Olmert Speaks

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in response to the violence perpetrated against Palestinians by Israeli settlers in Hebron last week, claimed that the actions of the rioting settlers constituted a "pogrom", a Yiddish term for an organized massacre that has historically referred to such actions against Jewry. The riots in Hebron, which surprisingly left no fatalities and only three seriously wounded, were provoked by some Israeli settlers who refused to leave a house they had been occupying for months before given a court order to vacate; a Palestinian man brought the case before the authorities, proving that the property was his. The attacks, by settlers, on innocent and wholly uninvolved Palestinian civilians followed, causing widespread outrage in the Muslim world, as well as firm disapproval from the usually pro-Israeli West. The statement is a positive step forward, bringing some objective and rational positions to the front on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Ehud Olmert (and, perhaps more importantly, whoever eventually takes his place) need to take more of these pragmatic steps in the future; the Israeli leadership, for the sake of survival and stability, must seek ways to incorporate a comprehensive, humane, and just solution to the Palestinian question. And this is definitely a positive step, in that the Israeli state isn't apologizing or legitimizing their citizens' outrageously illegal actions outside of the internationally accepted parameters for their state. Yet, we must be wary of allowing a reactionary or extremist attitude to yet again invade the rhetoric and action of the Israeli government in response to future offensives. These, which are almost certainly going to happen, must underscore the importance of ending the situation peacefully and pervasively, not trigger a reaction that is, at best, ineffective, and at worst, extremely counterproductive and increasingly dangerous.

But I digress. Coming soon will be a much more lol-worthy post. Feed on this for a while.