Jewish Settlers Resisting Gaza Pullout = Counterproductive?

You have to have the moral high ground.

from JoeUser Forums

      I hate eminent domain as much as the next man but I accpet the fact that without it nations would have a pretty hard time developing domestically or using it's land as part of diplomatic deals like the Gaza pullout.

     I appreciate that no one likes to be kicked out of the place that they have lived (some for almost 4 decades) in a peace deal with folks that they would consider trrorists.

     I understand that the Israeli settlers do not beleive that the PLO will keep up it's end of the bargaign making the pullout a painful exercise in futility.

 

    All that being said I think that this behaviour is pointless, regressive, and ultimately lacking in enlightened self interest.

 

     Sometimes you have to give up painful concessions to maintain the moral high-ground. You have to shake hands with the schoolyard bully and give him the chance to either change his ways or reveal himself (once again) as a bully who breaks promises. This process often takes many iterations to prove that one party is operating in good faith and the other in bad fiath but even in international politics the process remains critical.

     Eventually you may have to deal a catastrophic blow to the bully and if that time comes you better have a large stack of ironclad documented cases where you were the good guy giving up everything and they kicked you in the nuts. Not everyone will beleive you of course but you are not concerned with partisans after all you have partisans on your side too. No you as a natiopn are concerned with the fence sitters and the fence sitters only. The nation needs the support of these neutrals in order to check the opposing party's partisan supporters diplomatically or in a worst-case scenario : militarily.

     Israel and it's setllers in Gaza need to portray themselves as the selfless ones here. Not for France (who will support the PLO no matter what happens) but for the unaligned nations of the world. Tearing down homes out of spite won't help you 6 months down the road when the PLO is still bombing schoolbuses full of kids (I hope the PLO proves me wrong here, I really do). Hamas will do the same and point to the "razing of Gaza" as "justification".

     The Palestinian people are an opressed people with a terrible burden to bear but they are not oppressed by Israel. They are repressed by the own Arab brothers. Ask most Jordanians how they would feel if a "Pali" wanted to marry their sister and you will get an interesting set of racial epithets in response. Same for most Iraqis and Syrians. The Palestinians are second or third class citizens even in Arab nations who know darn well that keeping them as a nation of indigents on Israel's border is a great way of giving their hated enemy a nasty problem to deal with.

     There may come a day when the Israelis decide to stop playing around with this problem and forcefully evict the Palestinians beyond the Wall. If that day comes they need to be able to swing the opinion of the unaligned nations in their favor to avoid a massive Middle East war that would hurt all and benefit none.

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2,840 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I should have written something about Bitchy Wincustomize griefers I guess... sigh...
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Great article! I still feel great sympathy for those who have to start over in a new place. I read that the government is giving them some compensation if they leave peacefully but if not they could lose up to one third of the compensation. It would be interesting to know just how much compensation they will get. We can only hope that peace will follow. Enough already of neighbor killing neighbor. Enough already of greed and hatred.
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

Enough already of greed and hatred.

I agree but I do not think this will end it... I just think that the Israelis will end up on top by being gracious to a group that almost certainly will hate them for it and even more certainly will renege on their side of the bargain.

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Israeli troops fired in the air Monday to keep back hundreds of Palestinians, including a few dozen masked gunmen, who were marching toward southern Gaza's Gush Katif bloc of settlements in celebration of the impending withdrawal. The crowd burned a cardboard model of an Israeli settlement, complete with an army watchtower.

In Gaza City, the Islamic militant group Hamas hung banners proclaiming the pullout is a result of attacks by militants on Israelis. "The blood of martyrs has led to liberation," one banner said.


Still, to have to give up your home to these murdering nutbags? Bleh. Can we say appeasement? (with all the usual historical overtones.......) ((ha! first one to compare someone to Nazis in the blog.......I win!)))

I could give up my home to eminent domain for a highway or an airport or something.......but after Israel fought so hard to create and maintain a free state, and to give part back to terrorists? Phooey. (and with that crappy accent, no wonder Palestinians are oppressed by their "brethren", learn M.S.A. for cryin' out loud...........)