Readers here will know this is not a political blog. But the day deserves attention
Has this been the worst year ever for news from the Middle East? Not that there have been a lot of good years for a long time.
Lately I have heard more people alluding to Ireland and the Troubles to deal with current events. There was another forever war, two sides seemingly prepared to go on killing each other pretty much forever.
And then it burned out. That particular generation of stone killers seemed to age out. And they failed to bring on another generation to succeed them. Given an option of (mostly) peace and (some) prosperity, people on both sides seemed ready to grasp it.
Could that happen in the Middle East? I rather think the Israeli population could accept it pretty quickly, and could dispose of those in government who might want to keep fighting wars they think they will not lose. It's pretty clear the United States, principal guarantors of Israeli strength, would be happy enough to see all that happen.
The other side? I can believe there are lots of people willing to live without endless war, without absolute victory or vengeance. But the decision-makers on that side seem absolutely committed to victory and vengeance, however remote the prospect of achieving it -- and they are not accountable to the people they lead. Steps to peace in the Middle East before the collapse of the Iranian state that sustains the war? Hard to imagine.
And the crisis is not just in the Middle East any more. We have Islamophobes among us, for sure, and mostly we identify them and isolate them as fanatics if not psychopaths. But the surge in anti-Jewish attacks in Canada and other western countries, and the seeming righteousness that underlies it, seems new. Do our neighbours really think that chanting "From the river to the sea" might lead to an acceptable settlement anywhere?
