That’s it. I am going to settle the Israel versus Palestine problem once and for all.

Those of you following the news will know that the Israeli government has stepped up their attacks on Palestinian settlements, in response to a number of recent suicide bombings performed by Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that these acts are of a war for the survival of Israel.

Well, no.

Suicide attacks are horrible, awful things, and there is no question about that. But for Sharon to suggest that war is necessary for Israel’s survival, even if suicide bombings continue, is nonsense. It is not Israel that is in danger of extinction.

I feel a great deal of sympathy for the families and friends of innocent bystanders killed in a terrorist bomb blast. But I also feel sympathy for the average Palestinian who wants simply to live and work and raise his family in peace and comfort. The Israeli government does everything it can to prevent that from being possible. In fact, Israel seems to get away with a lot of basic human rights violations based on the assumption that ALL Palestinians are suspected “terrorists”.

Imagine armed troops constantly roving the streets of your neighborhood. Imagine the threat of being arrested or shot if you stay out past an unreasonable curfew. Imagine getting arrested on charges of suspected “terrorism” and, after being subjected to beatings and extravagantly cruel interrogation techniques, being sent to prison for four years without a trial, or with a trial that is obviously rigged against you. Imagine having to commute three hours every day to and from your job, where you work hard all day in a country that lives well and doesn’t want you there; and then going home at night to a house which is not much more than four walls, a dirt floor, and a plastic tarp for a roof. Imagine living in that house with your wife and three children, not to mention your sister and brother-in-law and their children. Imagine burying your teenaged son because he happened to be standing in the general direction from which a rock was thrown at a soldier.

The Palestinians are a desperate people, and they are running out of things to lose. Constant attacks from the Israeli military will only exacerbate the problem. Another issue is that not all Palestinians share the same ideology. Arafat is a leader to many, but not all. Isolating him will not end the terrorist attacks; it might well increase their likelihood.

Frankly, I don’t even understand how such a society can exist in this day and age, particularly after the events of the twentieth century. Even South Africa ended apartheid. The Israeli government is wrong, wrong, wrong. And to all the politicians and pundits who keep going on television and saying that Palestinians don’t care about a reasonable quality of life as much as they do seeing Israel dead: Israel has GUNS. Israel has MISSILES. Israel even has NUKES. The Palestinians have ROCKS. Why are you afraid? Allow them a reasonable quality of life, and see if their perspective changes. Just don’t punish the entire Palestinian population for the actions of a few.

I recommend the graphic novel PALESTINE by Joe Sacco, published by Fantagraphics Books, to anyone who wants to know more about this subject. Read it, and you will learn that the Israeli government is just as cold, heartless, and out-of-touch as our own.