web analytics
May 19, 2013 /10 Sivan, 5773
At a Glance
InDepth
Sponsored Post
jumping Following a Passion for Sports to Israel

In Israel, a new five month scholarship program being offered to young aspiring athletes – one of them could be you.



The Latest Chapter Of Israel And “Palestine” Not Tragedy, But An Absurd Drama In Many Acts (Part II)


tell a friend
Beres-Louis-Rene

            In Judaism, there can be no justification for deliberate self-endangerment, and in classic Greek tragedy, there can be no deus ex machina.  In tragedy, the human spirit remains noble in the face of inescapable death, but if there should remain anything genuinely tragic in Israel’s incremental capitulations to “Palestine,” it lies only in the original Greek meaning of the term – “goat song” – from the dithyrambs sung by goatskin-clad worshippers of Dionysus.  In every other sense, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plan exhibits behavior that would, however unwittingly, desecrate Israel’s Jewish heritage and its survival obligations.

 

            Oddly, Mr. Netanyahu now proceeds with the acceptance of a “Two State Solution,” but makes this acceptance contingent upon a demilitarized Palestinian state – a contingency that is inherently contrary to legal sovereignty. Moreover, his “moderate” Palestinian “partners in peace” are still openly dedicated only to a single Arab state. Israel does not even exist on the “moderate” maps of Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah. As for the still unrevised Fatah constitution, Abbas’ (Abu Mazen) intentions for Israel are plainly identifiable as Crimes Against Humanity.  As a professor of international law, I can confirm this in an entirely literal sense. Like Hamas, Fatah has plans for Israel that constitute genocide according to authoritative and unassailable standards of pertinent international norms. Shouldn’t this plain fact have entered into the preferences of both President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu?

 

             Mahmoud Abbas’ only solution for the Israel-Palestinian conflict is therefore the all-too-familiar “final” one. And this from the man insistently described in both Jerusalem and Washington as the “moderate” Palestinian voice.

 

            Aristotle understood, in his Poetics, that a tragedy must elicit pity and fear, but assuredly not pathos, a kind of suffering substantially less heroic than what is to be expected of a truly tragic figure.  Aristotle identified the tragic with “good” characters who suffer, in part, because they commit some error (hamartia) unknowingly.  Prime Minister Netanyahu, on the other hand, has continued his country’s march to disaster not because of any such error, or even because of wantonness or caprice, but because he steadfastly clings to myth and self-delusion.

 

            Israelis currently in a tragic dilemma, a situation initially created by Rabin/Peres, sustained by Netanyahu in his prior tenure as prime minister, heightened by Barak and Sharon, and potentially to be “finalized” by Netanyahu in his current term as prime minister.

 

            Today, a Prime Minister of Israel is still complicit in plans to codify jihad-centered rule over essential and core sectors of the Jewish State.  Yet, Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas was mentored by Yassir Arafat, and Arafat, in the words of Gustav Hendrikssen, professor emeritus of Bible Studies at Sweden’s Uppsala University, “is the heir of Hitler, and the Palestinian Covenant is a more disgusting document than the Nuremberg laws.”  Significantly, when this self-described “aged and bitter Gentile” recalled his reactions to awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to “one of the most despicable figures in our century,” he saw in that event the drama not of tragedy, but of pathetic farce:  “When I saw the Prime Minister of Israel and its Foreign Minister standing next to this murderous clown,” says Prof. Hendrikssen, speaking of Rabin and Peres,  “I had to think again about the meaning of the term “friend of Israel.’”

 

            A Christian for whom Israel had always been a “divine message,” Hendrikssen confirmed our sober understanding that Israel’s ongoing surrenders lack even the stuff of tragedy.  If, after all,  “…the Jewish people digs its grave with its own hand,” it is a coming death without dignity.  “Even the devil that dances on its grave is of its own making.”

 

            Soon, if “Palestine” is allowed to go forward, with or without “demilitarization,” each and every soldier of Israel will be asked to fight future battles that are already lost. Fawning upon their own doom, Israel’s leaders might still refuse to recognize that the spheres of reason in this world are terribly limited, or that Barack Obama and the American Jewish Establishment will not save them. For the latter, which is certainly well-intentioned, Israel will still remain a quaint diversion, a proper place to send donations and a fine place to visit with the grandchildren. For the former, the underlying and essential drama of Israel’s redemption, the very raison d’etre of the reborn State of Israel, is entirely beside the point.

 

            Under Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel is now entering the final phase of an unwitting self-parody. Fortunately, the last act has not yet been played. Israel can still put an end to the “tragic farce,” but only if its people and government can finally understand why they have been ingathered in the first place.

 

             Citizens of Israel should have no illusions. There is nothing about “Palestine” that will save them from the fury of enemy terrorism or catastrophic war. On the contrary, as should have been learned long ago, the smell of carrion only inflames the vulture.

 

             There is still time for Israel to reject its pathetic descent into tragedy, but only if its Jewish citizens can finally understand that “Palestine” would only lead them to the peace of the grave.

 

LOUIS RENÉ BERES (Ph.D., Princeton, 1971) is the author of many books and articles dealing with Israeli security issues and international law. Born in Switzerland, he is Strategic and Military Affairs columnist for THE JEWISH PRESS.
tell a friend

About the Author: Louis René Beres, strategic and military affairs columnist for The Jewish Press, is professor of Political Science at Purdue University. Educated at Princeton (Ph.D., 1971), he lectures and publishes widely on international relations and international law and is the author of ten major books in the field. In Israel, Professor Beres was chair of Project Daniel.


You might also be interested in:


no comments

You must log in to post a comment.

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Current Top Story
Jamal al-Dura and his 12-year-old son Muhammad under fire
Israel Explodes the ‘Big Lie’ – Gaza Al Dura Boy Wasn’t Killed
Latest Indepth Stories
Japanese Muslim

The Japanese do not feel the need to apologize to Muslims for the negative way in which they relate to Islam.

Portugal's national soccer team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari with young Israeli and Palestinian soccer players, June, 2007

Palestinian youths from Hebron, though, who met with Israelis near Bethlehem to share their problems and insights have been forced to issue a statement distancing themselves from the meeting.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifying about the September, 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Benghazi isn’t likely to keep Hillary out of the Democratic field in 2016, but after 2008, she is justifiably paranoid.

Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel.

The contractors received the land at a bargain basement price, moved the prices up to 1.8 million NIS and pocketed one million NIS per apartment.

Many of my fellow college students are quick to voice their acceptance of their LGBT friends, but they turn up their noses and frown slightly when they speak of a Hasid.

The growing revelations that the Obama State Department watered down public statements on the attack in order to cleanse them of any mention of al Qaeda and terrorism is a travesty.

We must confront Islamist groups with what Prime Minister David Cameron referred to as “muscular liberalism.”

Al-Qaradawi’s visit and statements also serve as a reminder that the Israeli-Arab conflict is centered, more than ever, around religion.

Everyone who reads newspapers should know at least one thing. Threats to annihilate Israel have always been unremarkable. Almost never, it seems, have Israel’s existential enemies sought any reason for concealment.

Mark Treyger, a candidate for city council in New York City’s 47th council district, met recently with the editorial board of The Jewish Press at the newspaper’s Boro Park office.

Israel’s government did not want to liberate Jerusalem. Or to be more specific, the Labor and National Religious Party ministers did not want to liberate Jerusalem. “Who needs that whole Vatican?” Defense Minister Moshe Dayan explained at the time.

Last Friday, the Western Wall underwent an unwelcome transformation from sacred site to media circus as the group known as the Women of the Wall sought to hold a decidedly non-traditional prayer service.

Two recent revelations have raised serious questions about the kind of government President Obama is running.

Readers of my monthly Baseball Insider column may have noticed its absence last week (the column appears in the second issue of every month). The reason for that is I have something more serious and personal to share with you, something that didn’t seem appropriate for a baseball column.

More Articles from Louis Rene Beres
Louis Rene Beres

Everyone who reads newspapers should know at least one thing. Threats to annihilate Israel have always been unremarkable. Almost never, it seems, have Israel’s existential enemies sought any reason for concealment.

Louis Rene Beres

In the face of seemingly irrational threats from North Korea, at least one American conclusion should be obvious and prompt: Nuclear strategy is a “game” that sane world leaders must play, whether they like it, or not. President Obama can choose to play this complex game purposefully or inattentively. But, one way or another, he will have to play.

A fundamental inequality is evident in all expressions of the Middle East peace process.

One must presume that President Obama’s most recent calls for Israeli cooperation in the Middle East peace process are balanced, fair, and well-intentioned. Why not? At the same time, unsurprisingly, these all-too-familiar calls are manifestly thin, in the sense that they lack any genuine intellectual content.

Needed changes in Israel’s decision making process have simply not kept up with the growing complexities and synergies of Israel’s always-hostile external environment.

Israel must continue to base its policies toward both Iran and ‘Palestine’ upon an utterly candid and unvarnished awareness of threats to Jewish life.

Under all relevant criteria of international law, Iran’s ongoing stance toward Israel remains unequivocally genocidal.

There have been no recognized examples of anticipatory self-defense as a specifically preventative anti-genocide measure under international law.

    Latest Poll

    Which is the most beautiful location in Jerusalem?









    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...

Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/columns/louis-bene-beres/the-latest-chapter-of-israel-and-palestine-not-tragedy-but-an-absurd-drama-in-many-acts-part-ii/2009/09/09/

Scan this QR code to visit this page online:

Close