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SIMPLE_PROBLEMS

                                             August 17, 2014

                                        A follow-on to my:
                                        NOT_PRO_ISRAEL

                                        Also published to the dailykos:
                                        http://www.dailykos.com/doomvox


The main reason I wrote my "Not Pro Israel Primer" is that on the
Israel-Palestine issue I think it's easy for a casual observer to
conclude from complexities of discussions about the issue that
the actual issue is complicated, but arguably it isn't.  To quote
"Chomsky on Palestine and Israel", from "The Real News", November
30, 2010, concerning the Middle East:

  There's a core problem, the Israel-Palestine issue. There's
  other problems, but that's the core one. And there are a lot of
  problems in the world for which it's pretty hard to figure out a
  solution. This one happens to be uniquely easy to figure out the
  solution-- there is one. It's been on the table for 35
  years. Virtually the entire world supports it. The only holdouts
  are the United States and Israel. At least in theory and words,
  Europe, the Non-Aligned countries, the Arab states, the
  Organization of Islamic States, which includes Iran, they
  basically all agree on a political settlement on the
  internationally recognized border. It's the so-called Green Line,
  pre-'67 borders, with two states, Israel and a Palestinian state
  in the occupied territories, and possibly some adjustment of the
  border.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5873


Given the basics from my "primer",
a lot of the points people raise          NOT_PRO_ISRAEL
resolve pretty quickly:


     Q: But what is Israel supposed to do about rockets from Gaza?
     A: Retreat to the legal, pre-1967 borders, and if someone shoots
        at you then, then you have a right to complain.

     Q: But what about the Israeli settlers in the occupied
        territories?
     A: Let them stay there if they want.  I'm sure the new
        state of Palestine will treat them as fairly as
        Israel treats it's native Arab population.

     Q: But Hamas is a bunch of evil bastards!
     A: Who isn't, at this point?  And you know, they won
        an election.  Democracy and all that.

     Q: Doesn't Israel have a right to self-defense?
     A: Invading, occupying armies don't have the right
        to invoke "self-defense".

     Q: But the 1967 borders are indefensible!
     A: If the occupied territories are a military buffer zone,
        why are they putting civilian "settlers" there?

     Q: The UN figures exaggerate civilian casualties in Gaza!
     A: Well maybe... but even if many of them were combatants,
        don't the Palestinians have a right to self-defense?


The real question: Why isn't this all obvious to everyone?  How
did mainstream reality diverge so far from the actual reality?



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