Interesting article by Michelle Goldberg of Tablet on the soldiers of "Breaking the Silence" - exposing how the Israeli occupation brutalizes the soldiers who enforce it and the Palestinians who suffer from it.
Website of Breaking the Silence: Shovrim Shtika.
Article by Mikhael Manekin, co-director of Shovrim Shtika, in +972 (web magazine), against the Knesset investigation into NGOs.
I think you are latched onto the wrong issue. Yes, the occupation - any occupation - is a brutal thing. But, if ceding more land makes Israel a more vulnerable target - and, thus far, other than ceding land to Egypt (up until now, at least - the future with Egypt being very much in doubt), all the ceding has resulted not in much peace but in lots of dead people. I think this matter, with the change in Egypt and the Arab world occurring before our eyes, needs to be thought through and we should not remain captives of ways of thinking which, at this point, have been revealed to be, by and large, self-deception.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I would not quibble with saying the occupation is brutal - and not great for Israelis, just as you assert. However, I would note that it is not the whole story, lest you think that ending the occupation means peace.
With the publication of materials supposedly reflecting the views of PA negotiators and the brutal reception which "compromises" in those documents made by Abbas and Co were received by Palestinians - causing riots and calls of traitor -, with the recent publication of polling showing that, by the very vast majority, Palestinian Arabs view a two state solution as temporary - and with the revolt in Egypt - with both the most liberal and the Islamists calling for the end of the treaty with Israel - the question is really, is ceding territory consistent with Israel's survival.
Lastly, I would love to cede land and end the dispute. I have no brief for the settlers and I do not care whether Israel controls this or that piece of land. However, I also have no illusion that either holding the land under occupation or ceding the land to what will almost certainly be a hostile political movement will lead to peace. Rather, the question coming to foreground is which is Israel's least bad option. I am not at all sure. You do not even seem to see an issue.