in case it isn't obvious to you, philistine is the old form of the word palestinian, and gaza was one of their cities in biblical times too.
the book of judges makes it the site of a temple where blinded samson played (for keeps) to a crowd of 3000 assembled to witness a huge sacrifice but who unexpectedly got sacrificed when samson brought the house down in his final performance, giving john milton an image, aldous huxley a novel title, and me a headline.
unintended consequences may or may not also be the theme of the latest gaza news. certainly the kidnappers couldn't have picked a victim more likely to provoke an all-out reaction than the soldier they grabbed. israel's pr agency made sure the world got a good media look at his angelic smiling boy scout face.
that may be the only part they got right: forcing thousands of innocent folk out of their homes and cutting off water and electricity is not good pr. not for israel. it's great for hamas.
all, of course, results from sharon's bush-supported (if not bush-prodded) decision to pull out of gaza unilaterally rather than negotiating the withdrawal, which would've strengthened abbas's hand instead of hamas's.
7 hours ago
I give you credit for writing about this. The msm silence is deafening. The accounts I see are so slanted they are preposterous. When one side detains an armed enemy soldier it is kipnapping, and when the other kidnaps the opposition's entire parliament it is an arrest or detention.
ReplyDeleteThe only credible solution is to enforce a one state solution where one adult gets one vote in a representative democracy, and to give fair market value compensation to victims of armed land grabs. Call the state whatever you want, I don't care. Maybe if the US cut out it's financial and military 'support' this would happen naturally.
I had no idea about the Huxley novel - I'll have to check it out because I loved "Brave New World."