the world is just a dead thing you can claim

I was about ready to hunker down and start blah-blah-blah-ing my opinion on the newly-passed Health Reform bill when the not-so-sweet sound of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's voice penetrated the quiet of my sleeping house via CNN. Come on, Netanyahu...I mean, really? Resolving to build 1,600 homes in the illegally acquired Palestinian territory of East Jerusalem is not what I would call a precursor to peace talks. And our friend the diplomat didn't want to discuss politics or history when speaking to our class about "terrorism"...I think it's blatant that politics and history are the cause of these acts of terror/insurgency. In fact, Netanyahu's justification for illegal eviction and construction in East Jerusalem is purely historical: "The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 years ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today". Okay, so what if the British (sorry Mum) sailed on back to the US of A demanding their land back? "Good day, chaps. Remember when we fought that war back in the 1700's and you won? Well, we're here to say nuh-uh. We want the land back now, and if you disagree, we'll just take it anyways. Okay, so think about it and let us know. We'll be right here with our tanks and bombers if you need us..." And then the Native Americans would come on the scene to confront the British: "Um...yeah. You might think you own whatever land you land on, but actually, we were here first. And your little 'War on Terror'? Well, we've been 'fighting terrorism since 1492'*. So, hand over the land and you guys can live on the reservations. Mkay?" While they would have every right to do so, as Isreal should have the right to claim some of their land, they could not rape, pillage and destroy their 'enemy's' culture all in the name of God. If history is justification for oppression and denigration in order to regain once-owned territory, I'm pretty sure Rome would have dibbs on about 90% of current day Europe...And besides, it's not necessarily the act of taking land that doesn't belong to you, it's more about how you treat the people you are ejecting. Refugee camps, unlawful evictions, bulldozing houses and security checkpoints are not effective ways to building peaceful relations. Actually, it's a great way to fuel hatred, resistance and violence.

Rivers and I recently watched the film "The Road", an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's prize-winning novel. While it was a harrowing, depressing and heart-wrentching tale, the underlying theme sang to me in harmony (in a morbid sense) with the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict: when stripped of basic human needs, people will resort to any means necessary in order to regain what (they believe) is rightfully theirs. As I see it, violence is a response to unfortunate, oppressive circumstances. I'm not saying it's a valid response, but it is a response nonetheless; not just an irrational, fanatical offensive as the mainstream media would have us believe.

*I didn't make that quote up. I saw it on a T-Shirt in Montana. I can't claim its brilliance.