I’ve been thinking about the tragic situation in Israel and Gaza. Obviously I mean the current conflict but even going back ever since Israel was established there must be a way to cut this gordian knot. I have always felt that Israel has a right to protect themselves but I don’t think that all of their actions since the terrorist attack by Hamas are justifiable. I also believe that Palestinian civilians shouldn’t have to live perpetually at the mercy of the IDF.
I’m certainly in no position to suggest how to end the present hostilities but as I was lamenting the apparent intractability of the problem it occurred to me that the absolute best thing Israel could do for their long-term security once the current hostilities have cooled would be to put their expertise in settlement building to work in rebuilding Gaza.
I’m confident that if they worked to rebuild the infrastructure that the people of Gaza need and actively work to become partners with their Palestinian neighbors in both Gaza and the West Bank that would be the greatest investment they could make for their future security. They should work to become more sympathetic to the needs of those civilians than Hamas has been.
It’s quite possible that the first step to accomplish such an ambitious change of policy would be to vote out their current leadership but the only people who should object to that are the leaders of Likud.
