Demanding an end to the cycle of violence

Paul Rogat Loeb of Seattle, author of "The Impossible Will Take a Little While" and "Soul of a Citizen," has penned a thought provoking commentary which is in today's Oregonian. It covers both the recent shooting at a Jewish center in Seattle and the ongoing Lebanese War being waged by Israel.

A short snippet:

It's tempting, particularly for those of us who are Jewish, to use this shooting as an excuse for supporting Israeli military escalation, and to blur the urgency of halting the bombs and shells falling on equally blameless civilians in Lebanon and Gaza. Haq eventually surrendered to police. But according to this logic we must teach a lesson to his compatriots -- those who continue to fire rockets and set off suicide bombs -- because terror will understand only the language of force.

Israel has followed this punitive approach again and again in the 40 years since it has occupied the West Bank. It's never brought security, only more anger. It isn't naive to suggest that Israel's massive attacks on Lebanon and Gaza will embitter a new generation.

Loeb speaks ultimate truth here. Time and again Israel has responded to terrorist provocations with overwhelming force and overwhelmingly lopsided violence. Not coincidentally the longest period of relative peace that the modern state of Israel has ever known came during a period of protracted diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful compromise between Israel and her neighbors, including the Palestinians, with both former President Clinton and the Norwegian government playing key facilitator roles. So when Loeb says that the punitive approach has never brought security... it is ultimate truth. The facts speak for themselves.

Undoubtedly Loeb will get labled an "anti-semite" by some for daring to challenge the bloodlust which is so popular right now. But I ask you, how is it being anti-semitic to advocate alternate choices which the historical facts would seem to indicate would result in less Israeli deaths than the continuing cycle of violence which the current choice will inevitably bring? Isn't it those crying out for more and more blood who are demonstrably anti-semitic? Their bloodlust will ensure that more, not less, innocent Jewish blood will be shed in the future.