Piling up Bodies

There are a lot of things happening here in America.  Another Ho-Hum-Yawn-What-Else-Is-New mass shooting in Maine, brought to you by The Friends of the AR-15.  The election of an extremist Speaker of the House of Representatives who now stands second in line to the Presidency.  And of course, the opening of the annual Medicare enrollment period, when private insurance companies spend small fortunes trying to convince you (if you’re a geezer like me) to turn your tax dollars over to them in return for inadequate health coverage.

I’ll have plenty to say about all of those things.  In the meantime, the ongoing killing in the Middle East grows more critical by the day.

Yes, I know I wrote about this in my last post.  But now things are even worse.

First, the recap.  Over three weeks ago, Hamas unleashed a brutal, immoral, and horrifying attack on Israel.  1400 Israelis were killed, including non-Jewish Bedouin tribesmen.  Hundreds of Israelis were taken hostage.

In response, Israel has dropped 4,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, killing over 8,000 Palestinians in Gaza, while hundreds more have died in the occupied West Bank.  Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Gazan hospitals are running out of medicine, food, and electricity.  According to one Pediatrician, dead children are piling up so fast in a makeshift tent-morgue it threatens to contaminate drinking water.  How many additional bodies are buried beneath the rubble is unknown.

Israeli tanks and troops are pressing into Gaza, and Israel is advising the al-Quds Hospital to evacuate immediately.  How do you evacuate hundreds of sick and injured in the middle of a war?  How do you run ventilators and operating rooms without power?

Officially, the purpose of Israel’s upcoming invasion is to defeat Hamas.  Unofficially, Israel has threatened to “turn all of Gaza into rubble.”  Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared this will be “a long war.” Hamas continues to fire rockets at Israel.

At that rate, there’ll be a lot of rubble—and a lot of bodies.  And to what end?

Hamas may get wiped out, but the anger, frustration, helplessness, and humiliation of Palestinians will continue.  History is clear—keep a people beaten down long enough, and bad things will happen.  The next confrontation will be even worse—for everyone.

Is there a way out of this?  Certainly Palestinians should be entitled to their own homeland.  But just saying this will upset many.  Some supporters of Israel maintain that Palestinians should be assimilated into other existing countries, and all territory controlled by Israel permanently annexed.  Some Palestine supporters maintain that because Israel was carved out of Palestinian land, it’s only fair that they, and not the Israelis, should have all of their original land returned.

Neither of these approaches will work.  Nor will maintaining the status quo.

All nations should demand an immediate ceasefire, the return of hostages, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Of course Palestine needs to be recognized as an independent nation.  Argue all you want about what the specific boundaries should be.  But it must happen.

Israel must be recognized by the Palestinians.  Just like most everyone else reading this piece, I live on land that was stolen from its rightful owners—the American Indians.  Restoring that now would be impossible. 

West Bank Israeli settlements, though, are a different matter.  They must be dismantled, and the region restored to Palestinian control. No Israeli soldiers, no checkpoints, no roadblocks.

Hamas leadership must resign immediately, as should the extremist government of Netanyahu.  Can Hamas transition to a purely political entity?  That certainly seems doubtful.  But in Northern Ireland the Sinn Fein militants who carried out bombings and terror attacks to drive out the British eventually made peace with England, while Northern Ireland still remained British. 

The United Nations should provide security for Palestine, but also be empowered to arrest terrorists and confiscate rockets.  New elections should be held and monitored by the U.N.  All countries, including the United States, should fund the rebuilding of Palestinian homes and businesses, much like the Marshal Plan at the end of the second world war (which, more than any American military action, stopped the spread of Communism in its tracks).

All countries should recognize, support, and promote the success of both nations.  This will mean extensive work to unwind the hatred, and the belief that the “other side” is always responsible.

Can this occur?   I don’t know.  But I do know that the status quo will only insure more war, more death, and more bloodshed.  And it will only get worse.

Many Palestinians don’t support Hamas and the terror attack on Israel, just as many Israelis do not support the invasion and indiscriminate bombing of Gaza nor the settler attacks in the West Bank.  Can both groups coalesce around a solution?  I don’t know that either.

What I do know is that the current situation is headed toward a terrible conclusion for the entire world.  It is already further tearing apart a deeply divided America.  Attacks on both Muslims and Jews have increased dramatically here in the U.S. in the past month.

If not extinguished soon, the flames of this war will continue to burn for decades.  The destruction those flames can wreak are far greater than any of us can imagine.