A plague on both houses
by Eric Jackson
Would any respectable court, administering any system of law anywhere in the world, accept the following justification in a homicide case?
"I robbed this bank and was running away with the loot, when people started chasing me, and then they started to shoot at me, so I had to kill this cop, who was doing nothing to stop my pursuers. It was a matter of self defense."
Or how an honorable judge react to the following argument?
"This young man from the town across the river broke into my house, raped my daughter and got away, so I went to the main square in the rapist's hometown with a machine gun and shot everyone I could see, although none of those whom I killed matched the offender's description. It was a matter of justified retaliation."
Change the nature of the initial felonies and the weapons used in the subsequent violence, and the former argument is that of the government of Israel and the latter that of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
How dare Ariel Sharon plead self defense, when his country was attacked after he himself ordered a series of political assassinations, the destruction of Palestinian homes and the use of deadly force against stone-throwing children?
How dare Hamas and Islamic Jihad call their suicide bomber attacks against non-combatant civilians a justified response to Israeli wrongs committed against the Palestinians?
And what about Yasir Arafat?
Sharon's allegation that Arafat is directly responsible for the suicide bombings is transparently false. No evidence has been presented to show that the Palestinian Authority carried out those attacks.
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's allegation that Arafat is a weak leader, whose government has failed to control the murderous fanatics on the Palestinian side, is true. Honest observers can honorably disagree about why Arafat is so weak, but under his leadership the Palestinian Authority's performance leads to the reasonable conclusion that Palestinian statehood is still more of an ideal than a reality.
I don't wish a plague on both houses. The endless cycle of violence and retaliation IS a plague on both houses. I'm hoping for a miracle cure.
Israel has marked the approaching holidays with a rocket attack against innocent civilians in Bethlehem, while Palestinian suicide bombers have reciprocated by detonating themselves and those around them on the streets of Jerusalem. It's criminal madness on both sides.
This month that includes Ramadan, Hanukkah and Christmas is a good time for all of Abraham's progeny, and for all believers in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths that consider Abraham one of the great prophets, to get back to the essence of all great religions. The whole point is for neighbors to live in peace, on the basis of friendship and justice.
