Let's begin this discussion with a metaphor. You look out
the window at the street below and see two cars. One is a rickety old jalopy
that is held together with wires, masking tape and pieces of previously masticated
chewing gum. The other is a brand new car that hit a pothole so hard, it blew a
tire. The jalopy is driving whereas the new car isn't going anywhere. Which of
the two would you say is doing better?
The utility in having this metaphor is that it helps answer
the question: “Who won the Gaza
war?” No, this is not my question; it is that of Elliott Abrams. Actually it is
the subtitle of an article he wrote under the title: “The Fog of Cease-fire”
which he cautions is a quote first uttered by Daniel Polisar. The Abrams
article was published in the September 8, 2014 issue of the Weekly Standard.
Abrams tries to answer his own question in a 3,400 words
essay, only to end up saying: “ask me in six months and then again in six
years.” Meanwhile, he spends a great deal of time and mental energy to show
that Gaza and its leaders lost a great deal because they achieved none of their
goals, whereas Israel and its leaders appear to have gained a great deal
because they achieved most of their goals. It is that Gaza
got neither the seaport nor the airport it sought reopening, whereas Israel got the
quiet it sought – he says.
Judging by these criteria, the jalopy that is Israel seems to be doing better because it is
moving whereas the new car that is Gaza
remains inert. It is possible, however, to argue that even under these
criteria, Israel did not do
as well as it appears because Gaza
retains the capability to shatter that quiet at will. Also, it is possible to
argue that the matter of the seaport and airport has not been settled as yet
because it was put off for when the heavy negotiations begin a few weeks from
now.
In fact, we can even declare that all of the above is beside
the point because what really matters is what Abrams hinted at in the way that
he ended the article. He mentioned that the final judgment will have to be made
six months or six years from now. In other words, he admits that what counts is
the element of time: Where is this going? not where things stand at this time?
Well, nobody can tell the future but what we can do is look into the fuel tanks
of the two vehicles, and determine which will go farther … assuming, of course,
that the jalopy will not fall apart before getting there, and that the brand
new vehicle will get its tire replaced eventually.
What counts when it comes to a country such as Israel ; one that was willed into existence by
the nations of the world, and what counts for a country in the making such as Palestine ; one that will
have to be willed into existence by the nations of the world, is how they
appear to the eyes of the world. Following the events of the Second World War,
the Jews came to be viewed as an ethno-religious group that could do no wrong.
This rubbed on Israel ,
the country they founded at the expense of an existing Palestinian population.
But this fact, however horrendous it might have been, was tolerated by a world
that lived in a state of guilt more powerful than its ability to reason.
And then, drip by drip, the truth came out to the effect
that the Jews were neither an ethnic group nor a religious one, but were either
adopted as infants into a fake ethno-religious group, or converted at an older
age into an ideology that proved to be as primitive, savage, blood thirsty and
beastly as described in the bible they consider to be the compendium of their
religious beliefs. It is hellish horror disguised as heavenly bliss, and the
world knows it now.
As to the Palestinians, the purity of their innocence grew
brighter the more that the worldview of the Jews grew darker. The battle
between good and evil remains intact except for the switch of characters. The
Jews turned out to be the evil element; the Palestinians turned out to be the
embodiment of a stoic goodness that does not say give me liberty or give me
death, but lives by the motto and dies by it. Gaza has shown the world how gloriously
magnificent the human spirit can be when asked to stand by its principles.
There is hope for mankind after all.