i was in israel between the second and third intifadas, a few years before Rabins assassination. those people lived and worked together, and a durable resolution was so close everyone could taste it. neither fatah, hamas, nor the israeli government can seriously approach peace for structural reasons -- mostly that no side can do so unless all sides can do so, but in specific because of how small fringe parties can dominate the knesset and similarly because arafat declined the barak deal and because israel and the us shunned hamas in 2006, when acceptance would have forced them to act like a legit government to their people, and also permitted them to do so. the issue has to stop being one of competing justifications for outrage and division: it is all abhorrent to me and doubly so because both sides have batman-jokered each other. most people want to seize the high ground of moral sanctimony but it doesnt exist anymore. the plight of the palestinian people is as tragic to me as the extent to which israel has squandered its essence with american-style exceptionalism. the whole thing should be a UNESCO site or something: it is a political and not an ethnic or religious issue. anyone who visited a place like hebron or yaffa in the early to mid 90s saw that.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 19:54:13 +0000
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