Living by the sword, for all time

[bemildred]

Another Qassam rocket fired at Ashkelon, another volley of shells on Beit Lahia, another suicide bombing foiled and one that wasn't. That's the headline in the newspaper, on the evening newscast, on Internet bulletins. But the message that the Israel Defense Forces is digging up beneath the ruins and between the craters is far more important than any passing report. It is not about to end. Not this week, not this year, not this decade, maybe not even this century. This is our life (and our death), as far as the eye can see. Endless bloodletting, until the end of time.

An understanding of the confrontation as persistent and ongoing, is the unavoidable conclusion drawn from an internal IDF study that was written over the past two years and is expected to soon receive an official stamp of approval. It was compiled by a team led by the commander of the Staff and Command College, Brigadier General Amos Ben-Avraham, and the head of the IDF History Department, Colonel (res.) Shaul Shai. The team was initially led by Major General Amos Yadlin, former head of the IDF National Defense College. In the summer of 2004 Yadlin became Israel's military attache in Washington and was replaced by Major General Yair Naveh, who was then in the Home Front Command. In the meantime, Naveh was transferred to Central Command and Yadlin returned from the United States to serve as director of Military Intelligence.

More significantly, one chief of staff went and another came. During the period of Moshe Ya'alon, and in the transition in the Palestinian Authority from Yasser Arafat to Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), the IDF spoke in terms of achieving a decision and breaking the Palestinian will to continue the confrontation. Under Dan Halutz, and especially since the Hamas takeover, this ambition appears to have been forsaken. A similar mood now prevails on both sides, which accepts the persistence of the conflict as decreed by fate. The challenge is not to get out of the conflict - there is no way out - but how to live with it without going mad and without depleting strength and energy.

It began at Masada

Halutz's General Staff, led by his deputy, Moshe Kaplinsky, operations chief Gadi Eisenkott and Yadlin, has found an answer to the old question, which was posed a generation ago by Moshe Dayan: Shall we live by the sword for all time? The answer, unfortunately, is yes. Yes, we shall "eat" the sword, as the Hebrew phrase has it, eternally, though with breaks between the meals. Deterministic? Fatalistic? Pessimistic? "Realistic," a major general said this week. The conflict is irresolvable. The mutual claims by the two sides cannot converge or be offset in the form of a compromise of coexistence and assured peace. This is the shaky roof, which is not replaceable and which threatens at every moment to come crashing down on the heads of the occupants. Below it remains space for day-to-day life, for managing the relations, for "flattening the violence" and, insofar as the defense establishment will be successful in serving society, the economy, the citizens - for prosperity in time of conflict.

Haaretz

[pelsar]

1. so be it.....

eventually the palestenans will "get it"..it may take them generations (it already has), but one day a leader will emerge that has the political backing, the courage to tell the "palestenain supporters" (those that like the arab countries support mainly their refugee status, and their "right" to kill in order to justify their refugee status..to leave them alone)..then without those "egging them on" they will see an israel that is more than willing to be their neighbors in peace.

on the more interesting side of the article:

its the jews who "invented terrorism" and the palestenians who did the PR work for it to go international

The guide's survey of terrorism begins with Masada and the Zealots: "An organization that exhibited aspects of a modern terrorist organization was the Zealots of Judea. Known to the Romans as sicarii, or dagger-men, they carried on an underground campaign of assassination of Roman occupation forces, as well as any Jews they felt had collaborated with the Romans



The guide also cites the hijacking of an El Al plane to Algiers in 1968 as the moment of the birth of the era of modern terrorism and singles Dr. George Habash out as the midwife. The terrorism of the PLO's various factions was "ethno-nationalist." It contributed to the internationalization of terrorism because it was joined by organizations, which were bored after the conclusion of the American involvement in Vietnam and found a new cause in the Palestinians.


the alternative, the sequel to "spain, england, russia, palestine, germany, looks even less appealing.
________________

one should note that the article uses generalizations to describe the societies....for reasons that baffle me, its usually considered a "no no" to use the tools of sociology/anthropology the describe the character and traits of societies here....ones that have emperical/historical evidence to back them up with.

[Coastie for Truth]

2. That's the way life is

Being Jewish in a Christian or Muslim society

Being Muslim in a Christian, Jewish or Hindu society

Being Black in a White Society

Being Latino in an Anglo Society

Being Francophone in an Anglophone society- or Anglophone in a Francophone society (Yes- I did live in Canada for a while)

Being GLBT in a straight society,

If you have never been a "Minority" fish in a "Majority" sea ...... (you can not understand)

The world is not - and never will be - perfect. Even if we were all Progressives and Lefties and Liberals.

[pelsar]

3. the "bored left"

It contributed to the internationalization of terrorism because it was joined by organizations, which were bored after the conclusion of the American involvement in Vietnam and found a new cause in the Palestinians

perhaps this explains the obsession with the israeli/Palestinian issue...or at least part of it. It certainly cant be mere injustice as other conflicts are far less confusing, far more violent....and far less interesting as far as the intl "progressive" community goes.

[ShalachEtAmi]

4. They were `bored` so they adopted another peoples cause? nt

[pelsar]

5. there is a need for "causes"....

it may be to save the seals, the redwood forests, stop executions, stop abortions, greater israel, social justice, communism, etc. A large part of the sociology of the middle class, is to join "causes.'

The israeli/Palestinian conflict is such a wonderful conflict that everyone can get involved:

it involves jews, so we have the nazis, white power, christians etc, it involves europeans coming to a less developed land, so we have "colonialism" and an chance for the communists, and anti western colonialism bunch to join in. We've got the ">2nd tier natives" lives being disrupted by jewish capitalists, so the socialists get to join in, the strong IDF, so the anti military crowd....lets face it, this conflict has something for everyone, which explains how islamic extremists have found allies in the extreme left...and extreme right.

An honest look at the conflict finds the death toll and suffering almost embarrassing low compared to other conflicts, but that too is a factor. Can you imagine an ISM activist in Chechnya? Tibet?, Dafur? Serbia?.....human shields?...they wouldn't last a minute. This conflict is safe enough (as long as your against the israelis) that one can protest with confidence that after a couple of months of "doing good" one can go home. This will not work in gaza today or in other conflicts.

Why else would you find people all over the world, with no particular attachment to the middle east choosing this conflict to concentrate on/obsess over? They're are refugees from other conflicts, other walls built, other suicide bombers....but this one just has so much to 'choose from" whatever your particular "thing is"

[ShalachEtAmi]

6. You hit the nail on the head..

`Can you imagine an ISM activist in Chechnya? Tibet?, Dafur? Serbia?.....human shields?...they wouldn't last a minute``

Its relatively safe for them, the only way they get hurt is by tragic accident eg: Corrie and Hurndall , or when they actually get too involved..adopting the `cause` as their own such as the 2 UK suicide bombers that killed a lot of people at Mikes Place in Tel Aviv ,they were not Palestinian.

But it`s the same for them to protest in anti globalization rallies as it is to protect arms smuggling tunnel`s from discovery...Israel as a Western democracy can not act like Syria would or Tehran or North Korea...

The question I always ask is why are they not acting as human shields protecting for example Gay Guys from being hung and shot in `other lands`,but as you said their lives in such cases would not last very long and we will never get to see it on the 11 o clock news..as media is banned from their `justice` ceremonies.