There is one thing all of those calling for Israel to stop building settlements and take chances for peace with the Palestinians are ignoring. That ‘thing’ is ISIS. What is so puzzling is that it is so obvious! Now more than ever.
As much as I am opposed to settlement building right now, (for reasons I’m not going to get into here) they are not the real impediment to peace. Anyone who has been paying even the slightest bit of attention would see the proverbial ‘Elephant in the Room’. Which is radical Fundamentalist Islam.
As I have said many times, I am in favor of making peace with the Arabs and am willing to pay a price for it. My reasons are simple. I want to see an end to the hostilities. I want to see an end to terrorists blowing themselves up in crowded areas in Israel. I want to see an end to rockets being fired at her. I do not want to see any more Jews being tortured and butchered; kidnapped or maimed.
I want there to be peace between two peoples so that each can get on with their lives without fear. Without one people subjugating another. Without one people needing to resort to harsh measures against the other for security reasons. I want that to end and am willing to pay the price of even an Oslo Accord type solution if that would guarantee a peace between 2 peoples sharing a border. A peace similar to what the United States has with Canada.
But as I have also said, that is currently a pipe dream so remote that it is pure folly to even suggest it.
But the nations of the world – including the United States (under the leadership of the Obama administration) think that it is still possible even in today’s terrorist climate. If only Israel would stop building settlements and ‘take chances’ for peace – they say.
This ‘song and dance’ may have made sense to the world pre 9/11 (Although not to those of us who knew what radical Islam was long before that – Israel having had its share of suicide attacks.) After 9/11 however, it should have been obvious to everyone what the real impediment to peace is. It is not settlements. It is the mindset of the devout Fundamentalist Muslim in the Arab world. It is from their ranks that the 9/11 terrorists were recruited. One may recall all the rejoicing in the Arab street after 9/11. It was the devout Burka clad Muslim women that were handing out candy to children while the masses were cheering in the street.
It should have been clear then that Israel’s existence was not the real issue. That Islamic fundamentalism was. And for a while I thought the all of the American people would finally get it… and understand what Israel’s needs are all about and why they need to take the security measures that end up being so harsh on the Palestinian people.
Unfortunately not long after 9/11 some started saying that if not for Israel none of this would have happened. The Muslim extremists only attacked the US on 9/11 because of its support for the Jewish State. That it was Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians under its occupation that caused 9/11. While most Americans did understand the truth, there were plenty of people that somehow ignored it and simply painted Israel as occupying tyrants that were torturing the poor helpless and innocent Palestinian underdog for simply existing.
This is the mindset of some of academia. Universities are filled with Palestinian academics and their sympathizers who preach hatred of Israel to their students. It is also the mindset of the BDS movement that advocates Boycotting, Divestment from, and Sanctioning the State of Israel because of their treatment of Palestinians.