Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal made the first step toward extricating his head from his ass today by acknowledging the reality of the existence of Israel, and appearing to understand that a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine problem is the only realistic one. He also added, "the problem is not that there is an entity called Israel," but that the Palestinians don't have their own state. Fair enough.
But he's still refusing to amend the Hamas charter that calls for the destruction of Israel. And he also added this: "This is a reality but I won't deal with it in terms of recognizing or admitting it." Which, of course, is what he just did in the interview. This statement is emblematic of one of the most major problems in the Middle East - the refusal of people to accept reality and go from there. I think something about that useless little stretch of desert makes people hallucinate. Anyway, seems like Meshaal's head is slowly moving down his intestine, but it'll be a while yet before full derectalization occurs. Which I suppose is par for the course over there.
Not to belittle the unjust ways in which Israel has treated the Palestinians at times, but the European conquerors/immigrants/colonists were WAY worse to the Native Americans than the Israelis are to the Palestinians - and yet, with the exception of Wovoka and the Ghost Dancers back in the late 19th century, very few Native Americans are engaged in active campaigns to send all white people back to Europe. And while I support the existence of Israel, no one has yet sufficiently explained to me why it's absolutely imperative for Israel to hold on to the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem (all of which are overwhelmingly Palestinian areas). Sometimes I wonder if Israel/Palestine is populated entirely by people who missed kindergarten on the day they taught sharing.
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Jeff:
A good post, well thought, and well written.
You said:
""This is a reality but I won't deal with it in terms of recognizing or admitting it." Which, of course, is what he just did in the interview."
Acknowledging that someone exists, and living peacefully with them, are two very different things. Most of the terrorists admit that Israel is here; however, as you point out, they will not disavow their goal of killing it.
A good comparison can be made to the Bush admin's attitute toward al-Qaeda: They exist, but must be destroyed.
The difference is, of course, that the palestinians can peace whenever they want, simply by stopping the shooting. As you said, "derectalization" has not yet occurred.
As an American Zionist (and Israeli resident), I appreciate your support of Israel. You asked:
"why it's absolutely imperative for Israel to hold on to the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem"
Personally, I don't think it is. However, when Israel tried to get out of Gaza, the response was a dramatic increase in terrorist rocket attacks.
I don't know the solution to that. Good comparison to the Native Americans...
I like the blog. I'll be back.
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