I applaud Lori Marcus and her efforts.
Yes, the term Zionist has been demonized and turned on its head. Zionism has been realized, the question now, is how to sustain it.
American survival depends upon a certain rejection of the ethnic/religious state. Israel depends upon acceptance of that same distinction for its very existence.
Peace is, of course, the goal. Nobody wants to do what Israelis now must do to sustain the state of perpetual war.
Better to grow banannas and dates, think up better cancer drugs or computer technology, etc.
A water based – simple basic H2O solution – would be really great. Security has as much to do with that as rockets there, maybe more so. Look at what is happening now on the Lebanon border. It is all about the Jordan headwaters.
So have you been in the River Jordan lately? River? We call that a creek or stream in Ohio. The Dead Sea where the little remaing water is pumped from one side to the other?
Anyway…
There is something to be said for the ‘peaceniks’ in terms of their goals even if particular tactics and timing have resulted in catastrophe.
There are in fact Arab non-Jews, mostly Muslim, some Christian, who hail from the same place and are equally as dedicated. Let us just call them ‘Palestinian’ arabs since there is no better term that I know of. To be Arab is not the same as Jew.
We Jews tend to accept the Ethiopian, French, or New Jersey Jew as an equal with same partnership. Not exactly so when we are dealing with the broad classification of Arab.
There are many and nobody is going to ‘wipe them out’ or any such nonsense. They are unhappy and how many more Gilad Shalits do we need?
Lori,
I disagree with all of your three ‘no’s.
All of the things you mentioned, negotiation, concessions, and compromise, are the essential tools of political statecraft. These are the folks who keep the casualties down. They are… (please dont make me quote von clausewitz or Sun Tzu).
So let us still pause at the terrible consequence and hope for a better day. ‘Beser a schlechter shalom vi a guten krieg’ (yiddish)
A bad peace is better than a good war.
Shalom,
Spindok
