[immoceefe]

The notion that there is a group of people called Palestinians and a group of people who are Jews but not Palestinians, seems to be behind a general misconception. There were several hundred thousand jews living in the Holy Land, prior to WWII who go way back to before there were ever any Muslims or Christians there. To recognize that fact does not make one a zionist.

The situation there is a mess, but as long as the Arabs see themselves as victims who will never rest until they satisfy their blood lust against the jews, I don't see a solution.

I live in the American South. The Confederacy was badly beaten by the North during the Civil War. The South was laid waste. 20% of the adult males were killed. Many counties in the South went from prosperity to extreme poverty that lasted over a hundred years. Many in the South were resentful, and took out their resentment on the indigenous black populations. The South did not begin to recover until a hundred years later, when Yankee capital and retirees began to move south (due, in part, to the invention of air conditioning).

Whites in the South have basically now accepted the Yankee creed of capitalism and are doing quite well. Many of not most blacks still harbor a victimology, not unlike that of the Arab Palestinians, and I suspect it will take another 100 years for that attitude of victimology to dissipate. Perhaps it will happen more quickly in the Holy Land, but I doubt it. Meanwhile, there are no saints in the picture. The Isrealis are hardly unified in what course to take, and their politics are chaotic, to say the least. Israel was founded on the principles of European agragrian socialism of the 19th century, and almost nobody believes in that anymore. It certainly was not founded on a religious definition of Judaism. Today, Israelis are searching for some identity, and many claim to have found that only in a return to Orthodox Judaism, although it is still an extreme minority in numbers it has increasing influence politically. Then there are the secretive faction of Kabbalists who I believe hold a certain influence in Jerusalem.

To blame America or Americans for the situation there is slanderous and stupid. America has been helpful by and large to the peace process, and has shown a willingness to deal with terrorists on both sides, i.e. Sharon on the one side and Arafat on the other.

Instead of self-righteous posturing, the Orthodox faithful ought to be doing more to materially assist Christian Arabs in the region, and try to stay out of the politics as much as possible, perhaps trying to serve some intermediary functions. There is plenty of blame to go around.

As for the recognition of Israel by Harry Truman, this is hardly the cause of the problems there.