Tag Archives: Israel-Palestine

Under Current Conditions, This Won’t Work

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On Friday, Hot Air posted an article about one previously considered solution to the problems in the Middle East. There was a time when a two-state solution was considered a solution to the Israel-Palestine problem. Unfortunately, after October 7, that time has passed.

Golda Meir understood the problem.

The article at Hot Air reports:

I was a member of the “Two State” solution club. It seemed so obvious, at least back in the day when I was formally studying the Middle East in the 80s and 90s. 

For those of you who don’t get the reference, it refers to the proposal to create a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank alongside Israel. The idea is that in exchange for formal recognition of Palestine as a separate state, the Palestinians will give up violence and coexist alongside Israel. 

Sure, it would require Palestinians to become civilized human beings instead of biological reservoirs of hate, but plenty of Palestinians are civilized, and there is no genetic reason that the rest can’t be. They are human beings, after all. Look at what happened post-WWII in Germany and Japan. People can reform themselves. 

Alas, it is not to be because generations of Palestinians in the formerly occupied territories (both are self-governing now, and that has been a disaster) have been trained to be hateful bigots whom even the other Arab countries disdain. You will notice that none of these countries is interested in taking in Palestinian refugees because they are nothing but trouble. 

That’s why Joe Biden is apparently offering America as a sanctuary for some of the most murderous people in the world, continuing his unbroken streak of being always disastrously wrong on every issue. 

The article concludes:

One would have thought, without actually seeing how long hatred can persist, that the fire would burn out. Alas, it shows no sign of doing so even after the better part of a century. 

But one thing is clear: there is no way to allow anything close to statehood for the current crop of Palestinians. It is insane to think that there is. 

Every bit of aid, legitimacy, and resources that enter the West Bank and Gaza will eventually be turned on the Israelis. 

Suggestions? I’m all out of them. 

Unless the Palestinians change (at least 75% of the Palestinians support Hamas), they will never been welcome in any country. They are an Arab tribe. They have no actual claim to Israel. Unfortunately, because of their past (and present) behavior, none of their fellow Arabs want to take them in. Iran is Persian–it is not Arab–and is more interested in stirring up trouble in the region that helping anyone. Whatever the solution, we need to get our hostages back!

 

 

Being Willing To Change

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Nicky Larkin, an Irish artist, posted an article in The Independent on Sunday. Nicky is a young man in his late twenties who believed the politically-correct line he was fed about the Israel-Palestine conflict. He applied for funding from the Irish Arts Council to make a film in Israel and Palestine, and headed off to show the world how badly behaved Israel was.

Well, it didn’t turn out quite that way. He made the film ‘Forty Shades of Grey’ after spending seven weeks dividing my time evenly between Israel and the West Bank.

He reports on the outcome of his efforts:

The problem began when I resolved to come back with a film that showed both sides of the coin. Actually there are many more than two. Which is why my film is called Forty Shades of Grey. But only one side was wanted back in Dublin. My peers expected me to come back with an attack on Israel. No grey areas were acceptable.

An Irish artist is supposed to sign boycotts, wear a PLO scarf, and remonstrate loudly about The Occupation. But it’s not just artists who are supposed to hate Israel. Being anti-Israel is supposed to be part of our Irish identity, the same way we are supposed to resent the English.

But hating Israel is not part of my personal national identity. Neither is hating the English. I hold an Irish passport, but nowhere upon this document does it say I am a republican, or a Palestinian.

Every now and then you have to sit down and compare what you have been told with what you see before your eyes. I can relate–I used to be a liberal Democrat–I voted for George McGovern! Kudos to this young man for being willing to investigate and draw his own conclusions.

Nicky Larkin’s ‘Forty Shades of Grey’ will premiere in Dublin in May;

www.facebook.com/ fortyshades;

www.nickylarkin.com

 

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