Israel’s Gaza Groundhog Day

In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray used the endlessly
repeated day to eventually grow into a better person.
Israel could do the same… and should have done the same. If Hammas uses the same strategy over and over and over, then Israel could have taken the time to develop its response to Hammas’s terrorist tactics to a smarter, more humane one. Doing all of the things you listed in any earlier post -Larry-
they would have achieved that growth.
Israels military is supposed to be so sophisticated, so state of the art. This blanket whomp on the Palestinians seems so basely motivated.
Why couldn’t Israel have sent in a special ground strike force to find the sites of the rocket launches and take them out that way? If for some reason they couldn’t have accomplished the same by air?

I would say that Egypt and Jordan are more concerned about the connections between Hamas, Iran, and the Muslim Brotherhood than some childish ego driven notion over a war they lost 40 years ago. And we also know that Hashemite rule in Jordan has often been tenuous in a country with a majority Palestinian population. No love lost there. But nice try.

If this latest chapter in the ongoing stupidity ends with international monitors making sure the rockets stop falling on both sides of the border then I’d say mission accomplished. If the world community is so concerned about the Palestinian people, which I would argue they really are not or we’d have had more of an effort to isolate and delegitimate the corrupt “leaders” of the Palestinian body politic, instead of simply condemning Israel for its human rights violations.

Will the UN, the Quartet, Egypt and Jordan move on Olmert’s desire for a truce with international mediators? We’ll see. In the meantime the rockets continue to fall.

It’s so sad because many people act like Israel is a sports team that they can cheer for. They don’t really care about Israel or the Jewish people. They talk about this conflict like it’s a comic book, good versus evil, kill the bad guys. If they actually cared about the people of Israel they wouldn’t be encouraging them to use the same old tired tactic over and over again. This kind of violence only begets more violence.

Terrorism is a tactic, it’s not a group of people. If you respond to this tactic with injustice you just make it grow bigger. 73 children dead at last count. How many martyrs and suicide bombers will they now inspire?

Sometimes dropping the rope is the best way to win a power struggle. I don’t know how you do it, but terrorists need the wind taken out of their sails, they need their approval ratings to go down. They need to become the bad guys with no justification for their violence. Israel’s actions have the opposite effect, they’re feeding a resistance. They’re growing their enemy.

There seem to be three themes going on here.

One is the religious war. Ban Ki-moon of UN wanted to facilitate dialogue using RUMI. Allah is worshipped in a place called the Kabba? It is as ancient as the Wailing Wall is? The architecture of the kabba is so sacred you cannot believe it. I mean this is the HOLY land from Classical Antiquity. One of the themes I saw in the wiki was that “only if Islam was in charge could the three main religions live peace side by side. In the ancient world in that area — when this civilization made war on a place — they set up schools – did all the good things and everyone got along.

In this religion the concept of GOD is something that is not allowed to be depicted? In other words it is so holy — it is hard to explain — it is about one’s relationship with the divine presence — so, those pictures that came out of their holy books being destroyed and stuff? The “books” of philosophy are how this culture knows it god — what we might term the holy ghost or spiritus scanctis? The dove depicted in catholic churches in the stained glass windows?

We would literally need to demonstrate to this culture that the West is not the Goliath. Religious Leaders via the UN will need to make the intervention — like all that fixation on the end times that has gone on here? — this concept of a religious war would be between the individual and something like this dove — this civilization, like Egypt, had the very first “texts” of cuniform writing and so forth.

Goliath in this sense would be Evil and Greedy — in fact my sense is something like this — “for God so loved the world he gave his only son”

You need to check this theory out via the UN? Scholars — really fast. My sense is that as in some of the other uprisings around the world of late there is some aspect of this that has to do with preserving one’s culture? Only scholars from the region like the greeks and egyptians can put their heads together on this. The rest of the world has many different religious traditions — it is just that Christianity has gotten increasingly minimalist through the ages in terms of it’s artifacts?

So Goliath? Goliath is going to look like a televangelist on a telescreen? At a stadium?

If this was an ancient concept that this jihad — which is a holy war was going to come — it would be over something like what is happening now?

Like bombs raining down? On the defenseless — also — the earliest cradle of civilization is from that region — a settled people (agrarian) and peacful until the mongols raided?

Our concept of Babylon/Sodom and Gommorah? in other words the DECADENCE and cruelty of say — the fall of the roman empire?

It may be that Hamas wanted to build schools in a ghetto in Palestine? What has happened there since 1948?

Was there — since 1987 or so — now that all the various types of images that flood the web have been seen for the last 15 years or so?

A culture like this would see the West as EVIL? read Madoff, Enron et all….

What are all wars fought for?
Preservation of ones cultural identity — also — this kind of a fight?

I think the justice in that part of the world is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?

So is Israel cruel and rich?

We haven’t thought that since WWII.

The prayer rugs and method of praying is a bowing to that which is most holy in man — they don’t have the Pieta or Sacrificed Christ imagery –

They want their HOLY LAND? I think it is the Hagia Sophia — they want that I think. Have EGYPT on this asap and make Israel ceasefire, or Larry?

BROKER THIS PEACE THROUGH GIVING THEM THEIR LAND?

I think it is about that. David and Goliath — maybe in a Biblical sense?

Having the internet would have only increased the notion that the WEST was very decadent indeed…

hugs Larry and Susan and Uppity — Cinie at the CONF has a piece up on the military every dem ought to read — it’s the schools Larry — please read it
we have to help these kids get some of the humanities under their belts ASAP.

The Hagia Sophia is religiously neutral — and currently a museum — All the earliest Christianity is Christianity is there — the symbolism this church has is devoid of modern religious iconography and the BIG THREE religions — this is their root. This is the holy ground need of all three cultures at once — to be in a safe space to begin to create a place for dialogue between EAST and WEST. Only send McCain in there. I mean that. He is a Diplomat with a heart and and soul — and he has been in war. Let him speak from his heart.

It would be good to arrange the chairs in a sacred circle. Let each person speak on a topic at a time. View this as all are equals! Then, let there be a time to reflect and dialogue — from the heart only.

Keep this very simple and serve persian food and turkish food. For dessert, the national sweet from each country represented. Have the rose water hand wash thing — maybe eating as they do in Morrocco.

I am dead serious about this LARRY. It’s that important and if you want a scholar get James Hillman.