naraburns nihil supernum
2yr ago
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Israel-Gaza Megathread #2
This is a refreshed megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.
Suppose you were a moderate leader of the Palestinians. What on Earth could you possibly do to end the suffering and negotiate a lasting peace?
Right now? Nothing. The cynics are right that the Palestinian people* do not actually want peace. When they say they want peace, what they mean is they want the Israel to stop attacking them. So that they can rebuild and prepare for the next attack. This is the blackpill, cynical view, and it's terrible and tragic, and it's also correct.
This does not mean I think Palestinians deserve to be genocided or that being part of a "death cult," as others have so colorfully put it, is in their genes. But it is very much part of the current culture and political ethos, and it's been baked in for generations. Whether or not they are justified in this view is beside the point. Argue about the creation of Israel and who wronged who first harder all you want, but that doesn't change the current situation on the ground. Palestinians want Israel literally destroyed, which makes any halfway compromise difficult. All you're really offering is a temporary ceasefire. The only long term peace (assuming that actually eradicating Israel is off the table - which for moral and practical purposes it almost certainly is) is a cultural change among the Palestinians that leads to the next generation being willing to genuinely coexist and "bury the hatchet." I think this is theoretically possible, with sufficiently strong and dedicated leadership willing to pursue this. You'd need both Palestinians and Israelis fully bought into the project, and right now, and for the foreseeable future, neither of them are. It would be a very long-term project, and I am very pessimistic about it happening in any of our lifetimes. I think one side or the other committing genocide is more likely.
Obviously, I do not literally mean every single Palestinians. There are Palestinians who want peace, who would genuinely embrace peaceful coexistence with Jews. But they are a small minority with functionally no political influence in Palestine for the foreseeable future.
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Notes -
Right now? Nothing. The cynics are right that the Palestinian people* do not actually want peace. When they say they want peace, what they mean is they want the Israel to stop attacking them. So that they can rebuild and prepare for the next attack. This is the blackpill, cynical view, and it's terrible and tragic, and it's also correct.
This does not mean I think Palestinians deserve to be genocided or that being part of a "death cult," as others have so colorfully put it, is in their genes. But it is very much part of the current culture and political ethos, and it's been baked in for generations. Whether or not they are justified in this view is beside the point. Argue about the creation of Israel and who wronged who first harder all you want, but that doesn't change the current situation on the ground. Palestinians want Israel literally destroyed, which makes any halfway compromise difficult. All you're really offering is a temporary ceasefire. The only long term peace (assuming that actually eradicating Israel is off the table - which for moral and practical purposes it almost certainly is) is a cultural change among the Palestinians that leads to the next generation being willing to genuinely coexist and "bury the hatchet." I think this is theoretically possible, with sufficiently strong and dedicated leadership willing to pursue this. You'd need both Palestinians and Israelis fully bought into the project, and right now, and for the foreseeable future, neither of them are. It would be a very long-term project, and I am very pessimistic about it happening in any of our lifetimes. I think one side or the other committing genocide is more likely.
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