crumbbum

I have seen this before. It was a good thing to recommend me to read. I think that this shows pretty clearly how sick the Israelis are of fighting with the Arabs. That said, there are only a little over 500 refusers, in an army of, including the reservists, over a million. This makes them a pretty fringe group, that has gotten a great deal of media attention. I assume they are legit- many Israeli leftist groups though are funded by the EU, which makes their sincerity somewhat questionable. The website has the different guys' stories. Some mention abuses by soldiers. These things have happened. These happen in every army. They are not typical, and perpetrators are disciplined, like recently, some border police are on trial for brutality. That said, upwards of 95% of the reservists showed up when they launched Operation defensive shield, where they re-established military control of the terror centers. That is way above the average in most places, and shows the understanding the soldiers have, that their service is necessary to fight terrorism. Most Israelis hate being in palestinian areas, and they hate having to control them. But they realize that they are left with no choice when a failure to do so would allow more people to get killed. Obviously it is wrong if settlers attack any palestinians- of course no soldier should violate the purity of arms. But again, the wrong actions of a very few individuals do not change the basic reality of the situation, or the reality which can only be understood by learning the history. It is indeed a very complicated situation, but at the moment Israel is left with only choice: to fight the terrorists, or else stand back and let its citizens be murdered. No country can do that, every government is obligated to defend the lives of its citizens. The Israelis are sick of war, but it is not in their power to change the hatred and backwardness that exists in the middle east. Serious reform and liberalization is needed in Israel's neighbors before there will be any possibility of peace. This is why Bush is trying to set up a free trade zone in the middle east- if these countries can be modernized, and the brutal autocratic regimes that run them broken, free speech and human right granted, then these people will finally be able to build real social infrastructures and healthy, educated societies. As it is, the state of Israel can't make peace with Arab regimes that brainwash their citizens. They simply have no choice, and this new "roadmap" will unfortunately only exascerbate the problem. Israeli concessions, such as settlement removal, should be saved for actions on the part of the palestinians and arab countries that really deserve rewarding, like real acceptance of Israel, freedom of speech, a free press, economic liberalization, human rights, and other things. For the Palestinians, they need to really change their leadership (this "new" governent is almost the same as the last one, most of the ministers are the same, the only difference is Abbas, the financer of the Munich olympics massacre and Holocaust denier, is the new Prime Minister, with Arafat breathing down his neck. That is not real reform. Still, everyone is intent on giving him a chance. Ok. But what is needed is transparent institutions, an end of corruption, the end of the ridiculous "right of return", a preparation of the population through the school system and media for peace and self-sufficient life, and an end to the tactics of intimidation and brutality in their politics. If you wipe out the terrorists, a lot of ordinary palestinians would probably breathe a sigh of relief. It needs to be "ok" in their society to be against terrorism and pro-peace. Making peace is like making a marriage- you need 2 independent, mature and responsible parties. If one person is immature or needy, the relationship fails. Same here- the palestinians need to create their own jobs and stop relying on Israel, stop the insane terrorism and learn how to live as a normal society, not one that lives and breathes hatred and destruction. Having the grandfather of modern terrorism(Arafat) as their leader shows that they have a long way to go until peace can be made. Any "carrots" given until then will be supporting terrorism. There has to be zero tolerance, the massacre of innocent civilians can never be normalized or "ok"- if it becomes an acceptable and succesful tactic, it will spread everywhere, as it is already starting to after so much disastrous and misguided western diplomacy.

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Truth is peace. We are all souls in bodies.