Footnote to the preceding

Hard on the heels of my update to the preceding post comes news from AP that

Palestinian militants blew up an Israeli army base at the Gaza-Egypt crossing Sunday by sneaking more than a ton of explosives through a tunnel, killing four Israeli soldiers and wounding at least 10 - the largest Palestinian attack in the month since Yasser Arafat's death.

Although the target of the attack clearly was a military one, still the blast will be, already has been, labeled an act of "terrorism," apparently on the basis that any attack against Israelis, even Israeli military forces, is terrorism.

This broadening and cheapening of the meaning of the word "terrorism," which traditionally was applied only to attacks on civilians, serves politics, not peace. It's intent is to portray Israel always as the victim: Even in its role as an occupying military force, it is the victim. Just like colonial empires of the past used to refer to the indigenous resistance as "ungrateful savages," so now the resistance to occupation is comprised of "terrorists," no matter the target. Different words, same purpose.

I will hasten to point out that I am not saying that Palestinians have not committed terrorism against Israelis. (And what I'm saying here does not, by the way, mean I approve of attacks on soldiers, either. Rather, I disapprove of the perversion of language for political ends.) I have here criticized terrorism and attacks on Israeli civilians more than once. (And, on a related issue, have noted evidence of anti-Semitism in Canada, the UK, and France.)

At the same time, I make no apologies for focusing more attention on Israel for two good reasons: One, that is the side my government supports, so that is the side for which I feel more responsible. Two and more importantly, it is my conviction that whatever may have been true in the past, for the past decade the major roadblock to peace has not been the Palestinians but Israel, so wrapped up now in a militarist notion of "security," with leaders so in thrall to the idea of a "greater Israel," that every concession offered has been met with demands for more.

That is a course on which Israel cannot continue indefinitely. For the sake of justice, for the sake of honor, for the sake of its own true long-term security, Israeli policy must change.