Peace is Possible

I’ve already chimed in on Mitt Romney’s callous remarks about half of our fellow countrymen, but today I’d like to address another distressing aspect of his secretly recorded comments, the idea that peace in the Middle East isn’t possible, and that the best thing America can do is kick the can down the road.

Let me start by referring you to a previous post about MittRomney’s laughable trip overseas meant to display his foreign policy prowess. Mitt began his trip in London where he managed to piss off the British! Piss of the British! Think about that. I’m actually pretty certain the last time that happened was 1812. It’s literally been 200 years. Seriously, Britain is our closest ally. You would have to try to offend the British. Unless you’re Mitt Romney and you are just so socially inept that you can’t help but say the wrong thing.

But that can be brushed aside. After all it’s nothing more than a laughable gaffe. Sure Romney demonstrated that he can’t get along with our best friend, but since Britain is our best friend it doesn’t really matter. Far more important, more disturbing, and more dangerous are Mitt’s comments both from his overseas foray and from the fundraiser about peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

While in Israel, Romney did the only thing he knows how to do when it comes to foreign policy and cozied up to Benjamin Netanyahu. Perhaps the only person who wants to bomb Iran more than Netanyahu is Mitt Romney. Romney spent time lecturing about the inferiority of Palestinian culture when compared to Israel, and stated that if it weren’t for the fact that they were just so darned lazy and inferior, the Palestinians would have built themselves a thriving economic state, this despite the fact that there is no Palestinian state, and that the Palestinian territory has no access to a port or even a working airport, not to mention that even overland access to the West Bank is controlled by Israel. Yet despite all of that, Palestinian leadership has done a remarkable job of building a 21^st century economy with the limited resources at their disposal. Perhaps Mitt Romney thinks that Palestinians are like 47% of Americans – dependent. Except that Palestinians are dependent. They depend on Israel for access to ways to receive imports and ship exports.

Romney’s comments were offensive and untrue, and implied that he didn’t think the Palestinians were capable of much. But we no longer have to rely on Romney’s implicit meaning because at the fundraiser we were treated to his explicitly asinine thinking on the Middle East peace process: that it isn’t possible.

The best we can do says the man who wants to lead: is to just hope for the best. There is no hope for peace. At best we punt, we kick the can, and we hope that those culturally inferior Palestinians don’t cause too much trouble for our war-mongering friend Bibi Netanyahu. This is leadership?

This is about the most dangerous attitude one can take towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is dangerous for Israelis, it is dangerous for Palestinians, and it is dangerous for Americans. Romney thinks a two-state solution is the dumbest idea in the world, so perhaps he prefers an apartheid state in which a minority Jewish Israeli population controls by force a majority Palestinian population who are denied the right to self government. Perhaps Mitt Romney thinks that if that happens those culturally inferior Palestinians will just fall into place and live happily as second-class citizens instead of fighting for the right to self-govern. Strange isn’t it, that Mitt Romney supports American values such as free speech when American embassies are attacked, but won’t support the right of people to govern themselves. I’m reminded of 1919 when Ho Chi Minh showed up at Versailles begging for self-governance for what was then French Indo-China. Rebuffed he went back to Vietnam and the rest, as they say, is history.

But Republicans have shown themselves to be poor students of history and Mitt Romney is no different. 1919 was almost a century ago, the Vietnam War is now almost half a century ago, but our conflicts with the Arab and Muslim world are ongoing. If Republicans can’t learn from the past, we can at least expect them to learn from the present, right? Wrong.

A two state solution for Israel and a future Palestine will not lead to the immediate cessation of all violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Neither will it lead to the end of the absurd Holocaust denial and anti-Israeli rhetoric from the Ayatollahs in Iran. Nor will it solve all of the problems spawned from the violent creation of Israel in 1948. But a Palestinian state would be a significant step in the right direction. It would allow Palestinians to channel their energy towards building their state. It would help undermine the myth that America is anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian, thus depriving violent jihadist of some of their propaganda. If a stable and democratic Iraq is a linchpin of stability in the Middle East, is the same not true of a stable and democratic Palestine?

Peace is possible, and it is important. It is important for the stability of the Middle East and it is important for the security of America. We all know the process won’t be easy or short. It has already proven to be neither. But when Mitt Romney claims to stand up for American values but denies Palestinians the right to self-government he exposes himself as a hypocrite. When he claims to be a leader, but admits that there is no solution to a tough and important issue he exposes himself as spineless and fearful.

It is no secret that Mitt Romney is not what America needs. Now we know that Mitt Romney is not the leader the world needs. As the world’s premier power, America should be at the forefront of solving the world’s problems. Not hiding timidly and abdicating responsibility because there are no solutions and the best we can do is hope.