Middle East Irony

The Obama administration has sent numerous signals that it intends to be more engaged in the Arab-Israeli peace process towards a two-state solution.  Yet at the same time, the newly elected Israeli government that has signaled that pursuing a two-state solution is not a high priority.  Meanwhile, the Palestinians are, once again, caught in the [...]

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No bluster, no swagger, no threats

I continue to be impressed with our new President.  He understands that communicating (both talking and listening) is a vital part of governance.  He is willing to compromise without sacrificing principle.  And he understands that power comes in many forms. He also seems to understand that influence is often more effective than raw power.
President Obama [...]

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Final thoughts on Gaza for now UPDATED

Both parties have declared their own cease-fires.  We wait to see what the final outcome may be.  It is interesting to note that by each side having declared a unilateral cease-fire, neither had to address the concerns of the other.  Israel got no assurances that the rocket attacks will stop.  Gaza got no assurances that [...]

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Potential for a much wider conflict

I’ll be away this weekend and glued to my TV on Tuesday, watching Barack Obama being inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States.  It’s time, in fact way past time, to turn the page on the last eight years.  But before I go, I wanted to share some additional thoughts on the situation [...]

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An ethos of death?

I happened today upon another blogger who brings an interesting perspective to the situation in Gaza — that of an anthropologist.  As I have tried to point out, there are no winners in the current conflict, only losers. Indeed, Prof. Gabrielle Marranci questions whether both the Israeli government and Hamas have an ethos of death.  [...]

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A Clarification: Sympathy doesn’t equal support

It has come to my attention that I should have been more clear and repeatedly stated that I felt that Israel has a right to defend itself.  I thought that I had done so clearly enough and that I had acknowledged the invisible (emotional and psychological) damage done to Israeli citizens who live in the [...]

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Peace seems ever more a distant hope

Amy commented on an earlier post, and I was particularly distressed by her easy dismissal of  proportionality.
The concept of proportionality is closely related to that of just war.  Just war theory has a long history in Western thought, going back to Roman times with Cicero and expanded by Christian theologians in the centuries since. Secularists [...]

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The rest of the story

Since Israel began its shelling of Gaza on December 27, international journalists have been limited to reporting from the border itself because Israel has barred them from entering Gaza.  Besides those reports from the border, we in the US have had to rely on scattered reports from sources within Gaza.  We hear of untold suffering [...]

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A time for talking… and for listening, too?

I see that PE Obama has indicated a willingness to talk to Hamas and is signaling that things will change in his administration as to how the US approaches the Middle East.  My first reaction is, “Well, it’s about time!”  And I’m delighted to learn that he intends to treat the region from Gaza to [...]

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Musings on war and peace, on revenge and forgiveness

As I am wont to do, I find myself seeing connections where others do not.  Or at least connections that aren’t part of the public discussion.
The issue of proportionality has weighed heavily on me since the beginning of the Israeli action in Gaza.  And yet, proportionality assumes that we look at events rationally and logically [...]

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