The Anger of Compassion

Michael Hurd on Peace in the Middle East

Michael J. Hurd, PhD on "Why Peace So Eludes the Middle East:

So here's why we never see peace in the Middle East: because appeasement doesn't work. The occasional outbursts of self-defense by Israel do something, for a time; but in the end we're back to the same old pretense that avowedly terrorist groups like Hezbollah are really no different in stature from, say, Israel and the United States--two nations whose governments actually do quite a lot to protect the individual rights of real human beings. Hezbollah, on the other hand, is nothing more than a very dangerous gang of thugs who delight in blowing up anyone who disagrees with their primitive religious beliefs and customs.

In short: you do not achieve peace by pretending that the openly violent really want peace. They don't. The only solution is to give them what they want, not once or twice every couple of years--but totally and consistently, until they either surrender or, better yet, disappear from the planet altogether.