Bleeding Out
I followed the war in Israel last night on ABC streaming channel. Perhaps I should say nothing about this bloodletting. Still, how is this not my business since I am human, and this is yet another outbreak, a paroxysm of rage? Gaza has been called an open air prison, one of the most densely populated areas on earth, dependent upon Israel for water, electricity, medicine, etc.
Perhaps you remember the name, Yitzhak Rabin. He was elected as Israel’s prime minister in 1992 embracing the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. With Yasser Arafat he signed the Oslow Peace Accords. He was assassinated by a right-wing religious extremist named Yigal Amir, who opposed the terms of the Oslo Accords.
So here all of us are today. Hamas continues to launch salvos of rockets into Israel, after breaching the border with fighters who murdered and took hostages. Prime minister Netanyahu has pledged a response to the attack that will echo for generations. The SDF air force is presently reducing neighborhoods to rubble.
My thoughts? Do not Hamas, ultra-orthodox West Bank Settlers, Biden, Netanyahu — all who loudly call for vengeance, belong in the same tragic bucket?
I found these verses from the Zhuangzi calming:
Mean,
and yet demanding to be allowed their free course;
– such are Things.
Low,
and yet requiring to be relied on;
– such are the People.
Hidden (as to their issues),
and yet requiring to be done;
– such are Affairs.
Coarse,
and yet necessary to be set forth;
– such are Laws.
Remote,
and yet necessary to have dwelling (in one’s self);
– such is Righteousness.
Near,
and yet necessary to be widely extended;
– such is Benevolence.
Restrictive,
and yet necessary to be multiplied;
– such are Ceremonies.
Lodged in the center,
and yet requiring to be exalted;
– such is Virtue.
Always One,
and yet requiring to be modified;
– such is the Tao.
Spirit-like,
and yet requiring to be exercised;
– such is Heaven.
…They (the sages) did not think things equal to what they employed them for,
but yet they did not see that they could do without employing them.
Those who do not understand Heaven are not pure in their virtue.
Those who do not comprehend the Tao have no course which they can pursue successfully.
Alas for them who do not clearly understand the Tao!
–Zhuangzi, Letting Be, and Exercising Forbearance trans. by James Legge
3 thoughts on “Bleeding Out”
This situation is clearly more than horrifyingly tragic. And yes, it could have been avoided had two things occurred:
1. The Palestinian leadership could have dropped their credo to destroy Israel and kill all Jews and suggested they work together for the benefit of all.
2. Israel could have stopped forcibly removing from people their homes, taking Palestinian land in the West Bank, for settlers who felt they had a mandate to settle in that land.
What many people fail to realize, or they just are not willing to accept, is that it’s next to impossible to negotiate with a group that had vowed to wipe you off the face to the earth, especially when your people underwent that exactly that for twelve years under the Third Reich. Without viewing this conflict in context it’s always easy to blame the ones who you view as either an oppressor or the bully. Things are not as simple as we make them out to be. There are two side to every story.
Points succinctly made. The reasonable minded are summarily pushed aside by those who are committed to unconditioned violence towards those with whom they contend. Now is the time to pray to whatever Gods there may be, for an alternative to the abyss that seems to be ahead. I also think about how one is bound to lose one’s own soul in order to survive a confrontation with a mortal enemy, becoming a mirror image of one’s adversary.
I noted this morning that the Israeli government has an opportunity to become the hero in this, but it would mean restraint. In listening to some of the survivors of the music festival massacre, I doubt if restraint is possible. They witnessed unarmed friends, family, and children being slaughtered, raped, dragged through the dirt, and then shot again to make sure they were dead. How do you tell that person they should act with restraint? Revenge is a very powerful motivator, but if restraint were to be a part of the mix, it would have to come from the top, and it won’t. One of the women hostages taken by Hamas was stripped naked and paraded through the streets in Gaza City. I doubt if she is still alive. Imagine the world condemnation if Israelis acted in this manner. Instead pro-Palestinians groups make excuses for this kind of behavior. I’m not advocating an eye for an eye on any level, but how does any population react towards these heinous acts? Of course this can lead to an almost endless cycle of violence. I wish I had even a remote suggestion as to a possible solution but it’s quite apparent that many more on both sides will suffer before any resolution is found.