The Cellar - View Single Post - How the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Must End

vsp · 08-20-2003, 02:21 PM

Reminds me of the old Scorched Earth Party slogan: "Remember, there's no problem that can't be solved by killing everyone even remotely associated with it."

Israel is not going away. Neither is Palestinian hatred of Israel, even if (and ESPECIALLY if) vast numbers of Palestinians get blown off the planet by Israeli warplanes, including many who may not played any active role whatsoever in attacks on Israelis.

It only takes one person with a grudge to kill a lot of people. Thankfully, it takes a pretty high level of anger and self-delusion to reach the point of actually picking up a gun or strapping on a bomb. (Sort of like how there are lots of pro-lifers in America, but very few who go to the extremes of shooting doctors or bombing clinics.) But if Israel truly goes balls-out and stops caring about collateral damage, won't that spawn as many new extremists (whose family and friends were "innocent" from their point of view, but who got taken out by the Great Evil Israel) as it eliminates? "Habib was right all along -- they ARE out to kill us all!"

What stops the cycle? If Palestinians are already angry enough to have no fear of death (and thus perform suicide attacks), I'm not sure that "stop it or we'll keep bombing you flat" will shut them off entirely. It only takes one or two individuals to start the fun all over again (suicide bombing -> new Israeli outrage -> bombing/raiding of the Palestinians -> new Palestinian martyrs -> lather rinse repeat). No matter how vicious the response, there will always be a degree of active resistance.

So would you endorse the TOTAL elimination of the Palestinians to eliminate the threat to the Israelis, on the grounds that the Israelis have that capability and the Palestinians don't? If so, that's dipping pretty far into "ethnic cleansing" land for my tastes... and just think how the neighbors would react (both towards Israel themselves and towards the United States, Israel's sugar daddy).

I don't have a perfect solution myself, mind you -- I just don't agree that this would be a viable solution.

08-20-2003, 02:21 PM	#8
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Reminds me of the old Scorched Earth Party slogan: "Remember, there's no problem that can't be solved by killing everyone even remotely associated with it." Israel is not going away. Neither is Palestinian hatred of Israel, even if (and ESPECIALLY if) vast numbers of Palestinians get blown off the planet by Israeli warplanes, including many who may not played any active role whatsoever in attacks on Israelis. It only takes one person with a grudge to kill a lot of people. Thankfully, it takes a pretty high level of anger and self-delusion to reach the point of actually picking up a gun or strapping on a bomb. (Sort of like how there are lots of pro-lifers in America, but very few who go to the extremes of shooting doctors or bombing clinics.) But if Israel truly goes balls-out and stops caring about collateral damage, won't that spawn as many new extremists (whose family and friends were "innocent" from their point of view, but who got taken out by the Great Evil Israel) as it eliminates? "Habib was right all along -- they ARE out to kill us all!" What stops the cycle? If Palestinians are already angry enough to have no fear of death (and thus perform suicide attacks), I'm not sure that "stop it or we'll keep bombing you flat" will shut them off entirely. It only takes one or two individuals to start the fun all over again (suicide bombing -> new Israeli outrage -> bombing/raiding of the Palestinians -> new Palestinian martyrs -> lather rinse repeat). No matter how vicious the response, there will always be a degree of active resistance. So would you endorse the TOTAL elimination of the Palestinians to eliminate the threat to the Israelis, on the grounds that the Israelis have that capability and the Palestinians don't? If so, that's dipping pretty far into "ethnic cleansing" land for my tastes... and just think how the neighbors would react (both towards Israel themselves and towards the United States, Israel's sugar daddy). I don't have a perfect solution myself, mind you -- I just don't agree that this would be a viable solution.