Sunday, May 22, 2011

A1 at AIPAC--A Home Run: Some have asked why I have not weighed in on the Middle East Israel/Palestinian madness. The reason I balk at wading through the morass of religious, military, and dogmatic historical realities of the Middle East peace between Israel and the Palestinians is because my first impulse is to throw up my hands and yell loudly I GIVE UP. I have been on this planet for 62 years the same number of years the Jewish State of Israel has existed. For those 62 years that region and the tiny Jewish state have never known peace and yet the word peace has been thrown around like baseballs of a batter taking batting practice except in this case the game never ends and the score is in dead bodies and not home runs. In fact, a home run has never been hit and the bodies are still being counted.

If a state has been at war for 62 years one might take a snooze and say wake me when it’s over. The problem with that is when one is awakened the game may be over and the Jewish state may face an existential annihilation as each nation peels off its support including even the United Nations and as Israel finds itself in a new Middle East reality. How many times have we heard the mantra which plays like a broken record -- We want a two state solution with two states living side by side in peace. I am sick of it but it is what I desperately want for both my Jewish people and the Palestinians. When will this happen? Each side intrinsically and rabidly hates the other and there is no trust, the basis for any agreement.

The president's proposal to Benjamin Netanyahu has been skewered by the mindless lame stream media who simply want to ratchet up discord anywhere they can find it even if it means fanning the fires of a hatred so enmeshed between two people that its quilt can only serve to smother the lives of both. In reality returning Israel to its pre-1967 borders is not a new idea. In fact, it has been postulated by many presidents including by the Clinton Administration in Oslo. I do not believe President Obama threw Israel under the bus as some have suggested.

The Republican Party thinks it sees an opening to sow more discord between Jews and Palestinians -- as if there is not enough already -- in their feeble attempt to scrape off the Jewish vote which it has always courted by falsely telling the American electorate that Obama does not support Israel. No matter how hard Republicans tried in 2008 to court the Jewish vote Jews voted for Obama in droves at 80%.

After the steaming pitch right over the plate thrown by the president in his AIPAC speech today, I suspect the Republicans will continue to lose the Jewish vote and Jews will continue to remain solidly in the Democratic camp. The president did what only he can do and that is let his words take on persuasive power. He did just that when he spoke today at the solidly pro Israel lobbying group, AIPAC. As one of my very politically savvy relatives used to say “what is is.” It is a simple profundity which rings true. The Middle East has changed, still is changing and we must face that stark reality. Many at AIPAC clapped mightily as the president iterated that peace between the two historical adversaries should include a return to the pre-1967 boarders, full recognition of the Jewish state by a Palestinian state and mutually agreed land swaps.

I believe a home run was hit today by the president. I can only hope he wins the game. Only the fate of the Jewish state, the Middle East and the entire world hangs in the balance!

I post the link of his speech below. I loved it. I hope you do too.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

NOT ANYMORE

  I wrote this last week and for the most part sat on it because I did not want my writing to imply anything against Israel. As stated agai...