Middle East Miseries

Ever since I was a boy I remember hearing the constant bickering between Israel & their neighbors. In the early years I distinct remember the issue was all too often “Israel’s right to exist” and I must admit a good deal of sympathy and support for their position, but as with all things, there has been a change in attitude and apparently support. These days, on too many occasions, fault, blame, and a general lack of respect falls equally to both sides with neither willing to extend an olive branch or give an inch in their positions. Because of many decades of US and private citizen support, Israel has a significant upper hand including (still denied) nuclear weapons. Their most recent addition of intelligence satellites, drones and the “iron dome” has given them another significant advancement over their neighbors, still, it must be noted that they do appear to require quite a bit of provocation before they strike back.

Fast forward to the recent developments. With both sides staunchly refusing to accept a cease fire it appears that this one won’t be over until somebody loudly cries “uncle”. From all appearances, Israel isn’t going to be satisfied until they fully regain the Gaza Strip and considering how active Hamas has been, working out of this tiny strip of land, I find it difficult to condemn them. The latest provocation appears to be an exchange of murders of children, but the border between Gaza and Israel has been locked down a long time, preventing even the exchange of medical supplies, food, or anything else. Israel’s reasons are valid and again, we have another stalemate with no movement on either side.

These are the sorts of things the US has been trying to play peacemaker for a very long time and unfortunately with little to no success, any of which is short lived, at best. And here is just another good example of where the US might want to step back and decide to simply stay out of it all, particularly since both sides have lowered themselves to such dastardly deeds that no civilized nation should tolerate it, at all! If there is anything that sincerely offends me is the constant claim of being “the chosen people” as their right to participate in some of the events that have turned a few stomach’s over the years. Not saying they haven’t endured a lot, but please don’t use religion as an excuse. Doing so only gives legitimacy to others that are doing the same.

So, what do we do? Well, in the military we learned that one never “reinforces defeat” and while one side might win more battles, the big picture shows the entire mess is one serious defeat in the way of principles, morals, and so called religious beliefs. We have tried negotiations, peace offerings, and more other approaches that I can name in one sitting. Jimmy Carter PO’d a lot of people when he put it out there on the line in has last book and while a lot of people condemned him, very few found fault with his logic.

In nature the strong survive while the weak perish. In everyday life this also applies to businesses (sans government bailouts) communities, and many more examples. Sadly, this may be the only way for this dispute to be settled. Interesting that few, if any of Israel’s Arab neighbors are coming to the rescue, which says a lot about Hamas. Perhaps it’s time for us to simply stand back, let the situation run it’s course, then deal with the winner.

Cold hearted? You bet, but it certainly is a lot better than us getting directly involved. There is more than one of these similar situations going on and with 41 active conflicts (wars) going on around the globe, now might be a good time for us to spend a lot more time taking care of the folks at home to improve our own strength & prosperity just to insure that when needed, we can step into some of these other situations.