Who is on your side?

Trepidation sums up how I feel about this blog. Very few people (followers) will see it and whilst that is, in my view, a shame, it is also a comfort because it would surely be unpopular amongst a wider audience and those who will certainly disagree with it tend to be both vociferous and quick to judge and with many 'mates' to call on to denounce any conflicting views of others.

I recently commented on an Israeli discussion page stating, whilst trying to be as even handed as possible, that while I completely agree with the right of Israel to exist and to defend its borders, and that I abhor the extremism and violence perpetrated by the likes of Hamas and others, Israel, above all other states in the world, should also surely recognise the rights of the Palestinians to have their own, internationally recognised homeland. And that Israel should also be held account to accept the internationally agreed resolutions that they should not continue to create illegal settlements against the agreements of the whole world, including the US and the UK, which are clearly a provocation.  My expressed opinion was (and is) that both sides should comply with international law rather than ignoring it and that only then would we be able to secure peace on the basis of trust and fairness.  Niaive of course but nonetheless a view based on principle and hope.

After what I felt was a reasoned and fair view, I was immediately branded a 'racist' and a 'holocaust denier' by others on the blog.  When I am neither of those reprehensible things.

It sometimes seems to me that discussion is not really about right or wrong, but about how many supporters one might have - for a cause, without ever thinking about the argument at issue - and I think that the reaction to my views in many ways proves my original point.

The protagonists on both sides are simply not interested in peace or fairness but only in their own interests.  I have found that there are some people in this life who cannot do a deal, cannot come to an agreement, unless the people with whom they have dealt are seen to have lost out on the deal. They are not interested in a fair, equitable agreement but in 'stuffing' their partner/opponent and then crowing about it. There is no such thing as a win-win in their eyes, only a me-win-they-lose scenario. If we find peace in the Middle east (for example) it will surely be a win-win situation, but with these people at the forefront it will never happen. Even if the vast majority want fairness and peace and to go about their daily lives unencumbered by political or religious crap:

If you don't vote for freedom we'll impose it by military might. And if you don't support Israel, blindly, without question, and against the rights of another culture to survive, we will withdraw our funding of the country and you'll go bust - America. Sad. Outrageous. how can we, as a species, let this happen?

All of which was not what I started out to discuss. sigh, more to follow