Bel and Maverick,
I speak here as a Jew, as one revolting with difficulty against the Zionism preached to us in our youth, against the concept of the agglomeration of enemies as the defining moment of one's faith, as one revolted at Israeli actions against the Palestinians last autumn. I permitted an eviscerated rendition of my letter to the editor to be published by the New York Times last November. The sentence removed read, "I hear with shame the litany of wrongs against us preached while we kill children." I have heard words of unspeakable bigotry uttered by men whose faith-legally-forbids it. Moralistic posturing is a favorite dissemblance of purveyors of atrocity. And Israel is far from innocent.
At the same time, caution is advised in rebuke. To say that Israel has occupied Palestinian lands for five decades may be arguable, but to make that argument is to say the State of Israel has no right to exist.
Inspite of my complex feelings about that country, I recognize the presence on those lands of two peoples, the consequences of whose removal from there alone endows each with the right to remain.
Israeli behavior towards Palestinians has often been utterly deplorable. And if the structures of power in the Middle East are so constructed that the only apparent enemy of the Palestinian nation is the Israeli, still, that nation's nascent pleas have often, too, been murderous.
We find ourselves in cycles of violence and revenge that cannot be closed in a framework of blame and retribution. While I agree with much of what you say, I ask you to exercise great caution in fashioning your arguments.
US Middle East policy has been brutally arrogant, as, under the patronage of their allied states, have been the policies of the competing nations on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean towards each other. And US policy needs to be radically changed.
Perhaps, though, the political situation on that soil could be considered in terms of competing rights and not of competing wrongs. Of historical exigencies horrific and long past undoing.
Bel, I don't believe that human beings are inherently good. Or perhaps-all-individuals of our species can undertake the enormous task of *becoming human-and *that we become, as what we become, *can be inherently good. We are faced daily with that choice. And now, at impossible cost, we may recognize it. Pray that we do.
