Protesting

ACCORDING TO NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, normally reliable, all across America's fruited plain, at college campuses all over the country, protests are being held in opposition to the impending Israeli invasion of Palestine, and objecting in general to the harsh treatment of the Palestinians by not only the Israeli nation but by the rest of the world over the past seventy five years. Like most protestors, these young people have a point. And, like all protestors, so do those who disagree with them. NPR didn't specifically specify which college campuses have been the scene of these anti-war anti-Israeli aggressive policy protests, whether any of the are especially large or vociferous, or how many campuses did not host such events. Also, on the campuses with pro-Palestinian protests, presumably there have been pro-Israeli demonstrations as well, although this was neither confirmed nor denied on NPR. I vividly recall the anti Viet Nam War protests in the nineteen sixties and early nineteen seventies, and how strongly I supported them, although I was too young to either participate nor express my support of them to my parents, nor anyone else. My conservative, patriotic parents most likely would not have approved of my opposition to the Viet Nam War. During teh short war against Saddam Hussein I myself became an anti-war protestor for the first and only time, and was happy to have the opportunity, an opportunity I had secretly, quietly longed for most of my young life. It is simply impossible to closely analysize the Isralei-Palestinian problem thorougly without taking into consideration the horrible, unfair, miserable manner in which the Isralei nation was formally founded, for that remains the root of the current problem, and shall so remain, until remedied. Precisely how to remedy it is an altogether different matter. Perhaps Lebonon ould share in taking in Palestine refugees and contributing land to the establishment of a formal palestinian nation-state. It doesn't seem likely, of course. and even if a Palestinian "homeland", aka a separate, individual nation-state formally recognized by the wprld - if such an entity were to spring into existence on the ostensibly available land, what of it? What good would it do, if any? The population density of thea part of the world, the area of current Israeli and the Gaza strip, even including some part of Lebonon, would still be extreme, and poverty would still be widespread, especially among Gaza Palestinians. Much like Latin America, or certain parts of it, the eastern end of the Mediterranean is populated by a densely packed population, with much poverty. And, it goes without saying, the problem of human poverty, injustice, and inefficient allocation of available resources extends all across the globe, and is not confined to Palestine and Israel. It may be that eight billion beings are too many for peace and widespread equality and prosperity to adhere among the dominant species. To simply continue economic growth will solve nothing, without proper, reasonable, efficient systems of allocation and distribution. What seems to be required is what is considered pure anathema to mainstream, neo-liberal free market capitalists; planning and cooperation, individually, and internationally, heaven forbid.