100 years of War?

Submitted by Ron Thompson (United States), Jan 27, 2009 at 17:28

to: Zentrist,

One reason we've already had 60 years of war (i.e. 60% of a 100 years war already), since Israel was founded and its legitimacy recognized by the United Nations - but not by the Moslem world - is that those responsible for protecting our national interest have been unable to ask themselves the following direct question:

If it finally becomes absolutely clear that we can't have it both ways and must choose, should we abandon support for a Palestinian State, or support for the State of Israel?

If that question is asked and answered as I think the West (or at least, the United States) will answer it, then we can ask the next question: What to do about the stateless population occupying the West Bank and Gaza which, for whatever reason, can't produce a leadership willing to recognize and peacefully accept the existence of Israel? Nobody in the West is responsible for their failure to produce such a leadership, nor is Israel.

Failing to ask and answer these questions, is, in my judgment, only giving the terrorists and rejectionists a veto power over the future. I realize these questions may suggest a hard response, but I think there is something worse than a 100 years war (60% of which Israel has already been forced to face), just as there was something worse than not fighting the American Civil War, or WW II even with its 50 million deaths, or the 45 or so years of the Cold War.

Just asking these questions would be a partial moral victory over terrorism, as failing to ask them has surely been a major and ongoing moral victory for Hamas and all its soulmates. A moral victory we should be ashamed of giving them.

Thanks for your comment and question, Ron Thompson

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