brandon.plank[dot]com

For starters, rock stars are rarely political commentators for a reason: because they
open their mouths to talk, rather than sign, and this foolish bull shit comes spewing out.
But even if Mr. Waters were knowledgeable about the issues in Israel, he’s clearly
not Jewish, because he’d understand the REASON for the barrier. And since
I’m such a nice person, I’ll do the homework for him and explain it:

If you poll the average Israeli and ask them what they think of the Arabs or Palestinians,
you’ll find that most don’t have the hatred and dislike that many news broadcasts allude to.
Rather, what we see are people, JEWISH people, that want to live in a land and be free
from persecution of faith. I mean, the idea that Jews are persecuted by Christians
is an ironic situation, but a topic for another time.
Time and time again, the Israeli leaders have asked, no, pleaded with Palestinian leaders
to put an end to such lions like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah, but the problem is,
they can’t control the beasts they created.. so now the groups control the people by
continuing to carry out attacks and use fear to keep the war waging.
And even though there are courageous leaders like Abbas in leadership in Palestine,
the factions are still attacking Israel and even attacking themselves!

Clearly, this is NOT just an Israel/Palestinian issue, but it’s shifted to be a civil
war in Palestine, where Israelis are now in the cross fire.

Unlike most of the people that like to bitch and moan about Israel, I’ve actually been
there and seen the country for myself. I was there when there was an attack and
I’ve also seen the kindness that Arabs can and do show Israelis and other Jews.
But problem still remains that there is a non-Muslim country in a sea of Arab nations,
many of which have a deep rooted hatred for Jews and especially Israel, for it’s very
‘western’ society. History has proven that these countries do not want to be nice,
friendly neighbors and history has shown that the hatred and propaganda in the Arab
nations is not likely to go away.

So what would YOU do in this position?

Well, one way to keep the bombers and radicals out of your country is to build a wall
and restrict the flow of people in and out of the country. So let’s look at that for
a moment.
All countries have borders and all countries enforce them. America is looking to
post a huge fence/wall along the border with Mexico, yet there isn’t the outcry by
the world that this action is a crime against the people; so why is this stance’
considered acceptable when dealing/discussing the Israeli situation?
Some nations choose to militarize their borders, like North Korea does with South
Korea and even though the DMZ is a buffer between the two countries, the walls and
lines are still drawn in the sand, so to speak. Again, why is the same not acceptable
for a nation of people that are constantly under attack?

To be blunt, the wall is a way to keep those not wanted in Israel out. Done for
centuries, the walls of that nation are no different than the Great Wall in China or
the various walls built in Europe in the midevil times around castles. They were
built to protect those within the walls from enemies outside the walls. And the
issue here isn’t even the walls, it’s the lack of governmental support and
infrastructure provided by the Palestinian parliament for it’s people. I find it very
hard to believe that the quickness to join radical groups and the enormous
unemployment rate would continue if the Palestinian nation had something to offer the
world and could bring in enough finance to support it’s people. But that’s the underlying
issue: Palestine is a blob of dirt and sand with limited access to the Mediterranean
and bordering the Dead Sea & Jordan. The entire region can be used for farming,
as we have seen from the kibbutzim on the Galilee, but I personally feel that
no Arab will ever have the success with farming that the Zionist Jews of the
past did; remember, the Galilee was a desert dust bowl before the kibbutz. Before
the Jews came to this land, the Arabs living there had done little in the way
of cultivating the land, so I don’t feel the drive to cultivate the land of the West Bank
is likely to be something we ever see from the Palestinian people. Quite frankly,
they are a welfare state and will always rely on the handouts of others, until they
build and implement the infrastructure of a manufacturing/production capability on
such a scale that will employ the citizens and allow a product to be sold to markets
that is in demand from the world.

But until that time and until the world has more recourse for the radicals that
perpetrate the crimes against innocent Israelis, there is no way anyone should
support the dismantling of a wall that defines it’s borders and secures it’s citizens.

Because it is no different than any other autonomous nation that has a physical border.