the bloodshed, the question of what is the next phase of this process should be resolved once and for all for the intellectually honest.
The question is how honest and honestly committed to peace will all of us be.
2 comments:
To many radical elements, there will be no peace until the last Jew is extirpated from the Middle East. I'm not optimistic...
I agree that it's a seemingly intractable problem, foutsc. But absent genocide, a peace deal is the only path. And as I discussed with a Netanyahu supporter, this last week, genocide would be a particularly ironic path for Israelis to defend their turf.
Lots of important forward movement in the world, especially in the last 50 years, was not foretold. It was the consequence of serious and concerted effort. A peace deal is no different.
But this kind of incursion only radicalizes Palestinians further. It is difficult for Israelis to come to terms with, right now, but a peace deal is the only way out. And contrary to the rhetoric from Israelis, they are not innocents enough to expect that they will get to determine how such a deal works.
At some point, what I'm hoping, foutsc, is that someone, somewhere among the Israeli and Palestinian leadership prioritizes innocent life over their pride. Because there is no other way out of this mess until they do. And if more 4-year-olds have to die so that none of these assholes have to swallow their pride and take the muddy and difficult path through a peace agreement - with all of the security headaches and tragedies that will come with that kind of agreement for several years down that line, to be sure - then I'm sure Israeli and Palestinian leaders will be just fine with that, as long as it is not their 4-year-olds dying.
But I'm not.
And fuck them for being just fine with that just because they can't get over their pride. Fuck them on behalf of every 4-year-old who dies for their fuckin' pride.
Israelis either support Mahmoud Abbas and moderate elements of the Palestinian political leadership to speak on behalf of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, sign a deal that ends the occupation and initiates a Palestinian state, stop quibbling about the details of who gets how much land, creates a collaborative security arrangement with that same Palestinian leadership, work with moderate Palestinians to arrest or kill radical elements who will not accept peace, patiently work to suck away the political oxygen for Hamas and Islamic Jihad and every other murdering bunches' reason for existence...
Or they live with dead Israeli civilians from now until the end of their existence.
Time for Israelis to make the real hard choice on this one.
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