by Don Keelan
It is difficult to understand why Hamas, a terrorist organization that controls all that occurs in Gaza, would undertake a horrific attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Hamas must know that Israel would retaliate with an invasion with their overwhelming armed forces. Some other political entity directed the attack, most certainly: Iran.
Israel’s Defense Forces will, in time, remove Hamas from Gaza, and then what? Three monumental issues must be addressed if this part of the world will ever see peace.
First, Israel has a right to exist as a country free of any threat to existence. Second, the Palestinians must be free to govern themselves, not by a terrorist organization or its neighbor. Finally, we must realize that Iran means us harm, and presently, Israel is doing our bidding as Ukraine has been doing with Russia.
Notwithstanding Iran’s interference, the area had been making historic progress toward peace before October 7th. In 1979, Egypt and Israel officially recognized one another four decades ago at a landmark meeting at Camp David. This was followed by Jordan in 1994. Then came the Abraham Accords in August 2020, bringing together the United Arab Emirates and Israel. Just before October 7th, in an interview on Fox News with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, we were just weeks away from having Saudi Arabia and Israel sign a recognition agreement. Then came October 7th.
What is occurring in Gaza/Israel today is a classic case of unresolved geo-political issues. Add to this a lack of understanding of the origins of today’s crises by so many who have taken to the streets in protest on both sides of the barricades.
It might be worth noting that what is transpiring today did not begin with Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, or even Iran. Without going too far back into history, it started several hundred years ago.
Tom Segev, a noted Israeli columnist, in his 600-plus page book, “One Palestine, Complete,” writes, “As early as the beginning of the Seventeenth century, books and public discussion in England had taken up the idea of returning the Jews to the land of their fathers, in the spirit of the biblical prophets.” Over the years, some geographic areas of North Africa were suggested, but all were turned down. Then came WWI, and the long-time rulers of the Middle East lost their centuries of control, and the Ottoman Empire ended.
After decades of dealing with the matter of how to find a home for the Jews of Europe, the British, working under the League of Nations mandate, believed they could finally resolve the problem with the publication of the Balfour Declaration.
According to a Manchester, Vermont resident and expert on matters of the Mid-East, the British cabinet met on October 31, 1917, and authorized Foreign Secretary Balfour to issue the following:
“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.” As history has shown us, the issue of Palestine has never been resolved, and Iranian proxies have filled the vacuum.
Over the next 100 years, the Jews of the world would come to what was once known as Palestine. Shortly followed by the riots of 1922 and 1936. Four wars have been waged since Israel’s statehood was declared in 1948. All of this violence has established that you cannot resolve the errors of the past through violence. The diplomatic actions with Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia are examples of positive and constructive ways. But that leaves Iran and its proxies. The commitment by the U.S. and others to eliminate them is long overdue.
Another commitment that needs to be made is to bring Gaza and the West Bank back to a state where its citizens can be independent, prosper, and free of fear. This was the intent in 1917, but it can be realized today. Only if courage, leadership, and compassion are put forward, and religious righteousness and dogma on all sides are not allowed to dictate the necessary outcome.
The author is a U.S. Marine (retired), CPA, and columnist living in Arlington, VT.
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Categories: Commentary
Can peace ever be achieved?
Short answer: No.
Of course, this response assumes that we agree on what it means to ‘achieve peace’ in the first place. And the odds are, we don’t agree – not 100% at least.
I watched Tucker Carlson’s recent lecture on the state of our society. And it occurs to me that everyone asking this poignant question is a glutton for punishment… literally. As though any of us could make some sort of course correction, assuming we know where to go. Be it truth or falsehood, good or evil, peace (whatever that means) or conflict, these are all human constructs. No other living organism on planet earth thinks this way. It is this specific and obtuse rationalization of our behavior, after all, that sets humans (at least many of us) apart.
There is a logical (i.e., rational, scientific) explanation for the behavior Tucker Carlson is addressing, and the question Mr. Keelan is asking. It’s not a matter of lying, per se, as Carlson opines. It’s more the psychological distortion of reality. Truth is relative to what we actually know. As though we can ever know enough. And we often say and do things we don’t fully understand. Therefore, we don’t get it entirely right every time. As the proverb says, “A half-truth is a whole lie.”
But I don’t see that anyone actually enjoys being dishonest. This is not evil incarnate. Dishonesty is not inherent to the human condition that has been developing over the last couple of hundred thousand years or so. The truth, as Tucker points out, feels good and makes us stronger. Because, instinctively, it’s in our nature to be honest, because it’s a dominant trait. It’s natural selection. Telling the truth increases our ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.
So, what’s happening?
The data shows that what we are experiencing today is the process of natural selection. Read Edward T. Hall’s 1966 The Hidden Dimension. It relates an aggregation of studies indicating what happens to human and animal behaviors as a result of ‘overcrowding’. Not ‘overpopulation’. It’s social overcrowding, and the resulting stress that changes our perception of what are otherwise typical social norms. Increased aggression, pansexual behavior, the breakdown of reproductive processes, the inability to successfully communicate, or manage physical waste, and so forth. It’s what happens when a population of humans, or animals for that matter, can no longer cope with their environment.
There’s no point in elaborating further, except to say that our behavior is cyclical, and the final outcomes are, for the most part, depressing for those caught unaware and unable to cope. On the other hand, many do survive and flourish.
Read Hall’s book. Life on earth is a matter of balance. It’s a wonder to behold. I appreciate it (beyond words) for what it is.
Praemonitus praemunitus.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Postscript: And, please, don’t accuse me of being a Godless heathen. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” ― Friedrich W. Nietzsche
There are a lot of assumptions in the first paragraph…
We know they say about assumptions. Ass-u-me.
“If wars can be started by lies, peace can be started by truth.” Julian Assange
“The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings… John F. Kennedy
“Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.” John Lennon
“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” Frederick Douglass
The question to all is what does peace and freedom mean to you? What are you willing to do or sacrifice to defend it, not only for yourself, but for your family, friends, and community?