Both sides in the Middle East are engaged in a dead-end cycle of anger which is more and more likely to lead to the destruction of one by the other–This morning’s NYT’s had a long article about camps in Lebanon teaching youths about Islam, about having a clean heart and also about Israel being their enemy and Jews being deceitful and liars–presumably hating Israel with a clean heart. Another part of the paper also had an article about Israel’s refusal to allow food, fuel and medical supplies to be delivered to Gaza. For the last 2 1/2 weeks since the cease fire with Hamas ended Israel has sealed the border not allowing UN humanitarian aid thus ensuring the collective punishment of civilians, an act against international law.
It’s no longer who’s right and who’s wrong in this war, it’s who can commit the most hostile act, who can punish the most, engage in the most extensive retaliation. Many months ago columnist Tom Friedman wrote that at some point people in the Middle East would have to decide that they loved their children more than they hated each other. This kind of tit-for-tat that leads to a dead end and ensures the hatred of future generations makes one ask, isn’t now the time to love one’s children more?
It is no longer news that the solution has a pre-requisite, one that may no longer see, as naive as it once did–Stop the violence. While the more people understand this, the faster it will stop, people also need to grasp that the more one waits, the most likely is the alternative–The destruction of one side by the other.