re: #141 Obdicut

What I am saying is very, very close to what Ludwig is saying, he’s just saying it with typical Ludwig heat.

You have to remember, you really have to remember that there was a time period where Israel might have been destroyed. It was attacked from all directions. They really did try to wipe them out. I know this was long ago, and I don’t think you were born (I forget how old you are) but the memory of that haunts Israel.

The Palestinians have a more corrupt government, a less egalitarian society, a more theocratic society, a more ignorant society, and in every way a less Enlightenment-values society than Israel does. It’s simply true. It is a pain and a burden for the Palestinian people that this is so, just like it is for the Saudi Arabian citizens, the Iranian citizens, etc. etc. But it also means that they have much less legitimacy as a state, that their leaders have less legitimacy, and that their promises are generally without merit, because their society is so very, very screwed up.

I have no solution for this. But neither does Israel. There is nothing Israel can do that will fix Palestinian society. I do feel that a less hard-line stance might help. It might. But it also might get more Israelis killed.

And we sit here in the US, allies of Saudi Arabia, as they pump out the propaganda that keeps the Palestinians misinformed. That rankles me.

Perfect.

You have any sisters?