This post is part of Marc H. Ellis’s “Exile and the Prophetic” feature for Mondoweiss. To read the entire series visit the archive page.
Is there a tipping point that will make Palestine reappear?
I doubt the turmoil in Syria is helping.
With Israel striking targets in Syria and fleeing Syrians inundating Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan – there are more than half a million Syrian refugees in Jordan alone – instability in the Middle East is once again Israel’s gift from God.
Jordan is at wits end. Turkey is deporting Syrians. Syrian refugees are spilling over into Israeli controlled areas. According to commentators the Arab League has made another “strategic choice” to sit this one out. “Neutrality” is another way of choosing sides.
“You can’t be neutral on a moving train” – wrote Howard Zinn, the late extraordinary Jew of Conscience. But you can jump off and let others absorb the crash then see what comes your way.
Patching Syria together again will take years. Everyone in the Middle East will have to “cooperate” as respected members of the international community. Yes, as they pick apart the pieces of Syria they want.
Think of those in and around Syria as circling vultures feeding off Syria’s carcass.
Whither Palestine in relation to Syria? International public opinion and recognition has been moving in Palestine’s direction for decades now. The only thing missing is a Palestinian state.
As Israel strikes Syria from the air, Prime Minister Netanyahu is affirming that discussions about the Arab League’s proposal aren’t about so much about land swaps. The recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is more important. Of course, it helps that Israel already has a solid lock on the land it wants. Now it’s time to wrap up the Jewish state idea.
I’m sure the Arab League is listening. No doubt Israel as a Jewish state is next on their “strategic choice” agenda. After “fixing” Syria, next year in Washington!
Palestine doesn’t appear on the “fix Syria” screen. What the Syrian people will have left after the vultures have their fill is anyone’s guess.
The joke about the Conquistadors coming to the Americas with the Bible and the sword may apply here. Punch line: They took the land and left the indigenous people with the Bible.
Jews brought the Jewish Bible to Palestine, created Israel and took the land. The Palestinians are left with their Bible and Koran – without freedom or a state.
That’s Netanyahu’s mindset – a Jewish state without a Palestinian state.
I wonder what’s on the minds of the vultures feeding on what’s left of Syria.
How does the full joke go?
The vultures were all over the Syrian carcass in June 2012.
But than they stopped the buffet.
Shortly after Nethanyahu went ballistic and screamed that US had to attack Iran ,cause a nuke was hours away.
Nethanyahu’s “red line” speech in the UN,and his open support for Romney in the Pres.elections showed there’s trouble at the top.(US-Israel relations )
Since than the NATO rebels have been pushed back,Turkey accused Israel and syria of collaborating,called Zionism a crime against humanity,and made up wih Israel.
Looks like the vultures lost their appetite.
Did a Russian warship dock in Haifa last week,and why?
Nethanyahu went to China after allegedly bombing Syrian govt/Hezbollah targets.
Is he gonna talk bilateral trade ,or something else.
Israel declared various times that it will only act in it’s own interest.
That includes making deals with Russia and China.
Israel does’t trust Obama anymore ,since US refused to push on in June 2012 on Iran.
It’s only a matter of time before it’s clear that alliances have shifted in a major way.
Israel refuses to be suicided by Obama and his backers.
Facing Hezbollah,Syria(n rebels),Hamas,Iran,and Al-Qaida in the Sinai alone is not an option.
All the rest is spin, for public consumption.
Western interference in Syria would be as bad news for Syrian Christians as the U.S. invasion was for Iraqi Christians.
Glenn Greenwald dares to use “tribalism”: “No universally applied principle justifies the Israeli attack on Damascus. Only self-flattering tribalism does that”
for more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/06/syria-israel-bombing-moral-relativism
Good grief, Marc Ellis – it’s like a funeral in your salon! Have yea no faith?!! You sure it’s Syria you’re depressed about and not the wife/girlfriend/job/mortgage?
Syria is NOT a “carcass”. Wounded, yes – but not fatally so. It’s also not going to sleep every night with its boots on and gas-mask resting on forehead – unlike, well… you know who.
C’mon snap outavit!
Don’t be an underestimator.
Stop watching CNN.