Israel's dead end: My Own Best Thinking Brought Me Here

People who go to AA meetings will have heard this before: "my own best thinking brought me here." A statement of complete failure and final understanding that a person's intelligence may be what brings him/her to complete devastation. Few of us get to that point and for those who do, it seems to be a struggle to accept that reality--hence the need to repeat these little AA mantras.

What about nations? What about intelligent, modern, enlightened nations? What about moral, dedicated, religious societies? What about powerful, rich, hyper-connected global communities? Can their 'best thinking' bring them to utter failure?

Okay, try this exercise: What about the French Fourth Republic (still producing some of the greatest literature on earth and 'spreading civilization' the world over)? What about the mighty Soviet Super-Power (I mean, they beat the US to space, had some of the greatest scientists and chess players on earth and were going to take over the world)? What about the Fuhrer in the last hour in his bunker (now, here was a wonder of organization, management and military strength)?

You're still with me? Good. Let's try harder.
What about the Jewish State of Israel circa 2008? What about the United States of America, the "indispensable nation?" (I always think of the "unsinkable Titanic" when I hear this phrase - don't know why.*)

O - I see you raise your eyebrow. You're thinking: "Here goes another anti-American, anti-Israel diatribe from someone who sees nothing wrong with Jihadists and folks who strap C-4 around the belt of children!"
Well, not quite. I actually think the Jihadists 'own best thinking' and behind that the fundamentalist neo-paternalistic Islamic ethos has led a good part of the Muslim world into a dead-end of its own. I actually like the US a lot; I love Eilat and Tel Aviv in the Summer; and I think Israel has shown that with the right size blank check from US tax payers, there's a lot you can do to develop a nation very quickly. I think it's brilliant how America won't provide health care to its own children but pays for a very effective public health system in Israel providing universal coverage to its citizens. (Way to export socialized medicine, America!) But I'm digressing.

But, let's look at Israel and Gaza today. Which way is this current crisis headed? What are its goals? What can it achieve? Is there any kind of a win for Israel? And if there isn't, then why would the brilliant minds of Kadima, Labour and the Likud all pursue a logic of death, destruction, bloodshed, and -- as the Lebanese war in 2006 -- no possible lasting gain?

I lack the time to expand on how pointless this killing of Palestinians is. (I love that CNN reports that X% of people killed were "militants" and the rest--a small fraction--"civilians." Folks in Gaza are playing puzzle with body parts to figure out who is dead, but CNN, live from Atlanta, already has a statistic about how many were militants. CNN is sooooo smart. I should ask them what I've done with my favorite pen I lost last month.) So, Israel is going to kill 1,000? 2,000? 10,000? or more Palestinians -- I assume CNN already has the percentage of collateral dammage on hand -- then what?

O yes, if they go in, they'll take out a lot of metal and stuff that can be used to make rockets. If they are very very successful, the only thing left in Gaza will be rubber bands and pita bread. For a few months. Then what?

Parenthesis -- before I continue, please note that I am writing according to the CNN script--that is, I pretend to ASSUME that Israel's actions are disproportionate, but that they came in response to attacks from Gaza with those rockets. I am quite sure that many of the readers (ok - there aren't so many readers of this blog) would also have a mental picture where Israel--right or wrong--is acting in response to being attacked. That's the interesting thing, and that's where you see that the US are themselves locked in their own best thinking. For this thinking actually contradicts the calendar of events wich led to the end of the truce betwen Hamas and Israel. There was a truce. Israel sent F-16's to destroy a tunnel and killed half a dozen Palestinians. The bottom line is that the resumption of hostilities came from Israel. (What? Gazans shouldn't build tunnels? You go there and tell them! Also, did the US stop providing high tech war equipment during that truce? No. So why should the other side stop playing in the sand then?) So, correcting the news: Israel ended the truce.--end of parenthesis.

The fact is that, while Israel has a strategy for the West Bank (essentially conquering more and more land while pretending to be negotiating peace, for as long as the gullible US can be kept in line with AIPAC), it doesn't have a strategy for Gaza. Israel controls who goes in and out of Gaza, what goes in and out (well - to some extent but they try), they have eyes in the air, they control when the fishermen go out or not, they restrict gasoline, electricity, the capacity to have drinking water, the availability of commodities. They can any day or night decide to send a troup of soldiers and kill a few people when they think it's a good idea. Basically, Israel 'owns' 1.5 million Palestinians in a 'rat cage.'**

Israel's best thinking imposes some actions:
- Lobby the US not to talk to Hamas; shun Hamas (except when desperate enough to negotiate a truce);
- Qualify all Palestinian resistance as "terrorism" and legitimize 'targeted killings' -- essentially a life and death claim on any Palestinian life;
- Crush people in misery, be "tough" and stand on the self-rigtheousness of the eternal victim;
- Since Palestinians cannot be trusted, armed Palestinians (i.e. "security forces" or police) must be killed (who will keep order in an open air prison without police?)

You add to that the internal Israeli politics: since the Minister of Defence is in competition with the Prime Minister is in competition with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, intelligent leadership in Israel becomes a rarity. What you have is populist escalation - a "I can be tougher than you against terrorists"-race to more belligerence. Which Israeli politicians is going to gain points against the other by saying "We've been wrong all along. We need to talk to these people. We need to make peace with our enemy. And it starts by losing the right of life and death over Palestinians; it starts with acknowledging we are not a superior race destined to rule over Arabs; we are not to control every element--no, we are not to control ANY element of the life of Palestinians and Gazans. And yes, if we talk to these people, we will lose something because our freedom stops where theirs starts, but we can gain a lot more."

No Israeli politician can make that speech. Well - almost: Olmert came close in his interview, just after he declared he was leaving power. Interesting.

Israel's best thinking is currently very sick. A brilliant mind in the prison of its own making, without an exit strategy. The Palestinians are first to pay the price. Unlucky residents of Sderot are next in line. All of Israel can only lose, regardless of the body count. Let me rephrase that: Israel's loss accrues with each dead Palestinian. This war is a lose-lose. And Palestinians - especially in Gaza - don't feel they have a lot to lose. Would you rather die fighting, even sending blind rockets, or sitting down? Please let's remember that all our nations have targeted civilians when this could lead to victory. (No? Did you study the Ulysses Grant campaign against the South in the American civil war? Have you heard of Dresden, maybe Hiroshima? And I'm not citing the US because they are the worst, but because they have been the 'good kid in the class' of Western Nations.)

Another time, I'll write about why America seems stuck also, unable to be the constructive third party it has sometimes been in history. Prisoner of its own 'best thinking' - in a global war on selected forms and agents of terrorism. So, America does not play its role - Obama or no Obama. [At least, Obama should be one step up from Bush circa 2000, whose motto to Israel & Sharon (remember, a 'man of peace' by W's standards) was "kill, baby kill!"] It is not the goodwill or the intelligence of America that is in question, but its ability to get out of the mental prison it has created for itself.

America is now Europe in the first half of the 20th Century. (Israel is Europe in the first half of the 19th Century it seems.) The question is, who can play the role America played for Europe? How can one be saved from oneself?

Maybe we should start 12 step programs for nations with too much military power.
"Hi. My name is Israel. I am powerless over my own strength and domination of Arabs."
"Hi. My name is America. I am powerless over the rhetoric of my war on terror and my 700 foreign military bases." (700 guys! ever think of that?)
"Hi. My name is Hamas. I am powerless over belief that violence can repay violence."

Welcome - have a seat. Now, let's start with the serenity prayer.

Elrig

ps: As always, check out the links at the bottom right of this page. Brian McLaren left his blog entry for a text worth reading by Hannah Mermelstein.
IF YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING: (1) visit endtheoccupation.org; (2) write to your elected officials (for Americans, very easy through www.congress.org; (3) write questions to Obama and vote for questions to Obama on Palestine by going to change.gov and "open for questions" (4) send money to any of the following: Near East Council of Churches, CARE, World Vision, Holy Land Trust, Sabeel, Save the Children Palestine or Human Rights groups; (5) refuse to be overwhelmed and give up; denounce 'it's been going on forever' fatalistic lies. This mess is OUR (human) making; WE (humans) must fix it. If you're like me and believe in our powerlessness and the help of a Power Greater Than Ourselves, pray and pray again; but oppose the fatalism of those who use trust in God ("only One can bring peace") as a commandment to do nothing for peace. Whatever you do which is not passivity (this includes invisible acts in silence) contributes to the struggle for peace and justice. (6) remain outraged at the waste of violence: regardless of unequal political responsibilities on the two sides, the life of a kid in Gaza = the life of a kid in Sderot = the life of anyone on any side, even narrow-minded anyones.

* Don't worry - America's done great things and it's not the first self-important nation on earth. I know where I come from after all!
** Expression borrowed from a UHWC presentation made in Gaza by a Gazan, speaking of 'rat cage syndrome'