Israel policy just makes me cranky!

This whole Israel-Palestine thing just makes me cranky! Not because war is wrong. (It is.) Not because I'm a Muslim or an Atheist. (I'm not.) No, it's because I'm disgusted with the justifications people give in support of the Israelis. It's because of the sheer hypocrisy of US government support of Israel.

Every day I read of more actions that I can't believe we support (or don't condemn) by the Israelis in the news. I read Letters to the Editor in my local paper by people outraged by even the slightest of defenses of the Palestinians. Hell, even someone expressing sympathy for those killed on the Palestinian side gets attacked.

Once upon a time (to my shame), I agreed with them. I thought since it was the land of David and Solomon and Christ, then it obviously belonged to the Jews. (After all the sufferings they've lived through - the Inquistion, the Holocaust - didn't they deserve their own homeland?) The Palestinians could move. The Arabs, the Muslims have so much land -- they could spare some. Right?

But that's wrong (and just plain shameful, on my part). The Palestinians - if they're descended from the Canaanites - it's their home. Moses sent Aaron in to oust the non-believers (if I remember my Bible correctly). If the Jews have a true origin place, it's in Iraq. (Abraham, the great Patriarch, was from Ur.)

But it goes so much farther than whose rightful place it is. After all, how many of us live in our ancestral homeland? I live in eastern Washington State, near the confluence of the Columbia and Snake Rivers. 

If I lived in my ancestral homeland, I'd not be here. I'd be in Northern Europe, probably Holland.

No, it needs to go beyond ancestry and religion. It's about morality and the hypocrisy of how we treat Palestine and Israel. Ask yourself, it were any other two countries, if the crisis were not in the Holy Land, would we have the same policy? Would the US consistently walk out of discussions on Palestinian human rights at the UN? Would we continually support policies of (and sell equipment to) Israel knowing what is happening?

If it is unconstitutional to say a prayer in public schools, to place a cross on public land, and other conflations of religion into government, why is it acceptable (or even constitutional) to have an entire foreign policy based on religion?

I admit I have no solution to the Middle East. But I do think we need to have a proper discussion. And I do have some suggestions for the United States: We need to become a truly objective player. We need to stop giving aid (to either side) except for humanitarian. We need to base our foreign policy on democratic principles and human rights. We need to start judging Israel by the same standards as we do for any other global country. 

In short, we need to be faithful to the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.