… their azz?
And how come it’s called the “right”? Is it because they think they’re right? Oh, the left does too. That’s a big shock…..
Anyway, I speak of Pat Robertson’s comments about Sharon, in which he said that the Prime Minister’s stroke was the “wrath of God” for “dividing God’s land.”
Let’s be careful here, ok?
After all, there are some 5,000 religions active in the world today. All of them make a pretty clear claim that they’re right – and the other 4,999 are wrong. Follow them or burn in hell (or something similar, anyway.)
Now I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but where I come from the odds on this bet aren’t all that good. I sure wouldn’t put my horseracing money on a 4999:1 long shot!
Further, let’s consider that if the Christians are ok in claiming that some piece of property is “God’s Land”, then the Muslims could easily make the same claim. Of course they’re both claiming the
same land.
Isn’t that what – at its root – this entire “Palestinian” thing has been about? Yep.
Let’s be blunt and honest here – Israel was created out of whole cloth after WWII by a world community that was looking for a way to “give something back” to a people who had a huge percentage of their population slaughtered. So what they did was screw a bunch of people who lived on a piece of land that was not involved in the conflict because that’s where God said (according to their version of it) these folks should live.
The world has been dealing with the consequences of that action ever since, and will have to continue to deal with it for the foreseeable future.
It’s a difficult problem. But we must recognize a few fundamental facts in this debate, or we’re going to end up starting another religious war:
- Religions are like buttholes. We all have ‘em (even the atheists, who claim there is no God at all) and most of them stink to one degree or another. There is a strong argument to be made that organized religion in all its forms is destructive to humanity and always has been. Nonetheless, religion is a part of most people’s life to one degree or another.
- Taking property from one person to give it to another by force is wrong. It has happened thousands of times in the past, and will likely happen in the future – but it still is wrong.
- Those who are aggrieved in such a circumstance can be expected to fight back. If you attempt to keep them from doing so in an organized fashion (e.g. by making it illegal for them to have an army or weapons) they will fashion their own – including using themselves as weapons. If there is one lesson to be learned from the Palestinian conflict, it is that dedicated people are willing to commit suicide in order to further their cause.
- Whether you’re a freedom fighter or an insurgent is often determined by which side of an argument you’re on. It would be nice if we could agree on this, but we won’t get there. My personal belief is that if you’re fighting to expel an occupying force for the purpose of establishing or protecting self-government you’re a freedom fighter. If you’re shooting at people to establish or maintain an occupation, or to establish or maintain a dictatorship, you’re an insurgent. This makes the Iraqis insurgents – and the Palestinians Freedom Fighters – at least it did up until Sharon started to withdraw.
- Notice how Palestinian attacks on Israelis have dwindled to almost nothing since Sharon started leaving Palestine? They were a daily event earlier on.... The Palestinians said they were fighting for freedom – not to exterminate Jewish people. Maybe they were telling the truth?
Sharon was a five-alarm asshole in his dealings with the Palestinian conflict until fairly recently. The idea of collective punishment – which he not only endorsed but espoused and practiced - is straight out of Hitler’s and Stalin’s playbooks, and that we, in the United States, not only tolerated this crap but funded it both with money and guns pisses me off to no end. Such a policy would be flatly illegal in this country as directly unconstitutional and we simply should not spend nickel one of our federal money in places that do this sort of thing.
However, in the last couple of years Sharon seems to have removed his head from his anal sphincter and started to use it to think with instead.
This is laudable, especially coming from a guy who has shown no proclivity towards anything but Jewish Supremacy, guided by the view that “God gave us this and it’s OURS!” up until that point.
He had not yet gone far enough, in my view, but how far he was willing to go was untested and may never be tested now, as I place the odds of him being able to effectively govern at any time in the future – if he survives – as darn close to zero.
The only true solution to the Palestinian problem will come when Palestine is given its original borders back and a corridor is established that remains Palestine so its territory is contiguous, along with full statehood and all rights that accrue to a state. That includes airspace, mineral, watershed and defensive rights, unfettered by Israel’s demands, and with the full support of the world community in protecting its borders.
At the same time Israel has the right to insist that Palestine not be a terrorist launching point for attacks on its people and land, and the world community
as a whole needs to step up and deal with those who define themselves as insurgents just like we are in Iraq and Afghanistan. Forcible land swaps that involve giving the only arable land the Palestinians have away for far less desirable land in Israel are not only unworkable they are flatly wrong. That’s what was tried at Camp David and it was (correctly) turned down.
Sharon seems to have come to the realization that this was the only way out in the long term, and that “crushing” the Palestinians was not going to do the job. Oh sure, you can try, but every nation that has attempted this has lost in the end. Afghanistan is but one of many examples; we have our Vietnam of course.
It is my sincere hope that Sharon recovers from his illness, although I admit that this is extremely unlikely. He is far more likely to learn first-hand whether or not his view of religion – out of the 5,000 – is the correct one.
I do hope that his will to face the Palestinian problem face-on and make a correct choice – even when you’ve been a dedicated warrior with a one-track mind for 60 years – prevails in Israel’s new Prime Minister and government.
I’m cautiously optimistic that this may, indeed, come to pass.
If it does, then the world will truly be a better place, and Sharon will – and should – rightly get credit for his role in that.
