Hamas

 Anyone who says “peace in the Mideast” should be slapped. They are announcing that what follows is stupid. Peace never had anything to do with the Mideast. The statement is arrogant. How would you like to hear “peace in the US”? American policy in the Mideast should be mute. It is disgusting to hear Americans advise and excuse each group their atrocities. Americans are never short of advice.

“Debate” in the US has circled around who’s better. It is not going to convince anyone that they should shut up and take it because their families had it coming.  No one has rounded up their criminals.

Here is a quick review of America’s relationship, keeping an American eye for the man behind the curtain and the emperor’s clothes:

Before World War II, the countries of the world refused Jewish refugees from Germany. Germans made that a big deal. During and after the war Churchill sent Jewish refugees to Palestine. British grabbed Palestine from the Ottomans. Some Pan Arabism is nostalgia for the Ottoman Empire.

Israel was founded by Harry Truman as a Baptist fantasy. Palestinians originally met the Israeli incursion by demanding a unified secular democratic state. I can see why Israel didn’t trust that compromise. While those Palestinians were right, they weren’t demanding citizenship in Israel. Fatah has now found itself splayed across the position of demanding their own secular state. It is fun seeing Muslims demand a secular state. Wilsonian democracy is fraud. Do you want to be a nation or a religious artifact?

The American position in the Middle East is oil reserves. Eisenhower said it was oil when we made Israel, France and England give back Suez. It is not just gasoline or earnings on oil. It is the financial value of oil reserves, the tapped, estimated oil in the ground. That value has a multiplier from compounded investment instruments dependent on its future value. It is much larger than oil company earnings. Finance is the best conspiracy theory.

Sirhan killed Bobby Kennedy for supporting Israel.

Golda Meir, Wisconsin school teacher, had to take on the entire world, including Kissinger and Nixon, through two major existential conflicts. Each time, US support came once the conflict was determined.

In 1978 the three stupidest men in the world: Arafat, Begin and Carter met at Camp David. Eventually Arafat said something like:

-What’s it going to be? In or out?

At that moment Begin started talking two states. Arafat’s mistake was discarding his strongest card. Israel has no intention of allowing two states.

Just as refugees created Israel, Palestinian refugees then dominated the adjoining countries of Jordan and Lebanon. In 1982 Israel had enough and charged across Lebanon surrounding the PLO military in Beirut. Israel was starving out the encircled city. Haig, the cast iron American Secretary of State told Israel to hurry it up. Then Arafat called out to King Fahd:

-Am I not yours?

Haig was out. American, French and Italian military evacuated PLO from Beirut. Each PLO military unit returned to its own country, abandoning the refugees in their camps. You can see why Israel is nuts.

There has been snark about Israel lobby. Under Bush Sr. Israel was trying to borrow 10 billion dollars. At the exact same time King Fahd gave a check for 32 billion to the US to thank us for Kuwait. That difference is orders of magnitude. The function of the Israel lobby in American politics is to maintain the price.

To belabor the obvious, we showed up for Kuwait, not Israel.

After Likud called for the murder of Prime Minister Rabin, Rabin was killed and Likud created the next government. This stopped the Oslo accord. Rabin was a git. He was always working angles and fixing things. Talmud teaches that we are only judged on our last day. On his last day Rabin was murdered at a peace demonstration. Rabin even fixed that.

Israel dug most of the tunnels under Gaza, when Gaza was intended as a buffer state. Israel supported the creation of Hamas in 1987 to undercut PLO legitimacy. The atrocities of the Gaza strip justify the settlers. Americans understand the settler game. That is where we came from.

You would suppose Israel could find an intelligent leader. Netanyahu can’t acknowledge that all the arguments are reversible, either way. Coming from America, I realize it is difficult. America has privately demanded a cease fire. Israel initially said no, now kind of. As any law enforcement or jail can explain, the only way to prevent hostages is to officially make them the first target. Inept and heartless is a bad look. Israel leadership cannot appear to acquiesce to America once again reigning them in. America has pulled back Israel at least ten times before. I don’t think Israel will change leadership. As Americans know, demonstrations are not votes.

Another occupation will fail as all the previous ones have. If Israel wanted two states, they would clear the settlers out of the territories or better yet pull the Israeli police and let Fatah, do it. This would give the PLO legitimacy. The settlers aren’t that many votes; they aren’t even in the army. Many came from America and have sponsors here. Once that was done evacuate everyone from Gaza to the west bank. If you are going to be imperial, ask yourself what would the British do? Sift through the Gaza Palestinians, get the DNA, see if they match any pictures. PLO can do the second screening. This would minimize Israel casualties. Try sending missiles from a flattened Gaza.

Don’t worry, won’t happen. Israel wants Gaza, they want Hamas. Hamas is used like our black power during the civil rights movement. The settlers do not want Gaza moved to the west bank. It is not Iran but Qatar that directs Hamas with Israel’s acquiescence. Israel had the Hamas battle plan because Israel created it.  Gas reserves are also decision making valuable. Check Gaza Marine.

The pathetic sick undisciplined losers who tortured their captives had to know that they had the time to do it. Someone else had to create the plan and coach the disposable scum. I’m guessing they hadn’t planned for success.

Don’t demand disenfranchisement in a democracy.  What advice would you give our indigenous in the US about voting? The most terrifying demand the Palestinians could make is Israeli citizenship. Then Palestinians would be the settlers. I can see why Palestinians wouldn’t trust that compromise.

Questioning legitimacy is a slippery slope. Israel is a nation; the Palestinians are a people. You are not going to impress Americans talking about land. Except for Hawaiian, Navajo and Eskimo, we all recently came from somewhere else. Few of us are the people we started from. We are raised on atrocity and bitterness. Find a county seat in Illinois, there will be a monument with the cannon pointed south. In Mississippi the cannon points north. The north was right. We aren’t that into good and bad, we do understand big and little. My only advice is to not be the US. That pursuit is futile. You be you.

-How many white people did Chief Blackhawk kill?

-Not enough.

Allying yourself with America, or any group in America, is a mistake. Even Baptists. Americans are fickle and spendthrift. The last American general who understood attrition was George Washington. As for appropriations, Ukraine and Israel will have arms. If we don’t fund them, that will free them to buy from other countries and develop their own. Our appropriations are only matched by the cost of our systems. If the left was impeding military spending, military autonomy and national interest the way the right is, we’d be dead.

Once US blew up the pipeline, we became junior partners to Qatar supplying natural gas to Europe. Neither US nor Qatar is in any hurry to see Gaza Marine developed.