Total madness
A definition of madness, attributed to Albert Einstein, is trying the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. By this definition the Arabs are mad, totally crazy!
They attacked the nascent state of Israel with a hugely superior force in 1948 and what happened, a nakba, a crushing defeat. They tried again in 1956 (the Suez campaign), 1967 (the Six Day war), 1973 (the Yom Kippur war), 1982 (the First Lebanon war), 1993 (the first intifada), 2000 (the second intifada), 2002 (Operation Defensive Shield), 2006 (the Second Lebanon War) and until 2008 (Operation Cast Lead). In each case they suffered a stunning defeat, even though the IDF did not operate at full capacity in the last few operations. Yet they apparently still want to take their chances again.
The popular uprisings in Egypt, Jordan and Syria have revealed a tendency to amnesia, the demonstrators blame the backwardness and stagnation in the Arab world on the Jews, on Israel. The sentiment goes that the Arab dictators, Mubarak, Assad and others, became American puppets and therefore gave up the fight against Israel. Instead of using their armies to suppress the Arab people, they should stand aside and let their armies be used to attack Israel. Someone needs to remind them that they tried this before and look where it got them.
But, mobs are not usually subject to rational argument, and since in the Arab world the tendency is always to go to the extreme, we can expect any government or governing body that develops from the uprisings to want to try their luck again. I don't think there is much that can dissuade them, they will be feeling jubilant if the UN General Assembly votes by a large majority to establish a Palestinian State, and when there is a conflict over the borders of the Palestinian State and Israel, as there is sure to be, there will be ample excuse to turn this into another war. Hizbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Syria and Iran are all poised to participate in such a war, and the inclusion of Egypt is quite likely.
Its nice to talk about peace, as our leaders are doing now, but it is mainly self-deception and "pie-in-the-sky" while the talk of the Arab uprisings is mainly anti-Israel belligerance. But, as PM Netanyahu and others have noted, it is the Arab refusal to accept the existence of a Jewish State at all that has prevented any progress towards a negotiated solution. Although Egypt has severe economic problems, the use of an external threat, namely Israel, is a sure-fire way to deflect the people's attention away from their internal problems. Once again we hope and pray that should there be another outbreak of war the IDF will be able to win convincingly. But if it does, this time Israel should impose a solution, not wait around another 20 years until they decide to try again.
They attacked the nascent state of Israel with a hugely superior force in 1948 and what happened, a nakba, a crushing defeat. They tried again in 1956 (the Suez campaign), 1967 (the Six Day war), 1973 (the Yom Kippur war), 1982 (the First Lebanon war), 1993 (the first intifada), 2000 (the second intifada), 2002 (Operation Defensive Shield), 2006 (the Second Lebanon War) and until 2008 (Operation Cast Lead). In each case they suffered a stunning defeat, even though the IDF did not operate at full capacity in the last few operations. Yet they apparently still want to take their chances again.
The popular uprisings in Egypt, Jordan and Syria have revealed a tendency to amnesia, the demonstrators blame the backwardness and stagnation in the Arab world on the Jews, on Israel. The sentiment goes that the Arab dictators, Mubarak, Assad and others, became American puppets and therefore gave up the fight against Israel. Instead of using their armies to suppress the Arab people, they should stand aside and let their armies be used to attack Israel. Someone needs to remind them that they tried this before and look where it got them.
But, mobs are not usually subject to rational argument, and since in the Arab world the tendency is always to go to the extreme, we can expect any government or governing body that develops from the uprisings to want to try their luck again. I don't think there is much that can dissuade them, they will be feeling jubilant if the UN General Assembly votes by a large majority to establish a Palestinian State, and when there is a conflict over the borders of the Palestinian State and Israel, as there is sure to be, there will be ample excuse to turn this into another war. Hizbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Syria and Iran are all poised to participate in such a war, and the inclusion of Egypt is quite likely.
Its nice to talk about peace, as our leaders are doing now, but it is mainly self-deception and "pie-in-the-sky" while the talk of the Arab uprisings is mainly anti-Israel belligerance. But, as PM Netanyahu and others have noted, it is the Arab refusal to accept the existence of a Jewish State at all that has prevented any progress towards a negotiated solution. Although Egypt has severe economic problems, the use of an external threat, namely Israel, is a sure-fire way to deflect the people's attention away from their internal problems. Once again we hope and pray that should there be another outbreak of war the IDF will be able to win convincingly. But if it does, this time Israel should impose a solution, not wait around another 20 years until they decide to try again.
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:12 AM
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