Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Eliyo Matz on the Gaza-Israel Conflict


                     THE HORSE AND THE BULL

                      Reflections and Thoughts on the Latest Flare-up

Between Israelis and Palestinians,
November 2012

All the Winners are Losers, All the Losers are Winners:
Some Thanksgiving Day Thoughts By Eliyho Matz, aka Sitting Book


            The latest expression of hostility between Israelis and Palestinians erupted in the Middle East in mid-November 2012.  There is no need to dig for new reasons to explain why the current conflict started, for this is an on-and-off fight that has been going on for years.  Ever since the first Israeli (Jewish) settlers arrived in what we call the “Ancient Land of Israel,” we had the beginning of a political, ethnic, religious enmity between Israeli Jews and Palestinians.  The Israeli Jews  succeeded in creating a nation-state in 1948.  The Palestinians rejected the idea of a nation-state in 1948.  The wars in 1948 and 1967 led directly to the confused war of 2012.

         The leaderships of the Israelis and the Palestinians failed to achieve any sort of a geo-political solution, and there are many reasons for that.  It is evident that the Israeli nation is today in control militarily of the Palestinians; this means that  Israelis control the lives of millions of Palestinians.  The Palestinians are resisting, some passively, some with arms.  The current November 2012 conflict is, in my opinion, a result of the B. Netanyahu government to avoid any negotiations with the Palestinians.  What I mean is, the Israeli settlers on the West Bank have pushed the Netanahu government to the brink of political stalemate, and Netanyahu ready for new elections in January 2013, has created a war, so he thinks, to avoid dealing with Palestinian sovereignty.

         Palestinian Gaza, under the Hamas government, has declared its desire to exterminate the Israelis, thus giving Netanyahu the ability to prolong the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, along with the opportunity not to negotiate with any Palestinians.  Of course, Netanyahu’s calculations are wrong.  The geo-politics of the world-at-large, and the unreasonable Israeli desire to use military force to solve problems associated with the Palestinians, will only hurt the Israelis in the long run.

         The American settlers who moved West encountered American Indian resistance.  The American Indians resisted because their land, their livelihood and their culture were being decimated.  The crescendo of the struggle between the settlers and the Indians happened at the Battle of Little Big Horn in June 1876.  Both American Indian leaders, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, defeated the American force led by General Custer.  The conclusion of the battle was clear.  But even though the American Indians were courageous and won the battle, in the end they lost in their geo-political war against the American government and settlers.

         In Israel, Israeli settlers who illegally occupy the West Bank with the support of the Israeli government and of course the Higher Authority of the Israeli G-ds, have led the Israeli nation into a battle using the biblical code name that sounds like an American Indian name, “Pillar of Cloud,” to deceive the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.  Unfortunately, the Israeli trick did not work, and the Pillar of Cloud became a cloud of dust.  The Hamas showed resilience and fought back.  The Israelis revealed their strength in the battle, but lost the war.  Mr. Netanyahu can tell many stories, but his trick did not work; nothing has changed, and there are still millions of Palestinians who need to be dealt with.  He and his “Custered” generals have been defeated.  What to do next will depend on the wisdom of the Chiefs of the Palestinians, that is, if they want to apply a bit of wisdom, as well as on the wisdom of the Israeli voters in the upcoming elections. 

         Here is one suggestion: the Israeli nation established in 1948 made a public statement called “The Israeli Declaration of Independence.”  This Declaration was an attempt to copy the Western idea of a declaration of political intent.  Thus it was designed to make it clear to all what the intention of the Declaration of Independence was, i.e., Israeli sovereignty.  However, if one reads the Israeli Declaration of Independence, he or she can immediately see that the Israelis were not sure exactly what they were declaring.  Thus, Mr. Netanyahu recently declared Israel to be a “Jewish State,” while the Declaration spoke of an “Israeli Nation” and about tolerance to Israel’s inhabitants and neighbors.  If wise Palestinians understand that incongruity, they should make a public reading of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in Gaza, in the West Bank, in New York, and in other places of their choosing.  This act alone could topple the Netanyahu attempt to prevent them from becoming a nation of Palestinians, similar to the Israelis. 

         A few additional observations on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

a.)    The leaderships of both the Israelis and the Palestinians are defective.  The question is, of course, what do we do with defective leaderships?
b.)   Is the leadership of both sides doing what it is doing because it is trapped in its own rhetoric?
c.)   Both sides have plenty of Crazy Horses and Sitting Bulls, but not the leadership of reasonable people to solve the issues.
d.)   We all have to remember that the final goal of solving the conflict is an alliance between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
e.)    Is the world, that is America, I mean the American leadership, willing to see item “d” as a viable solution?