A voice of reason

We have to take it over

It would be an educated guess that the bleeding Arab-Israeli conflict was on the terrorists’ minds. We have gotten used to the expression that the world has become small, without applying much meaning to it. Since the World Trade Center was destroyed as the result of a political clutter in the Middle East, when we hear that the world is small, we know what it means.

The terrorism practiced by many Palestinian organizations has put our hearts on the Israeli side. Nevertheless, behind the sweet talk, in their dealing with Palestinian extremists, the Israelis have become like their opponents. They shoot in the back without warning. If they know the whereabouts of a known terrorist, why do they not try to get him arrested and put in front of a judge? They just send a rocket, killing a suspect and whoever had the bad luck to be nearby, including children. Do we want to have anything in common with this?

There was some talk about a land for peace deal. From afar it is hard to sort out what is true, but it appears that the Palestinians may have a solid legal right to some patches of land that Israeli chauvinists do not want to give up at any price. Should it not be resolved in the courtroom and not on the street by stone throwers, rocket shooters or suicidal bombers?

Israel is overwhelmingly more powerful than Palestine and it is the responsibility of the more powerful party to set the tone in their mutual relationship. The Israelis have to acknowledge that they have failed in their policies to find the way for a peaceful cohabitation with the Palestinians. Every year billions of our taxpayer money goes to Israel, with the hope that they will take care of some of the region’s problems. It is time to make them accountable for the money they received.

In the global village we can not afford to have two angry neighbors destroy the village while quarreling for a patch of land. It is time to take the gloves off and involve the United States directly in solving this conflict once and for all.

We have to do it our way. First, if Israel wants a continuation of US support, it needs to put the sword away and use traditional police methods to fight terrorism. Second, instead of soldiers, we need to employ thousands of lawyers to make sure that every Palestinian asking for reparations from the state of Israel, will have his or her day in court. And we will be watching. Even if it takes us five years to clean that mess, we will do ten times better than they after more than fifty years of killing each other.

Written in 2002