israel – Oscar Valdes

No On a Two State Solution

Negotiations are under way to end the conflict in Gaza. But the conflict won’t end. It never does.
Why should Israelis live under the constant threat that Palestinians will violate any agreement they make and attack them again?
Since Israel’s independence in 1948 there have been many efforts to establish treaties calling for peaceful coexistence.
Sometimes they have come close, but the initial agreement always breaks down.
Repeatedly, it’s the Palestinians who initiate the attacks on Israel or beat the drums of war.
The Palestinian strategy is familiar. Kill Israelis, take hostages and then wait for public opinion to come to their rescue.
Just as Palestinians have failed, so too the other Arab nations.
All share a history of ganging up against Israel and yet the small nation, with the smaller army, always beats them back.
To try to force Israelis to accept a two state solution does not make sense any more.
I am sure that, as a people, Palestinians have many talents and capabilities. As a nation, however, they have deferred again and again to leaders bent on inciting rage and enmity against Israel.
From the start Israel has had a right to a piece of that land. The stories of their peoples have been profoundly intertwined. The Bible and Qur’an speak of their common origins. And yet, Palestinians have seen no need to compromise.
We can blame their atrocious leadership for it but the people themselves also bear a measure of responsibility for their unending calamities.
Palestinians have become a failed nation who’s unwilling to face the fact that a neighbor they despise has thrived and become a first rate country. A first rate country that is also superior to any of the other current Arab nations.
That has to hurt.
Rather than try and improve their conditions, Palestinian leaders keep stirring those resentments.
Other nations, eager to help (never mind China, Russia or Iran who only want to stir the animosities for their own benefit), should not underestimate the importance of such emotions. They are unlikely to go away.
Still, Gaza must be rebuilt. But Hamas should not be allowed to wield power. They’ve proven themselves incapable of leading their people.
One alternative would be for the United Nations to step in and govern that land until such time – decades from now – when Palestinians, freed from the toxicity of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, will rise to take the leadership of a modern state.
No weapons should be allowed in Gaza.
Arab nations may not want to help in rebuilding Gaza, whatever their reason, but they bear a good deal of historical and moral responsibility for having encouraged anti Israeli sentiment and its ghastly consequences.
If you have the time, go to the website for Freedom House and look at their interactive world map where nations are ranked by how free they are.
In the region, Israel is the only democracy. A little speck of land in the midst of autocracies and despotism.
No Arab or Muslim nation in the area has yet developed the capability to form and maintain a democratic government.
Wonder where Israel gets its strength from.

Still Hamas Does Not Surrender. Why Not?

Photo by Edmond Dantu00e8s on Pexels.com

Because they have innocent civilians in Gaza shielding them. Because they’re counting on world opinion restraining Israel’s determination to defeat them.
Israel belongs in Palestine. So do the Arabs. But reckless leadership has kept the flames of enmity and violence alive in Arab hearts and minds for more than a hundred years.
And the cost has been enormous. Not only in lives lost but in opportunities missed.
Jews never conquered the vast territories that Arabs did in times past when they reached into North Africa and Spain which they held for centuries.
Arab minds and their creativity gave us enormous advances in the sciences and humanities. But then the lights dimmed and other peoples took the lead.
Why shouldn’t Israel be in Palestine?
Both Arabs and Jews have inhabited that land since the beginning of recorded history.
Jews have migrated all over the world, and they have faced hatred and persecution in nearly every place they have gone.
All the while they longed to return to Palestine.
The migration back to Palestine started before WWI and then grew steadily, even against opposition of major powers like England. Then came the Holocaust and the horrors of it hardened Jewish resolve to return to their ancestral home.
When the United Nations consented to the creation of Israel in November 1947, borders were drawn that allowed for Jews to coexist with their Arab neighbors. But such was the resistance of the Arab world that immediately after Israel declared itself a nation in May of 1948, the surrounding Arab nations attacked it. And it hasn’t stopped.
Yet every single time Jews have beat back the Arabs.
It’s going to be 76 years this next May, and still the Arab world doesn’t step up and say, ‘Let Israel live!’ ‘We will strive for peaceful coexistence. We renounce violence.’
Is there any oil in Palestine? No. Arab countries have the oil riches.
And yet Arabs look at Jews with envy.
What Jews have done is affirm themselves in a way contemporary Arabs have not been able to.
Jews took what land they hand and made it cultivable. They toiled and invented and transformed themselves into a leading nation. All the while the surrounding Arabs watched in astonishment. Maybe they were asking themselves, ‘there must be something magical about that land that Jews have prospered so much. We need to get back in there.’
But that’s not it.
What Jews have is a determination to succeed that Arabs have not found in themselves. They look back on their history and know it’s in there, somewhere, but they just can’t find it at this time. They look to their leaders but they don’t get answers.
Arabs are ruled by kings and dictators but not by elected representatives. And so until the Arab peoples embrace democracy, there will not be peace in the Middle East.
The Arab world’s tolerance of the existence of Hamas is a sign of how much they need to grow politically. They seem unable to publicly reject the group’s violence toward Israel.
And so Israel must keep affirming its right to exist and keep prospering.
And the West will keep supporting them.
Israel has work to do also. They should veer more to the political center.
Coexistence with a Palestinian nation is possible, so long as that nation is demilitarized. This must be done because of the long history of attacks on Israel.
Israel has had great leaders but a man like Netanyahu is toxic. The other day he said that Palestinians should be relocated to the Congo. Yep. It made front page news.
He has yet to explain how come Israel’s military vigilance did not anticipate the Hamas attack.
Fortunately, Israel’s Supreme Court came out against a Netanyahu inspired rule to weaken the court’s power and so give himself more.
The fight for the survival of democracy is constant. Here in America we now have a candidate who wants to diminish our system. I speak of Donald Trump, who incited an attack on Capitol Hill on January 6th 2021, aiming to overturn the results of the election that defeated him.
But America will beat Trump. And his supporters will have to reconsider how to better deal with opposing views.
The enemy of Arabs in the Middle East is not Israel. It is despotism and dictatorship in their own lands.
To find their voice, Arabs must fight against those who suppress it.
Not having a voice means not thinking clearly and allowing others to choose your fate.
Which is why so many Gazans have died.
Hamas, surrender now!

On Iran: Clarity, Mr Biden

We keep trying to reestablish the Iran Nuclear deal and yet, Iran is now sending drones to Russia to help them fight Ukrainians.
How does that work?
From what I understand, a reactivated nuclear deal has been deemed desirable because it would give Israel more time to prepare for an eventual confrontation with Iran.
But why are they not ready now?
All along there’s been the perception that Iran is determined to have their nuclear bomb.
From the skies over Syria, Israel keeps bombing Iranian positions deemed hostile to their state.
I have trouble believing that if a deal is struck with Iran, that they could be trusted with anything they agree to.
Is the oil they produce worth all this effort?
Are the sanctions now imposed on them having any effect, or are they getting around them?
And if the nuclear deal is reactivated, aren’t billions of dollars expected to be paid to Iran as a form of compensation?
Does it make sense to subsidize a state that is a Russian ally?
I’m sure Ukrainians could put that money to better use.
I believe that we and the West can live without Iran.
Iran’s theocratic dictatorship will one day crumble from within and we will welcome them back to the community of nations, although it may take years for it to happen.
It is very unlikely that anything we do will prevent the expected confrontation between Iran and Israel or between Iran and us in the Persian Gulf.
The Iranians have chosen sides. They are with Russia and China and against us.
To think otherwise is wishful thinking.
Efforts have been made to bolster ties with Arab states in the region (Abraham Accords), started by the Trump administration.
We should keep working on those. But the reactivation of the nuclear deal with Iran does not seem beneficial to us at all.
President Biden, do take a moment to tell us why you’re keeping those talks alive.
What are we missing?
We need clarity.

Thank you

Oscarvaldes.medium.com

Sheikh Jarrah and the Israeli Palestinian Conflict

Rockets and bombs have been flying and casualties have been rising while inside Israel there have been clashes between Israelis and Arab Israelis.

US diplomats spoke out against Hamas fighters firing rockets into Israel while asserting that Israel has a right to defend itself as indeed it has.

But left in the background is the spark for the raging conflict. The forceful evictions by Israel of long time Palestinian settlers in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Instead of keeping it in the background, what’s happened in Sheikh Jarrah should be put front and center.

Why should the Palestinian settlers be forcefully evicted?
It is wrong for Hamas to be firing missiles into Israel so that should stop immediately.

And so, too, should the crushing Israeli counteroffensive that is likely to soon become an invasion of Gaza by ground forces.

Surely, as the casualties mount on both sides, the numbers for the Palestinians will be much larger. And that includes children.

It seems very clear, with the long history of warfare between the two rivals, that it doesn’t take much to ignite a broader conflict.

Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu knew full well of the possible consequences of Israelis displacing Palestinian settlers from Sheikh Jarrah. But he let it happen anyway.

Property rights in the area have been disputed in the courts for years, and still he let it happen. I suppose it burnishes his image as a get tough on Palestinians kind of guy.

But we here in America, who spend lots of money subsidizing that state’s defense forces, should demand a thorough accounting of what is happening there.

We can’t just have Antony Blinken make a statement calling for Hamas to stop the firing of the missiles – which have resulted in a few Israeli deaths but which have been mostly intercepted by Israel’s powerful Iron Dome antimissile system.

We cannot have the administration be only insisting that Israel has a right to defend itself, which it has, and not put blame on Mr Netanyahu for letting the displacement of Palestinian settlers be carried out.

The American people deserve better.

The Biden administration must do better.

Antony Blinken and company should know better.

The genesis of this painful and costly clash – where Palestinian casualties will surely, by far, exceed Israel’s – needs to be brought to the table right now. And we should ask, why was it allowed to happen in the first place, when it seemed pretty clear what the consequences would be?

If President Biden can confront Saudi Arabia’s crown prince on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and label Putin a killer for the attempted murder on Alexei Navalny, surely he can call in Mr Netanyahu and tell him that his behavior is atrocious and repugnant.

Please, Mr Biden, act now.

Oscar Valdes. Oscarvaldes.net

The Broader View: The Importance of Restraint

Trump orders the killing of General Suleimani and top aides and on 1/3/2020, the vehicle they were traveling in after arriving in Baghdad is hit by a rocket fired from a drone. They go up in flames.

Suleimani was in charge of Iran’s military interventions in the region (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Saudi Arabia, Yemen) and thus responsible for much devastation and misery, including the death of Americans.

But how did we get there?

Deeply held rivalries in the area go back many years and have been increased by the establishment of the Israeli state, which we back.

Maintaining our commitment to supporting Israel does not mean, however, giving in to the wishes of their leaders.

The Middle East remains a cauldron of festering enmities shared by millions of people and which will require the concerted effort of enlightened local leaders to mitigate. And it will take many years for that to happen.

There will be no clear winner in that process and it is obvious that for a modicum of peace to be reached, a series of compromises and an abundance of education, restraint and economic development will be needed.

That long term view was the motivation behind the nuclear deal signed in 2015 between the US, Iran, China, France, England, Germany and Russia.

The deal called for Iran to stop the development of nuclear weapons for a 10 year period in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. The point of the deal was to gain us time. Precious time for Iran to develop economically, and for that development to take root in their people and in the surrounding area so that attitudes toward compromise became more amenable.

But that option did not seem sufficiently comforting to Netanyahu and company. They saw the nuclear deal as ‘appeasement’ of Iran. Anyway, it was an Obama idea and what did he know? It well suited Netanyahu’s bellicose instincts that the idea be scrapped.

But the nuclear deal would have been very acceptable to a man like former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was murdered by an Israeli extremist in 1995. (even developed nations murder their best, like we did JFK and Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy)

Men and Women make a difference. Yitzhak Rabin was a leader with an intelligence, imagination and compassion that Netanyahu has been incapable of emulating.

When Netanyahu sees Trump become president, he sees his chance to scrap the nuclear deal. And it suited Trump just as well. For Trump, anything Obama did was tainted. And Netanyahu whispered the right words into his ears. Scrap the deal! Make us safer!

Was the signing of the nuclear deal with Iran an abandonment of Israel? Of course not.

We stand by that nation in good and bad times. That commitment has been made.

While the US is strong, Israel will always have a staunch ally and we will go to their side if they are in danger.

But that does not mean that we have to stop efforts at finding a compromise.

Trump, with his limited foresight, could not get it. He does not have that imaginative reach and we are the worse for it.

Iran has vowed retaliation for Suleimani’s death. There is no question that it will come. Such retaliation could take any shape, happen in foreign soil or on our own, be directed toward military installations or toward innocent civilians. Anyone of us could be a victim.

It should give us pause.

Pause to think why we elect our leaders. Pause to remind us that our choice of leader must have the ability to think under pressure, to have compassion, to have an imagination, to care for other human beings. It is not easy to find all those qualities in a person but seek them we must. Or we will pay for the consequences.

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to view a photo exhibit of American soldiers who had died in the service of the nation. They were from all races. Men and women of various ages, who had committed to defending our nation. Each photograph was compelling. Each made me reflect.

Freedom has a price and those courageous men and women had volunteered to fight for all of us. The least they deserve is for our leaders to honor their commitment by being judicious in their choices.

Keeping such photo exhibit as a permanent installment in the White House, would help remind our presidents of what sacrifices Americans make.

Oscar Valdes

An Unnecessary War

Trump is on the verge of ordering an attack on Iran.

If he had not pulled out of the agreement with that nation, calling for it to halt their development of nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, an agreement arduously negotiated by Obama and including European nations and Japan, we would not have this crisis.

The deal was to last 10 years, during which there would have been time for changes to occur in Iran, but Trump was seduced by Netanyahu into breaking the pact and here we are on the brink of war.

If we go to war this will be Trump’s war, timed perfectly with Netanyahu’s bid for another term as prime minister of Israel in tomorrow’s election.

Here’s a leader, Israeli voters can confidently say as they head to the polls, who can whisper things in Trump’s ear and make things happen,

Woe to us for tolerating this.