World--Please Note: Israel Is Not A Pobble

"It's a fact the whole world knows,
That Pobbles are happier without their toes!"
'The Pobble Who Has No Toes' Edward Lear

George Orwell has an essay on "Nonsense Poetry" where, on the above poem by Edward Lear, he comments:

While the Pobble was in the water some unidentified creatures came and ate his toes off, and when he got home his aunt remarked:

"It's a fact the whole world knows,
That Pobbles are happier without their toes,"

which once again is funny because it has a meaning, and one might even say a political significance. For the whole theory of authoritarian governments is summed up in the statement that Pobbles were happier without their toes.

Of no one is as authoritarian as when its interests--and safety--are perceived to be at risk. And when there is a malleable, dependent, country that can be manipulated to serve one's interests--you can find all kinds of reasons and excuses to remove their toes. Then, that country will be better off and the world will be a better place.

That of course is where Israel comes in. After all, Israel--we are told--cannot keep Gaza and the West Bank, especially in this day and age when territory is not a buffer against attack. More importantly, disengaging from it is a step that will enable the Palestinian Arabs to have their own country, a step towards peace.

Now, of course with Gaza under their belt, Hamas is that much closer with rockets--remember: Israel fires artillery; Hamas launches rockets--to other cities in Israel. With the closer proximity of Hamas and the improved range of the artillery that Hamas is firing into Israel's cities the terrorists expect that the Israel will be encouraged, with the West's encouragement, to lop off some more toes.

The media is full of pobble experts. One of them is Fareed Zakaria who writes in Newsweek that:

the great obstacle to progress in the Middle East is no longer Israeli intentions but rather Palestinian capabilities. The big story that no one wants to admit yet is that the Palestinian Authority has collapsed, Gaza has turned into a failed state and there is no single Palestinian political organization that could create order in the territories and negotiate with Israel. Palestinian dysfunction is now the main limiting factor on any progress in the peace process.

But don't get Zakaria wrong. Any focus on the Palestinians is merely in order to better (1) put the brunt of responsibility more squarely on Israel:

If the United States and the international community are looking to push along the peace process, the urgent need is to build Palestinian governing capability. Without that, Israeli intentions do not matter. If the Palestinians can get their act together, the spotlight will inevitably shift to the Israelis...

Then, when the world can once again turn its attention to Israel, (2) some more toes can be lopped off:

...And then the United States should urge Israel to continue in the direction that Ariel Sharon has pointed toward, separating itself from the Palestinian population in a process that inevitably will result in a Palestinian state on more than 90 percent of the territories captured in the 1967 war. A sense that this is what Sharon would have done eventually will be essential in moving to that settlement.

The world is becoming more and more Orwellian every day.

Mr. Zakaria leaves out the part how Israel will then be secure and be able to live in peace. He wrties about "progress in the Middle East" and "the peace process"--but no mention that Israel will have security or that Israel will live in peace. Which is just as well, since that is not the goal anyway. When the world talks about 'peace' and 'Israel' in the same sentence, they mean peace as in 'peace and quiet'--and the ends justify the means.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Orwell.