I’ve been trying to think of something meaningful to say in this thread, and it keeps escaping me. Perhaps the best that can be said is that just because one is pro-Israel doesn’t mean that one has be anti-Palestinian. Certainly the ethno-religious undertones of some of the posts are disturbing, as is the enthusiasm many of the writers appear to have for Israel, since no even-handed account for the Israeli-Arab conflict and Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be gung-ho for one side or the other.
Two points: First, the Palestinians and Arabs more generally are not a homogenous group. I would have thought the latest Iraq incursion would have evinced that, but evidently not. Hamas is not Fatah, which is not Islamic Jihad, or Hezbollah, or even the PA all together. When dealing with this particular situation, sweeping generalizations about the character of a whole society make careful analysis exceedingly difficult. For example, many (probably most) people in the Gaza Strip support Hamas. Is it because they are violently anti-Israel? To an extent, but don’t forget that Hamas provides critical infrastructure and social services. This is different from Islamic Jihad, which is more generally focused on the military aspect. And, while polling data is sketchy at best, generally it appears that the majority of Palestinians want a negotiated, fair two state solution to the conflict that enables Israeli security but sees Palestinian independence.
Second, religious idealism/fanaticism aside, a hard-nosed look at Israeli policy shows a remarkable amount of restraint, no doubt. But the policy of settlements, the separation barrier, assassination, and the disruption of Palestinian leadership and self-determination – these are not things anyone should be happy about. And, as I’ve written elsewhere, no one should be comfortable in accepting the early Zionist ideas that Palestine was uninhabited. That was patently not the case, and plenty of historical records back that up. See for example, Benny Morris’ Righteous Victims. As such, the Palestinians have a point, although they’ve made political mistakes in trying to actualize it: why should the Arabs, who have a history of tolerance to Judaism probably better than the West, have to give up land to settle Western guilt over what they did to the Jews? I don’t necessarily agree with this statement, but most of the previous commentators have got to be much more careful in their thinking about this issue, as it reveals a decided lack of nuance for the complexities of the situation.
