Machiavelli said it was better for a ruler to take someone’s son than to take someone’s land. You can get over deaths. You can forgive your enemy. The pain goes away over time.
On the other hand, if you take land from someone, that land is always there. It remains visible, a constant reminder and irritant.
The Palestinians have long ago come to terms with the people who died in the 1948 war. What they have not come to terms with, and they won’t come to terms with, is seeing Israeli settlers taking their former land and refusing to recognize their legitimate grievances.
Trump, of course, could have continued the U.S.role as “honest broker.” He has decided otherwise. The American delegation celebrating the new embassy included an American preacher who has denigrated Jews, Mormons, and Muslims, and a megachurch evangelist who has claimed Hitler was descended from “half-breed Jews.” The Israeli government went along with this travesty because Netanyahu gains politically.
While Americans and Israelis celebrated the new embassy, over 50 Palestinians were killed at the fence. Thousands have been wounded. Inhabitants in Gaza are kept in continual poverty. They have no hope of establishing a two-state solution. Many feel they may as well die.
Like many Americans, I was once a proud supporter of Israel. I thought it was an island of democracy and liberalism in a sea of dictatorships. Now I think of it as just one more middle east country full of religious fanatics, willing to commit atrocities in the name of a tribal culture.
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