Still, after all that time and every possible calamity including their systematic massacre in World War II, Jews are finally in Jerusalem again. A great event. You would think that practically any arrangement with their historical enemies that allowed them to keep the land in peace would be acceptable. Israelis must hear their ancestors whispering, "Take the deal! Sign now while you can! So what if it's not the whole of Judea and Samaria and only half of Jerusalem? What's a few lousy streets? We've got the part we most wanted, and we've got coastlines on the Mediterranean and a port on the Red Sea. A hundred years ago in Russia, we would have given anything for the 1967 borders."
But to Mr. Netanyahu and his colleagues, half a loaf isn't a loaf, and half of Israel isn't Israel. Hence the long, halting war of attrition against their enemies. For that's just what it is: attrition, a holding pattern by whatever trick necessary to buy time while the bulldozers hem Palestinians into ever-smaller spaces and life becomes so miserable and insecure that they eventually pull up stakes and leave. And it works: thousands emigrate every year. But you have to wonder what on earth Israelis are thinking when it comes to the millions who don't leave and have no intention of doing so.
Israelis don't want Palestinians to become a country; the reasons why are well known. But doesn't cutting loose of the costs of occupation -- both monetary and moral -- hold some attraction as well? And wouldn't Palestinian statehood be the easiest way to do it? And aren't there worse things, like grinding intifadas, rivers of money diverted from development for the military and security services, and intractable enemies in the neighborhood?
But Israelis clearly don't think on these lines, and their attitude begs the question: Just what are they going to do with the Palestinians? Occupy them forever? Ship them all off to Jordan during the Super Bowl and hope nobody notices? You would think that after all this time an answer would be evident. But it isn't. The Palestinian question is a black hole of denial that Israelis refuse to deal with.
That's what I mean: it must be odd to be Israeli. They zip along on modern highways and participate in the Olympics and the Eurovision song contest. Meanwhile, the guys on the other side of the Wall -- that crudest instrument -- limp through potholes, bear poverty and unemployment, get thrown out of their East Jerusalem homes, put up with Israeli soldiers rummaging through their baby carriages, and simmer with anger over a situation that only gets worse.
But it doesn't matter. For one reason or another, countries have their blind spots, their denials. The problems are evident, the answers abundant and attainable, and yet it is the rarest of politicians that is able to take action. Since the Reagan Administration, Americans have run massive budget deficits every year with only a few exceptions during the second Clinton Administration. Everyone knew it was the wrong thing to do, everyone knew that people wanted the government services, but nobody wanted to adjust taxes to cover them.
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