Greetings:

I should point out that Amnesty International does hold all states accountable for human rights abuses, including the Arab states that Beardedbruce lists, and including Israel at times, and also oncluding the Palestine Authority, which may not be a state but sure knows all the bad habits of statehood.

My own point is not to weigh the abuses and injustices of each side against one another, but to say that peace and reconciliation cannot come until people are willing to look at and understand the abuses and injustices committed by their own side. Despite what some would claim, doing so doesn't make you disloyal, treacherous, self-hating, or neurotic. It simply makes you honest, and that's a good and necessary first step.

As I have said before, I am pessimistic. The scars by now run too deep, the positions have become too rigid, and there are just too many crazies out there ready, willing, and able to award what I call the Middle East Peace Prize to anyone who makes a move towards reconciliation. The Middle East Peace Prize is, of course, a few grams of hot lead. Previous recipients have included, among others, UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte, UN observer Andre Serot, Jordan's King Abdullah, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin. I doubt that they will be the last.

As the apocryphal old man in Jerusalem told me, "I feel like I'm talking to a fucking wall!"

--- Steve