Hamas, Gaza, IDF, Israel, Intifada, and U.S. (us) And why we should care (?)

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Some of you may know of my history in the Mideast.  Most of you may not.  Some of you may know I get emotional about issues.

Some of you may not.

Some of you may give a shit.

Some of you may not.

I flip  a coin

It comes down on both sides.

It lands on edge and remains thus…

For ever.

No matter: I don’t have a dog in this fight: The current Fight between Hamas and the IDF (Israel)… Actually, I did, once upon a time, have a dog.  He died. But that was many moons ago.

And we did/didn’t call in the dogs back then: the ‘Fight Between the PLO and Israel’… “Let ’em duke it out!”

–Ronald Reagan, “et them all, et tu, Brutus?”

And about who could wrap some arms about Yasser Arafat?  No one. Not even Ronnie. Then he (Arafat) became ‘Rocky Balboa’ to some of rest of the world. Yes! Fast forward… but who among the thinking of us and the remembering of us, can ever forget

Munich in ’72?

Munich

And I was on the ‘good’ side.

I was for the ‘Home’ Team: Israel! Nineteen Sixty Seven! The shining moment of the IDF! Just like the Lord: ‘Fought for Six Days and Rested on the Seventh.”

“Didn’t them Jews kick the ever-lovin’ shit outta them A-Rabs?! Fought for Six Days…”

Biblical! (Yay God! and Madison Ave…)

Then I learned to read (and listen)

Point is:

I, as most of us (I hope) want the killing to STOP. It hit ‘Home’ today when I went to buy a beer. There were Palestinians in the road… In Memphis America! They were not happy. Unhappy Palestinians. Goddamn Right! They were unhappy! In Memphis!

I do not blame them. I am not happy either, but that said, Israel has some right to defend… don’t they? If you would like to argue, I welcome that, as I, more than some of you out there, have lived on both sides of that pond. And on both sides of that issue.

I have driven through Gaza. Too many times. I have seen the refugee camps. The poverty.

And I had intimate sex (is there any other kind?) with an Israeli Sabra, of Yemenite ‘distraction’ (i.e., she was Arab: Arab Jew) More than twice… Yet that sex did not prejudice me… (Well, maybe it did… just a little)

Putting sex aside, I know some politic, especially when it comes to Israel and Islam.

I have been on both sides.

Call me out, yet consider that I am foremost and always just a simple Texan.

So, be nice (or not)

Peace

15 thoughts on “Hamas, Gaza, IDF, Israel, Intifada, and U.S. (us) And why we should care (?)”

  2. Pingback: Sharia | Texan Tales & Hieroglyphics

  4. And, sadly, after spending so much time there with My ‘boots on the ground,’ I must concur.

    Thanks for dropping by and for commenting: “surviving subatomic Arabian particles will do battle with the subatomic Israeli particles.”
    Too true.
    Cheers,
    Lance

  5. I never was a Carter fan, but I do believe he was the only POTUS who actually gave a shit about ‘Peace in the Middle East’ (an oxymoronic phrase). The Camp David Accords were the fruit of his efforts.

    The actual official exchanging of the documents took place there at SFM and I was ‘witness to history.’ It was a heady day. Wish I still had all the photos, but alas…

    Not too long before Sadat was murdered he came to visit our base camp there in Sinai as well. Unfortunately I was not there to witness that. I would have loved to meet Sadat and shake his hand. I admired him a lot. (Did not care much for Menachem Begin.)

    Thanks Mélanie for reading and for your comments.
    -L

  6. I hate to be Debby Downer here but there will never be peace in the middle east. Ever. They will eventually annihilate each other with tonnes of throw-weight and the surviving subatomic Arabian particles will do battle with the subatomic Israeli particles.

  7. @”and U.S. (us)”… – yes, unfortunately for smart and realistic Americans like you, Lance… all the POTUS-es(sic!) and their administration have promised to do something and to solve the “problem” since the creation of Israel, but… nothing has been done and the carnage has continued… in blunt French we call the killed civilians “de la chair à canon” = “cannon fodder” – which is unfortunately appropriate these past weeks, hélas… 🙁

  8. I totally agree with you, Annie… and I’m quite skeptical about any “détente” or peace in that troubled area! 🙁

  9. Oh, I can be considered a Warrior at heart. A Warrior kills when there is no other option. A Warrior confronts other warriors, or the twisted versions causing the trouble. A Warrior has a code of honor that doesn’t include murdering children, infirmed, people to old to fight back…. Yeah, okay, so I am also a bit of an idealist….

  12. And in fact Heathen, I completely agree with you. Once while shopping in Tel Aviv for groceries, I saw the whole problem summed up in a very small nutshell.

    Two women were perusing the chickens. One was Palestinian; one was Israeli. They both reached for, and grabbed, the same chicken. (now mind you: to me most all chickens look alike, especially in the market).

    Neither woman would relinquish her hold on ‘her’ chicken.

    Eventually, the chicken was torn in twain. Then they both argued about who was to pay for the ‘drawn and quartered bird’. I grabbed ‘my’ chicken and went happily home to my Sabra woman. She cooked it up and we had sex after…
    I did not recount the incident to her, her being rather radical and shit. (She would have argued that the chicken belonged to the Israeli, doncha know??)

    ‘Détente’ don’t translate into Hebrew or Arabic…

  13. I can’t get anywhere near that subject without going on at great length, but I’ll just skip to the end: The only solution that will bring peace to the region is one that the ruling elite of the US and the Zionists won’t accept, so there will be death and destruction until it’s no longer up to them, and they might just go out with a historical bang.

  14. Ya know Annie, I spent so much time in that region, and it was always the children on both sides who moved me. (It was the same in Iraq) I knew a lot of Palestinians. I knew a lot of Israelis (a few in the Biblical Sense….oops!)

    Seriously though, even though I was ‘almost’ a Navy SEAL and a ‘pure’ warrior, war sickens me. I have seen too much of the detritus of it. And it pains my heart.

    I suppose I am always my Mother’s Child: A Hippy.

    Thanks very much for reading and commenting. It’s always a pleasure and a treat to get your take on things.

    Peace,
    Lance

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