Israel's Delusion

There was the failed invasion of southern Lebanon. Then, the embargoes and closings of border crossings from the occupied territories. Now there is an invasion of Gaza characterized by the Israeli defense minister as a "fight to the bitter end". And in that simple phrase, "fight to the bitter end", is neatly captured the delusion that seems to motivate Israeli actions.

That phrase carries with it the implication that Israel has it within its power to unilaterally bring about an "end" or, failing that, to inflict sufficient punishment on the Palestinians to make them rebel against their leaders. Experience . . . lots and lots of experience extending over decades . . . suggests the Israelis are wrong. But, still they cling to the delusion. Why?

In some respects Israeli attitudes are similar to those of some in the US following our defeat in the Viet Nam War. "If the government hadn't tied one hand behind our back, we would have won" is the cry of some in and aligned with the military, although this claim is usually made without respect to the level of destruction and suffering that "winning" would have entailed or what would have been left of the country we had "saved". It is the starkest reminder I know that Vince Lombardi's famous line, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing", makes sense only to those who enjoy the luxury of myopia.

But, most Israelis are thankfully not that myopic. They understand that Israel could formally annex the occupied territories and through some combination of coercian and ethnic cleansing bring the Palestinians to heel. The cost, however -- financial, moral, and political -- would be immense, not least because it would confirm an accusation that most Israeli's desperately do not want to believe of themselves, that they are merely imperialistic, racist colonizers whose only claim to the newly annexed lands is that are powerful enough to take them.

So, deprived of the first part of the delusion -- that they can unilaterally bring about an end -- the Israelis fall back on the second part -- that, if they are sufficiently punished, the Palestinians will turn against their leaders. In other words, the Israelis impute to the Palestinians the potential for behavior of which they would never imagine themselves capable because they believe it would be disgraceful . . . even damnable. Every Israeli I know would view turning against one's own because of suffering inflicted by another as being the worst form of cowardice. Yet they act as though the Palestinians are likely to react in exactly that way.

Does this mean that Israelis view Palestinians as being morally degenerate at an almost genetic level? I don't know, but I pray not because, if they do, it is truly the worst form of racism, the kind that would give the Israelis license to commit egregious crimes in the supposed cause of humanity.

At this point I should write, "So, what is left for the Israelis?" But, conscience reminds me that, at the moment, the more pressing question is, "What will the Israelis leave of the Palestinians?". Because, while I care about the conflict that I know rages within many Israeli souls, the real, immediate, and ongoing suffering of the Palestinians is the greater crisis.