D_Gunther Snotpole
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Dr Rock said:moral of the story: moral absolutism doesn't work in the real world. you will never convince, for example, the jordanian or lebanese governments that they should just accept the existence of israel and find something else to do. you'll CERTAINLY never convince any palestinian terrorists to stop attacking israeli targets. sure, it'd be real nice if israel HAD worked out okay and solved more problems than it caused, but after 60 years it's pretty clear that ain't gonna happen. the israeli government are nationalistic scumbags because non-nationalistic scumbag governments can't survive in the middle east, where people are not just ready but eager to massacre each other over the slightest difference of opinion. all that the creation of a jewish state in an arab-dominated region has done has been to make life even more miserable for an even greater (and ever-increasing) number of people, just so that the US and UK governments can have their little power-base in the middle of the world's largest oil-producing region.
1) Through its peace treaty, the Jordanian government has accepted the existence of Israel, as has the Egyptian government.
2) Maybe you're right, maybe no Palestinian terrorist organization will ever stop attacking Israel -- but I don't know how you can be sure of that. (Note: I'm not saying, either, that you can be sure they will stop attacking Israel.)
But there are changes occurring in the Arab world, changes that the Iraq situation has stifled a bit.
Among the intellectual elites, greater willingness to recognize that Arabs/Muslims are responsible for many of their own problems, and that Arabs/Muslims at minimum will have to be the major agents of any improvement achieved.
Among Muslims generally, a greater willingness to speak out forcefully against the hijacking of their faith.
So if we give things, say, 10 years, Dr. Rock, I wouldn't be surprised to see quite an improvement. I'm not predicting it, only saying it won't be nearly as surprising as it might have seemed five years ago.
Of course, things won't move in a straight line.
3) Israel is much more than an outpost of Western economic ambition.