I view this quote by Dennis Prager to be most profound, and goes to the heart of why E.Tuomioja would state (in so many words) that diplomacy is the ONLY way forward in the current crisis, and a portion of the reason why the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has lasted this long.
Prager:
“It is also often the position of the morally confused. People who believe in moral relativism, who therefore cannot ever determine which side in a conflict is morally right, understandably feel incapable of determining when violence may be moral.Those who say violence never solves anything have confused themselves in other ways as well.
They have elevated peace above goodness (my words; “moral clarity“). Therefore, in these people’s views, it is better for evil to prevail than to use violence to end that evil — since the very use of violence renders the user of it evil.”
Reading this alongside Finnish Foreign Minister, Erkki Tuomioja’s statements, really reveals what this is all about. It explains the inability of some politicians to differentiate between terrorism and defensive measures that sometimes claim civilian lives.
Tuomioja:
“instead of escalating its offensive into Gaza, Israel should take the path of diplomacy and negotiation. In particular, he disapproved of Israel’s retaliation against Palestinian politicians. We do not approve of the way the legislators and ministers were arrested, he said. Tuomioja has come under fire before from Israel for his blunt views.”
An article by Charles Krauthammer, explores the origins of the recent violence, by providing the proper context in which the violence started.
“What is so remarkable about the current wave of violence in Gaza is that the event at the origin of the “cycle” is not at all historical, but very contemporary. The event is not buried in the mists of history. It occurred less than one year ago. Before the eyes of the whole world, Israel left Gaza. Every Jew, every soldier, every military installation, every remnant of Israeli occupation was uprooted and taken away. How do the Palestinians respond? What have they done with Gaza, the first Palestinian territory in history to be independent, something neither the Ottomans nor the British nor the Egyptians nor the Jordanians, all of whom ruled Palestinians before the Israelis, ever permitted?
On the very day of Israel’s final pullout, the Palestinians began firing rockets out of Gaza into Israeli towns on the other side of the border. And remember: those are attacks not on settlers but on civilians in Israel proper, the pre-1967 Israel that the international community recognizes as legitimately part of sovereign Israel, a member state of the U.N. A thousand rockets have fallen since.”
