Well, Which Is It To Be?
Really life exposes us to such difficult decisions. To war or not to war? To make peace or not to make peace? Peace can be so utterly boring, after all. War, on the other hand, is rife with excitement and extemporaneous decision-making. Some societies, is almost seems, can become addicted to war, to the excitement it brings into their lives, to the powerful feelings one can indulge in, having the opportunity to remove living souls from this mortal coil.
All the more so, when one can persuade oneself, or have others persuade one, that this becomes a sacred act of piety toward one's God, who expects no less of his worshippers. And when one can combine the taking of innocent, but guilty-by-religious-decree others, with the personal act of determined martyrdom, guaranteeing oneself a coveted and honoured placement in Paradise, well, why hesitate?
If, in the process of clearing one's mind of any residual humanity, any charitable or forgiving thoughts toward other human beings, one can become truly successful through the embrace of viciousness, then the ultimate goal cannot be far from achievement. Take, for example, the violent enmity that exists between militant Fatah and Islamist Hamas, forever succumbing to their implacable desire to expunge one another from existence.
The past week of internecine battling between the adversaries has resulted in many deaths. Including the inadvertent and lamentably unfortunate deaths of civilians. Now the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and the PA's Hamas-backed prime minister have re-launched talks aimed at halting their co-suicidal activities. How vicious can the hatred between the two groups be envisioned as being?
"May God burn all of them" spat a young Fatah security service agent. Hamas gunmen dragged him from a vehicle, whipped him with the butt of a Kalashnikov, kept him an overnight prisoner, broke his arms with a hammer, and fired multiple shots at his legs from close range. Is that more forgiving that a clean and deadly shot to the head? He is now being treated in Ashkelon's Barzalai Hospital, Israel. Isn't that a bit of irony?
One of his arms is in a heavy plaster cast while the other is swathed in bandages. His legs are bandaged from hip to toe and blood oozes from under the gauze. The man cries in pain. Dead, he would be in peace. Another Gazan Palestinian waits down the hall outside an operating theatre for news of his son who was working for Mr. Abbas's security chief when the house was attacked by Hamas fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades, and five guards were killed.
"All of them will make a deal, God willing - Hamas and Fatah, and also Israel", said the father, whose wife and ten other children wait in Gaza as he sits by his son's bed during the day and is escorted by Israeli security to a hotel at night. "If they all continue to act the same way, there will never be peace. I am worried to return to Gaza, but I must. There is nowhere else to go, so we will stay there. No nation will rescue us."
How not to have compassion? The Palestinians, in their angry, bemused, confused and bitter collective state of mind made an error in democratically electing a militant-political group whose loudly espoused first purpose is the extermination of the State of Israel. The result is an ongoing barrage of rockets launched perpetually over the border from Gaza to Israel. Compelling Israel, in self-defence, to respond in kind.
Mahmoud Abbas has his work cut out for him, trying to persuade Ismail Haniyeh to pull back his militants and stop their rocket attacks on Israel. After all, during the time when Hamas did honour a year-long 'truce', it was the Fatah-connected militants who were firing the less-frequent rockets over into Israel. And while the two politicians struggle with a way to resume delicate peace negotiations, their inability to maintain order between their own militant factions, determined to wreak havoc upon one another remains a reality.
And meanwhile, Hamas's armed wing proudly declares it has no intention of halting its attacks on Israel.
All the more so, when one can persuade oneself, or have others persuade one, that this becomes a sacred act of piety toward one's God, who expects no less of his worshippers. And when one can combine the taking of innocent, but guilty-by-religious-decree others, with the personal act of determined martyrdom, guaranteeing oneself a coveted and honoured placement in Paradise, well, why hesitate?
If, in the process of clearing one's mind of any residual humanity, any charitable or forgiving thoughts toward other human beings, one can become truly successful through the embrace of viciousness, then the ultimate goal cannot be far from achievement. Take, for example, the violent enmity that exists between militant Fatah and Islamist Hamas, forever succumbing to their implacable desire to expunge one another from existence.
The past week of internecine battling between the adversaries has resulted in many deaths. Including the inadvertent and lamentably unfortunate deaths of civilians. Now the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and the PA's Hamas-backed prime minister have re-launched talks aimed at halting their co-suicidal activities. How vicious can the hatred between the two groups be envisioned as being?
"May God burn all of them" spat a young Fatah security service agent. Hamas gunmen dragged him from a vehicle, whipped him with the butt of a Kalashnikov, kept him an overnight prisoner, broke his arms with a hammer, and fired multiple shots at his legs from close range. Is that more forgiving that a clean and deadly shot to the head? He is now being treated in Ashkelon's Barzalai Hospital, Israel. Isn't that a bit of irony?
One of his arms is in a heavy plaster cast while the other is swathed in bandages. His legs are bandaged from hip to toe and blood oozes from under the gauze. The man cries in pain. Dead, he would be in peace. Another Gazan Palestinian waits down the hall outside an operating theatre for news of his son who was working for Mr. Abbas's security chief when the house was attacked by Hamas fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades, and five guards were killed.
"All of them will make a deal, God willing - Hamas and Fatah, and also Israel", said the father, whose wife and ten other children wait in Gaza as he sits by his son's bed during the day and is escorted by Israeli security to a hotel at night. "If they all continue to act the same way, there will never be peace. I am worried to return to Gaza, but I must. There is nowhere else to go, so we will stay there. No nation will rescue us."
How not to have compassion? The Palestinians, in their angry, bemused, confused and bitter collective state of mind made an error in democratically electing a militant-political group whose loudly espoused first purpose is the extermination of the State of Israel. The result is an ongoing barrage of rockets launched perpetually over the border from Gaza to Israel. Compelling Israel, in self-defence, to respond in kind.
Mahmoud Abbas has his work cut out for him, trying to persuade Ismail Haniyeh to pull back his militants and stop their rocket attacks on Israel. After all, during the time when Hamas did honour a year-long 'truce', it was the Fatah-connected militants who were firing the less-frequent rockets over into Israel. And while the two politicians struggle with a way to resume delicate peace negotiations, their inability to maintain order between their own militant factions, determined to wreak havoc upon one another remains a reality.
And meanwhile, Hamas's armed wing proudly declares it has no intention of halting its attacks on Israel.
Labels: Crisis Politics, Human Fallibility, Middle East
posted by Pieface | 6:07 PM
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