We live a world of constant conflict. Much of it is based on religious differences supported by huge amounts of money that in turn bring wealth to the few while the many are killed and dying. Only acceptance of others will bring peace. Sadly, rejection is taught with mothers’ milk.
The Arab-Israeli conflict will never end. All the parties to the conflict never sit at the same table. And, aside from Israel, few of the parties who do sit at the peace table have little power to affect the outcome of their meetings. That is simply because the beneficiaries of the conflict happily support it and see no good reason to end it. Only their wealth will be spilled at the peace table; not their blood.
Israel’s power lies in its ability to say, “Yes.” And the Yes comes because of the benefits it can bring to those who are powerful and control the wealth of the country. Even so, were the decision in the hands of the religious bloc, they and their Arab brethren in war, will operate to destroy peace.
Acceptance of the “Other,” in all its ramifications, cannot be attained through religious teachings, through propaganda of the wealth-controlled media, through the profits of the arms makers and arms merchants, and finally, from the existing political hierarchies that control and are controlled by wealth. Rejection is the password to all peaceful manifestations. The mistrust of the other by the masses, engendered, supported, and educated by the power elites of the warring nations, will continue forever as a “necessity” of national defense, patriotism, and religious purity.
Following that state of affairs, the peace movements serve up the citizenry of their countries as tender food for warlords, enthusiastically waving their banners for peace, marching in peace rallies, occasionally contributing their lives for the cause of peace, always unaware of the legalized power of war-mongers laughing in opposition to their naivete. For they who know, know that if by mistake peace is achieved, it will be short-lived.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Eric Hoffer 1902-1983
THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 1968 (42 years ago) - Astonishing!
You probably won't remember the name Eric Hoffer. He was a longshoreman who turned into a philosopher, wrote columns for newspapers and some books. He was a non-Jewish American social philosopher. He was born in 1902 and died in 1983, after writing nine books and winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was widely recognized as a classic.
Here is one of his columns from 1968. This article was written 42 years ago! Some things never change.
ISRAEL 'S PECULIAR POSITION
By Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/68)
The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.
Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks and Algeria a million Frenchman.
Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees.
Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single one.
Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms.
But when Israel is victorious, it must sue for peace.
Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations, when they are defeated, survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed.
Had Nasser triumphed June 1967, he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews.
No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia . But, when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.
The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.
The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts and Jewish resources. Yet at this moment, Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally.
We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us.
And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer [1967] had the Arabs their Russian backers won the war, to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general. I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel, so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us all.
THIS WAS WRITTEN IN 1968 (42 years ago) - Astonishing!
You probably won't remember the name Eric Hoffer. He was a longshoreman who turned into a philosopher, wrote columns for newspapers and some books. He was a non-Jewish American social philosopher. He was born in 1902 and died in 1983, after writing nine books and winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was widely recognized as a classic.
Here is one of his columns from 1968. This article was written 42 years ago! Some things never change.
ISRAEL 'S PECULIAR POSITION
By Eric Hoffer (LA Times 5/26/68)
The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.
Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks and Algeria a million Frenchman.
Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees.
Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single one.
Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms.
But when Israel is victorious, it must sue for peace.
Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations, when they are defeated, survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed.
Had Nasser triumphed June 1967, he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews.
No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on. There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia . But, when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him.
The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway.
The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts and Jewish resources. Yet at this moment, Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally.
We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us.
And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer [1967] had the Arabs their Russian backers won the war, to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general. I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel, so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us all.
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