A PAUSE IN THE DEPOPULATION

Will the madness in Israel, formerly Palestine, continue as it was before the attack on October 7th? No. The conflict has reached a turning point like the end of the Indian wars in the USA. The indigenous people have been crushed, their culture subsumed by the might of its conquerer. The indigenous American Indians tried terrorism against an overwhelming enemy, it did not work. They gave up and were absorbed into the culture as Reservation Indians.

This conflict, Israel lost 1200 souls, the Palestinians, 14,000, maybe 40% children, and their city a desolute ruin for desperate people, the legacy of the attack on October 7, a day that had meaning to both sides, but not to the US tax payer who paid for the disproportionate response. It sent a message that was heard by the other side in this suppression of a captive people, it is that kind of war, the revolt of a captive people.

It is a chapter in a colonial experiment reminiscent of the colonial experience of the settlers in the American West subduing the Indian tribes that resorted to terrorism in their losing efforts.

The Palestinians have no leverage in this uneven war, and their enemy has proven that it will kill 14,000 people, flatten a city, just for starters. What’s next? Don’t expect compromise by the victors, they’ll drive a hard bargain to conclusion: There are maybe 1,500,000 homeless people in the Gaza Strip, maybe more, today’s catastrophe.

11/29/23