Here is part of what Hillary Clinton said yesterday at the dedication of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace: I am one of those people who does believe that peace is possible, not out of any misplaced idealism or whatever remnants of naiveté may still pulse somewhere in one or two cells left in my body – (laughter) – but because it has to happen. It has to happen.
Is this the thinking of the Secretary of State of the United States? That the reason peace is possible is because "it has to happen??"
This sounds like the thinking of an abused woman who married her abuser because, after all, he has to change.
This is not only naivete - it is the triumph of wishful thinking over reality. This is not only a problem with this administration or even this nation, of course, but it has rarely been so succinctly and explicitly put.
To hear one of the most powerful people on the planet spewing such nonsense is a very frightening thought. The reality is that the current generation of Palestinian Arabs are not able to adhere to any real peace with Jews controlling what they consider Arab land forever. The peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, while wonderful in the sense of quieting down the borders, are very far from the real definition of "peace" - in fact, the level of hate for Jews in those countries are higher than in most Arab countries that do not recognize Israel. This is not a problem that can be solved in this generation.
Realizing that some problems are not solvable is not a failure; it is an acknowledgment of reality. Once this is understood, then problems no longer need to be solved - they need to be managed, which is a very different issue and requires a very different approach.
Unlike the illusory "peace," it also has the potential of being possible. |
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