This Is Peace?

I had a long and somewhat frustrating conversation about U.S.-Arab relations with a bunch of rightists from my church last night. I set them straight on some factual discrepancies, and hopefully explained a little bit of the Arab point of view, as well as the moderate American point of view. These guys applauded Israel, for the fence and targeted killings, as being amazingly successful at stopping terror. It's not the first time I've heard that argument, and it really puzzles me. Granted, Sharon's tactics have cut down on terror, but Israelis are certainly not better off than Americans in terms of safety! This notion that less-terror-than-previously is better than almost-no-terror-ever boggles my mind. I sincerely hope that America is never faced with the decisions Israel is faced with, and the way to avoid such an eventuality is to not create huge numbers of enemies.

In case any of my readers have confused notions about the state of Sharonized Israel, check out Haaretz today (or any other day). Violence is the rule, not the exception; only the largest scale attacks have really been stopped, and only for a few months now. Two rockets fell in an Israeli settlement, and (elsewhere) Israeli settlers shot and wounded an unarmed mentally retarded man who walked too near their settlement. This type of thing occurs daily, and Israelis are probably the most fearful and tense nation in the 1st world.