The Final Solution

The coverage of the invasion into Gaza continues. IDF ground forces has moved in. The number of civilians murdered has risen from 400 to 600 in a few days. International ‘leaders’ have voiced ‘concern’, ‘restraint’ and called for a ceasefire- but the UN has done nothing- due to the US stance. I watched a French news report called, ‘Can Israel defeat Hamas?’.

Anne Applebaum wrote in the Washighton Post:
“There is no point in bemoaning the passivity of the Bush administration, the silence of Barack Obama, the powerlessness of Arab leaders or the weakness of Europe, as so many, predictably, have begun to do. It's no outsider's "fault" that the fighting continues, and pretending otherwise merely obscures the real issues. Diplomats might be able to slow its progress, but this war won't be over until someone has won.”


This war has been going on for 60 years. I don’t think the next 40 will be this way. The US has been the most powerful nation in the past 60 years (with of course Russia having a significant portion of that power till the end of the cold war). But it won’t be for the next 40. Balance in global power is changing.

This is a war that no one will ‘win’. You cannot defeat that Hamas ideology. Just as you cannot defeat Zionism. My thoughts on an eventual solution are: The UN should create a buffer/observer zone between Israel and Gaza and too from the West Bank side. Israel will have to dismantle it’s settlements in the West Bank or issue a right of return for Palestinians into Israel, and Hamas would have to recognize Israel. Jerusalem will HAVE to be shared. I do not know how to solve the issue regarding the refugees right of return if the Settlements are dismantled... In this simplistic and basic solution reside a multitude of complications. This would be a long process, but it could work. Anything worth doing, takes time and, is difficult to achieve.

These days, I am reminded of my time in Jerusalem and the West Bank in 2006. At the Makassad Charitable hospital I met a willful 10 year old who was shot through both legs by an IDF soildier. I asked myself, ‘What kind of person shoots bullets into a child?’. And then I watch the news now and see the blood of children’s faces pulled from rubble and the burial of 3 young brothers. And I hear Obama say that he is, ‘concerned’ and Tony Blair just came back from holiday. I guess I would be a little ‘concerned’ too if the shells and bullets that kill small children are the same ones we gave them. But not too concerned, after all… they aren’t my kids, and they aren’t Israeli either.

Humanity is quick to judge but slow to change. But the solution is out there.





- J