Time to Make Peace!
By chance I happen to receive information daily on events in Israel/Palestine and the Middle East at large from nearly the entire spectrum of articulate views on things there. One cannot but be distressed at the failures of communication they manifest, let alone the absence of good will and human caring on the part of otherwise decent people.
I am not a pacifist. I was a child of WW2. I was preparing to fight in 'my' war (the Korean) before Eisenhower ended it off. However, as a social/political/legal philosopher, one time journalist, another time possible candidate for the foreign service, one trained in theology as well as philosophy, I am all too aware of the modern tendency to excuse "collateral damage" to innocent persons by those engaged in waging impassioned battles. WW2 was a monster illustration of this horror with Hitler's Blitz followed by the Allies' retaliation against innocent cities such as Dresden, the Japanese genocidal ranging around the Pacific with the U.S.'s retaliation and destruction of civilian lives from its massive Tokyo and other bombings (greater losses of civilian lives than those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined).
With a keen sense of the suffering that our militarists have been inflicting upon women, children, and other frail creatures, I have undertaken to draw together the elements and information otherwise buried in -- or intentionally obscured by -- the media which are virtually the only sources of information for most citizens in democratic states. This list -- Peace Efforts -- was formed as an outlet for those with comparable concerns -- an open forum to which participants could bring facts and share opinions. It is a lively list -- unmoderated.
Now I am trying to bring to life a comparable effort focused more narrowly on Israel/Palestine: I have listened too long to voices on either side of the Green Line which have erratically reached out to each other and then withdrawn to fire bombs and rockets -- not just stones, rubber bullets, and epithets -- at each other.
Here is a new group, Israel/Palestine:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
which you are invited to join and use as an outlet for information only sometimes found in the NY Times or Jerusalem Post or Aljazeera. I have asked people on the scene to contribute to it regularly. I am personally dubious about Israel's current approach to security through building a wall. Needless to say things fly over walls -- potentially from thousands of miles away. Torturing the Palestinian public can only bring Israel more grief down the line. Killing innocent Israelis defeats the cause of the Palestinians. Tit for tat is not the way for either of these proud people to go. The world looks on and wonders how such madness can flourish among otherwise sane and intelligent people who have, themselves, been victims of so much oppression?
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
I am not a pacifist. I was a child of WW2. I was preparing to fight in 'my' war (the Korean) before Eisenhower ended it off. However, as a social/political/legal philosopher, one time journalist, another time possible candidate for the foreign service, one trained in theology as well as philosophy, I am all too aware of the modern tendency to excuse "collateral damage" to innocent persons by those engaged in waging impassioned battles. WW2 was a monster illustration of this horror with Hitler's Blitz followed by the Allies' retaliation against innocent cities such as Dresden, the Japanese genocidal ranging around the Pacific with the U.S.'s retaliation and destruction of civilian lives from its massive Tokyo and other bombings (greater losses of civilian lives than those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined).
With a keen sense of the suffering that our militarists have been inflicting upon women, children, and other frail creatures, I have undertaken to draw together the elements and information otherwise buried in -- or intentionally obscured by -- the media which are virtually the only sources of information for most citizens in democratic states. This list -- Peace Efforts -- was formed as an outlet for those with comparable concerns -- an open forum to which participants could bring facts and share opinions. It is a lively list -- unmoderated.
Now I am trying to bring to life a comparable effort focused more narrowly on Israel/Palestine: I have listened too long to voices on either side of the Green Line which have erratically reached out to each other and then withdrawn to fire bombs and rockets -- not just stones, rubber bullets, and epithets -- at each other.
Here is a new group, Israel/Palestine:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
which you are invited to join and use as an outlet for information only sometimes found in the NY Times or Jerusalem Post or Aljazeera. I have asked people on the scene to contribute to it regularly. I am personally dubious about Israel's current approach to security through building a wall. Needless to say things fly over walls -- potentially from thousands of miles away. Torturing the Palestinian public can only bring Israel more grief down the line. Killing innocent Israelis defeats the cause of the Palestinians. Tit for tat is not the way for either of these proud people to go. The world looks on and wonders how such madness can flourish among otherwise sane and intelligent people who have, themselves, been victims of so much oppression?
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
posted by Ed Kent at 8:32 AM
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