Sunday, January 11, 2009

Eyeless In Gaza

Noi has received a number of text messages enjoining her to boycott various American companies on the grounds that they support Israel. There being no credible evidence that this is the case she has, sensibly, chosen to ignore them. But it's easy to understand the frustration with a perceived injustice that drives people to want to do something to go a little way to making things better.

The trouble is that the sense of powerlessness is overwhelming. It seems to me reasonable to suspect that it's rivalry within the various players involved in the internal politics of Israeli that's driving this particular circuit of human misery, and there's not a lot any of us can do about that.

Another trouble is that the long term consequences of all this are likely to be dire for all concerned, not least the Israelis themselves.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The problem is an old one. The Philistines (who are now the Palestinians) used to have regular battles with the Israelites who invaded them. Here's a link to the first recorded theocratic tribute exacted from the Philistines: five gold tumours and five gold rats. Amazing.

It all comes down to that itchy old patriarch Abraham/Ibrahim. Everyone knows Ishmael/Ismail was the first son, and it's obvious even from reading the Bible that he got a bad deal from his old man.

Ah, the lessons of history...

Brian Connor said...

Why am I not surprised that autolycus should take the long view? The very, very long view.