Tuesday 30 December 2008

Blogging attrition

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is raging across the bloggertarian world, with Old Holborn ripping up his LPUK membership card and throwing it in DK's face and long comment strings parading the arguments we all know well. As is often the case these days, I watch from the sidelines. Sooner or later someone will make the points I would make and probably better than I would. No one's opinions on the conflict are likely to change at all - only one's opinions of the people who are arguing.

My solution to the problem is to abolish Israel, and let everyone live in peace and harmony in a secular state called Palestine. There may be some resistance to the plan, but I'm sure I can win them all over.

3 comments:

Devil's Kitchen said...

Go for it, Trooper!

(No, seriously. I'd be interested to know why you think a one-state solution would work.)

DK

Trooper Thompson said...

DK,

I've been away for a few days, so I've only just got to this - not that the situation in Gaza has changed significantly.

As for the one-state solution, firstly I'd say that it's about as realistic as any other plan to bring peace to the region, and it might help if I describe it as 'long-term', perhaps after a two-state period.

I don't know how impossible it would be, as we only really see the bellicose side of Israeli politics and likewise the Palestinians (most of the moderate Palestinian leaders have been killed).

The last serious peace plans broke down due to the corruption of the Fatah administration on one hand and the continuing expansion of the settlements on the other.

The one figure who could play the role of peace-maker, at least amongst the Palestinian factions, is Marwan Barghouti, who is currently rotting in an Israeli jail.

The problem for Israel is that, without the occupied territories, and the water that is taken from the West Bank, I don't know how tenable the state is. Likewise, the Palestinian 'zones' are hardly tenable, wheras the whole of Palestine together would have the resources to work. Of course, there remains a rather large barrier to this, that being a large section of the population. I will confess I don't know how to bring about the change of heart necessary for such a (re)conciliation.

As I said in the post, I tend to keep out of the debate, as we've all heard it before. The one thing I despise is the glee some people have for the destruction of lives, especially Palestinian, and let's face it, they are the ones that do most of the dying.

Houdini said...

Well said.