Isn't it extraordinary how short term our discussions have become? Scanning through assorted blogs and bulletin boards I wonder if the defenders of Israel's recent actions ever think of the bigger, longer term picture?
We're talking here about a country who's been engaged in wholesale bullying for half a century - I am, of course, talking about the USofA and specifically their 51st state - Israel. And, like father like son, Israel is just as accomplished at bullying.
The carving up of the Palestinian territory in the first place was hardly 'consensual' - I doubt that many Palestinians thought it a great idea. Then came the ever expanding occupied territories, hundreds of illegal settlements, land grabs, routine intimidation and discrimination, grotesque wall building, wholesale bombing, killing and destruction. And when the Gazans democratically elected the 'wrong' party, Israel put a noose around their collective necks by blockading the miserable strip of land they had left - and then, for good measure, dished out some more of all of the above...
And still the Palestinians stay put. They just don't get it. All Israel is trying to do is to help the Palestinians understand that they'd be much better off packing up their [by now] meagre belongings and moving off to some other country, leaving the entire place to the Israelis so everyone can live happily ever after.
Snap back to the real world and to the first sentence in this little tale "The carving up of the Palestinian territory in the first place was hardly 'consensual' "...
That kind of puts the reason for the aid flotilla and the very big mistake of storming the ships into some sort of context.
Bullying always ends in tears - the bully's tears. One day the worm turns and, in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that just happened.
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