I have many more questions than answers, believe me. My tendency always is to side with the oppressed. My stance is against war. War is a stupid, useless, act of ugliness and pain and waste. It is never nice. It always seems to force both sides into becoming that which they despise in the other. It requires no creativity. It is cave man crap.
Any reader of my blog knows well that this is how I think. But on this Israel Palestine horror, I have questions that I think need to be addressed;
Firstly, Is this a religious war or a political one?The Israelis are almost always described as Jews. That sounds like religion, but maybe it is being used as a racial thing. That forces the discussion about politics into the religious arena. If you are against the tactics of Israel you must be against Jews. Messy thinking.
The Palestinians are often described as Arab. That is confusing as most Palestinians through genetics are descended from Jews. The Muslim conquests resulted in conversions over the years. There was also, historically a large Christian population among the converts. Very bewildering to me. Most Palestinians are now refugees in other countries. Most Palestinians speak both Arabic and Hebrew. It seems to me that they have a lot of common ground with the history of the Jewish people.
What occurs to me is that if this is a religious war, then the discussion and solution of the never ending crisis should be hammered out by religious people, not soldiers and so called diplomats from countries that can hardly be distinguished from the combatants. Why the hell is a US president or State Department person in Egypt talking to God knows whom about what we will accept or not?
If this is a religious war, then get the leaders of the great religions of the world to be the peace talk participants. Pope Francis, Dalai Lama, Thich Naht Hahn, Chief John Pretty on Top, Desmond Tutu...why aren't they in Jerusalem making peace? Pope Francis gave a powerful statement yesterday begging both sides to STOP IT NOW!
Do thoughts like this belie the whole idea that this is about religion? Are the Israelis hiding behind the Jewish identity? Are they deliberately conflagrating the issue for sympathy? Are the Sunnis doing the same thing? What lies are people dying for? What lies are people killing for? I am confused.
Can any US citizen not remember what we did to the first peoples here on our soil when we get righteous about what we are doing to the Palestinians? This is what we do. We use overwhelming power to get land and resources. Think about it.
In El Salvador, the thirty year civil war stopped almost to the day we stopped funding it. Just a thought.
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