Joe Duemer had some nice things to say about my my commentary on his blogservation with Mike Sanders. Also some good words on why he is not a warblogger, which I subscribe to enthusiastically.

Mike thanked me for writing and refuting his every statement and promised to spare us both the pain of his refuting my email point by point. Thank you, Mike.

Mike also added the following:

"However, I am disturbed by your implicit (and sometimes explicit) defense of terrorism and suicide bombings. I am not sure how you find peace and these types of activities compatible. Peace to me, means life. Suicide bombings means deaths of innocents and I think we have to be very careful not to condone this activity."

My efforts have been to first understand what is going on in Israel/Palestine and then to understand why. If there is one thing that I could point people to that would give them a visceral feel for what it means to live under Israeli occupation it would be Drinking the Sea at Gaza : Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege by Amira Haas. Also understand that it is much worse now.

It's easy for a comfortable American to say "Peace to me, means life." The Palestinians have no peace and no life. And, if Sharon and his Likud and settler buddies have their way, they *never* will. I can't say what I would do if I had to live under those conditions. I like to think, if there was only myself to think about, that I could survive. But I have children and grandchildren and to think that they had no hope of ever escaping the hell of Israeli occupation would be more that I would ever want to bear. I can't say what I would do. If I'm not sure what I would do under those conditions then I'm not one to judge those that are.

Trying to explain why someone would be a suicide bomber is not condoning it. It is merely explaining it. It is pointing out cause and effect. If you want to solve a problem you had best be dealing with the root cause. If you only want to deal with the symptoms, you will have to deal with them over and over and over again. We are watching the Palestinian people fighting a war for liberation. They aren't going to stop. The only way to win against a war for liberation is to kill every man, woman, and child, which is something Israel seems prepared to do.

As to your veiled threat "I think we have to be very careful not to condone this activity" — fuck you, Mike. Be disturbed.

The regularly scheduled blogging will resume shortly.