Mythbusting: A Question of Scale, Part 2

Problems with scale arrive when people make the following claim:

"The Palestinians have no money or resources, and those that they do have is regulated by Israel. Meanwhile, Israel has the fourth most powerful military in the world. Of course the Palestinians don't have a chance, so any violence is just because Israel is being so cruel to them! Israel has all the cards, therefore, they have all the responsibility to make peace!"

This point of view is understandable, but incorrect. The implication is that the Israelis are fighting the Palestinians in a vacuum, and that there is nothing in the world happening of significance outside of Israel's borders. Sometimes the poster is generous and points out that America finances Israel, while neglecting to mention Iran's supplying and arming Palestinian terror outfits. And of course, the other Arab nations go unmentioned.



This argument is meant to inspire sympathy for the Palestinians, but the truth is that the Palestinians are not fighting Israel alone, and both sides are very aware of it. Think about it for a second: If the Palestinians were really all alone against Israel, would they be delaying negotiations? Would they be making demands? Of course not, that would be an incredibly foolish choice for them to make. They have the entire Muslim world (for the most part )supporting them unquestioningly, and their Arab allies have a lock on the UN thanks to their oil. In fact, that "solitary victim" image gives the Palestinians even more sympathy and therefore political power, so they cultivate it as much as they can. So far it seems to be working.

On the other hand, Israel is concerned not only with being attacked from the West Bank and Gaza, but from Lebanon, Iran, Syria, and the many other Arab nations who are still technically at war with Israel. Even if they don't need to worry about military attack from Egypt and Jordan (among others), anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred spews from those nations on a daily and yearly basis. As much as I wish it weren't true, the eyes of Israel's enemies are constantly watching, and they could attack if they sense weakness. Hamas was sure that Israel didn't have the spine to fight in the fall of 2008, which is why they fired their rockets and mortars with such vigor.

The Palestinian supporters often claim that Israel is too hard on the Palestinians, and I think in many cases that is true. But those same commentators should also realize that it isn't just the Palestinians that Israel needs to worry about. The Palestinians can afford to only focus on Israel, but the reverse isn't true. Aaron David Miller wrote in his book "The Much Too Promised Land" about the vulnerable mindset that many Israelis have, and I think it's important that we recognize how their mindset affects their decisions. Understanding where both sides are coming from is key to making peace, after all.