In the movie ‘Munich’ the Zionists plot revenge and terror, something that continues to this day on both sides.

James Abourezk takes the side of Palestine;

In “Overcoming Zionism,” Joel Kovel writes that Israelis look upon non-Jews as being less than human. Reports last week show that the International Red Cross officials discovered a house. More than 100 Palestinian civilians were forced into it, then it was shelled. The building contained the bodies of dozens of men, women and children.

AND

In this time of economic hardship in America and of naked aggression by Israel, it is time to say: “Enough is enough.” We should keep the billions we send each year to Israel and Egypt. That will help us and help the people who suffer under the illegal Israeli occupation with the use of American support.

Marty Gallanter takes the side of Israel;

One notable exception came from Anwar Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem, where he recognized Israel’s right to exist and live in peace. His reward was the return of all Egyptian land taken in 1967 and removal of all Israeli settlements. The Israelis tried to give him back Gaza, but he wouldn’t take it. The same thing happened when Israel tried to return the West Bank to Jordan as part of that peace treaty some years later. Sadat paid for his peace efforts with his life, murdered by the Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist organization and the model for Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. All three have chartered as their primary goal the destruction of Israel. All refuse to recognize that Israel might have the right to exist.

AND

Hamas has betrayed the Palestinian people. Israel has said it would accept an international force to keep peace. Hamas has refused. Israel accepts a two-state solution. Hamas has refused. A partnership for peace requires more than one side to make concessions. Until that happens, the innocents will be ones who suffer the most.

My take? I don’t think Peace is possible until one group kills the other off.

I have deep respect for both Marty and Jim. I have had several conversations with both men, and they are deeply passionate about their people and families still living in the region. Emotions run high when these two guys talk about the conflict. As you can see from reading both columns, they both have their own ‘set of facts’ and feel the other side is guilty. For a better perspective of this conflict, I recommend you watch the movie ‘Munich’. The movie portrays the deep hatred each side has for each other and also the deep love they have for their own societies. I’ll warn you, it is a very disturbing movie.

4 Thoughts on “The Mideast Debate

  1. Ghost of Dude on January 24, 2009 at 10:53 am said:

    Munich wasn’t terribly disturbing until you realize it was mostly a true story. I thought it was a good movie, but rather slow.
    Realizing that the kind of covert operations depicted in the movie actually went on is also rather disturbing – especially considering I know a couple of guys (retired now) who did the same kind of thing for our government back in the late 70s, though probably not anything like the ones in the movie.
    The conflict, IMO, will go on until both sides realize that the other isn’t going anywhere and they might as well get along. Any dream of eliminating one side and having all the land for one set of people is totally insane.

  2. And, it ain’t much land.

    There are ranchers in Western SD that own more land (that is more fertile) than what these people are fighting over.

    The worst part is they;

    1) They are not following the word of the God’s they supposedly worship

    2) innocent children are dying.

  3. Ghost of Dude on January 24, 2009 at 12:58 pm said:

    Both sides believe very strongly that God gave them that tiny piece of land too.
    What really pisses me off about it is that every time hamas attacks israel, the israelis do exactly what hamas wants by responding with a full military incursion that ends up killing hundreds of innocent people along with the terrorists they were after.
    Hamas knows exactly how to provoke israel into attacking them, and the israelis know exactly how to get us to side with them.
    We need to threaten to pull the billions of dollars in aid money (especially the military part)we send them every year if this is how they’re gonna use it.

  4. I couldn’t agree more. I have always felt that the U.S. should remain completly neutral in the matter.

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