Reply #2: How?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

To influence Israel and hence end the I/P conflict, the West simply has to do *less*.

I can't see any course of action short of deploying troops to the area that would end the second Congo war, and that would almost certainly make things worse, not better.

There are a few things - anti blood diamond campaigns leap to mind - that may help a bit, and there are *certainly* things like food and water aid that can ameliorate some of the symptoms - if you want to save the most lives per dollar with your charitable donation, access to clean water in Africa is probably the thing to spend it on (I think - possibly rehydration salts runs it close?). But I can't see anything the West can do that could end the conflict.

If I had a solution to the Congo conflict, I might well fight for it. But I don't, whereas how to solve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is heartbreakingly obvious.

That, I think, is what is unusual about the I/P conflict - not that it's the worst, or even close to the worst, but that it's the only conflict of its kind that the West could probably bring to an end.


(That's not why I post about it more than others on DU, incidentally - I do that because there are people here who disagree with me about it. The idea of "Fighting for the rights of Palestinians" (or for the rights of Israelis) on DU is laughable - all the posts on DU put together aren't worth a pitcherfull of warm piss, I suspect; if I believed that posting on DU achieved anything my posting habits would be radically different. But if you're talking about genuine effective protest (such as it exists), I think that the I/P conflict is a worthwhile use of time and effort (although not of money - that can be much better spent on aid to Africa) for the reasons I outline above).