Israel: Nothing Left to Lose

Many people around the world may observe the actions of Israel and wonder what their government must be thinking - from the building of the wall between themselves and the West Bank to the recent assassination of Hamas leader Yassin, one might get the impression that they are deliberately trying to anger the Palestinians. That, however, would be a mistake. It seems that the common attitude is that they just don't care anymore if something angers the Palestinians. They are already subject to constant terrorist attacks, so it's not as though they appear to have anything to lose - and if an action at least has a chance of improving their safety, it's worth pursuing.

On the blog "An Unsealed Room" we can read:

Whenever I challenged someone with the old arguments, by saying, "But aren't you worried about the retaliation? Don't you think this is going to provoke some terrible terror attacks? Isn't it just going to make things worse?" the response was the same: "And you think that if we DIDN'T kill Yassin there wouldn't be terror attacks? What exactly has been happening up till now? Every day they are trying to attack us? How exactly could it GET any worse?" That is what these three-plus years of Intifada have done to the Israeli public.

With nothing left to lose, let's try to do what we can to protect ourselves. That's the sentiment of the man on the street. Clearly, the Israeli public seems to have all but given up on figuring out how to make the right moves in order to nudge the Palestinians towards wanting a peaceful two-state solution. They've given up. That's why there's generally support for Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan -- otherwise known as the "We're So Disgusted with the Palestinians, We're Getting the Hell Away From Them and Building a Big Wall" plan. And if they try to wage war from the other side of the wall, they'll get the same treatment as Yassin.

This is an unfortunate attitude, but if it's true it's also not surprising. People can't keep trying to find a peaceful resolution to their differences forever - at some point, the attacks will drive them over the edge of caring. This has happened to people on both sides here, Israeli as well as Palestinian. Is there anything at all that can be done to fix matters?

Read More:

• Palestine and Israel
• Recent Books on Palestine & Israel
• War on Terrorism