3 December 2012 Sympathy for… “Hung around St. Petersburg till I saw it was time for change…” Cassi Creek: The lyric is easily recognized by most Americans of my age. I associate it strongly, very, very, strongly, with an area of former South VietNam named III Corps by the U.S. Army. The area contains areas on the old topographic maps referred to as “the Parrot’s Beak” and “the Fish Hook.” Both are segments of the border between S. VietNam and Cambodia. Borders in that part of the world, at that time, were less precise than those on our topographic maps today. The maps of South East Asia were originally laid out and surveyed by French colonial agencies. When the U.S. utilized these maps, we assumed an inherent inaccuracy that approached 5 Kilometers distance in many areas of operation. Five klicks may not sound like much distance when compared to the large distances that define and delineate nations. But 5 klicks can be a disastrous distance to cover when the gap between accurate and inaccurate controls troop movements and artillery and tactical air support. Those lines on paper that define borders can be lethal. The borders that define modern Israel are such borders. The borders at the 1948 cease-fire were untenable. Parts of the new Israel were so narrow that large bore artillery could literally fire across the entire nation. When the 1967 war broke out, Israel pushed back on those regions in order to gain a wider segment of land. It was only after Syria and Jordan entered the war against Israel that the IDF captured the Golan Heights and the West Bank. At the cessation of hostilities, the central portion of Israel was a much more defensible area on the maps and in reality. However, all the infrequent negotiations for “peace” with the would-be-Palestinians call for Israel to surrender lands it captured in battle and to return to a nation defined by the pre-1967 borders. In 1947, following the Holocaust, there was sufficient guilt, sympathy, and anti-Semitism to cause the infant United Nations to call for the creation of two nations in the former British Palestinian Mandate. Israel accepted the decision and began building a modern state while simultaneously bringing in Jews from all over the world to become citizens of Israel. And, while simultaneously fighting a war for its very survival against enemies that intended to complete the Holocaust. The world made little further effort to protect the new state of Israel. But since the Jews were outnumbered and outgunned, there was some cheering when they managed to survive. There was less cheering when they fought well in the 1956 Suez War. There was amazement followed by demands for an Israeli pullback in 1967. The 1973 and 1982 wars found Israel to have become regarded by most of the world’s nations as an aggressor nation, a condition amplified by the most recent battles with Hamas and its Iranian supplied rocket arsenal. The sympathy for the “underdog Jews” that led to the creation of Israel is no longer apparent. The UN’s Muslim nation’s bloc and the still evident European anti-Semitism have created a worldview of Israel as a military force that is undeserving of support when it tries to defend its borders and its citizens. No longer are the underdogs, the Israelis expected to allow Hamas and Hezbollah to fire thousands of rockets at civilian populations while engaging in no retribution or reprisal. Along no other borders in the modern world are such demands made of a nation that seeks only to defend itself.

3 December 2012    Sympathy for…

          “Hung around St. Petersburg till I saw it was time for change…”

Cassi Creek:

          The lyric is easily recognized by most Americans of my age.  I associate it strongly, very, very, strongly, with an area of former South VietNam named III Corps by the U.S. Army.  The area contains areas on the old topographic maps referred to as “the Parrot’s Beak” and “the Fish Hook.”  Both are segments of the border between S. VietNam and Cambodia.  Borders in that part of the world, at that time, were less precise than those on our topographic maps today.

          The maps of South East Asia were originally laid out and surveyed by French colonial agencies. When the U.S. utilized these maps, we assumed an inherent inaccuracy that approached 5 Kilometers distance in many areas of operation.  Five klicks may not sound like much distance when compared to the large distances that define and delineate nations.  But 5 klicks can be a disastrous distance to cover when the gap between accurate and inaccurate controls troop movements and artillery and tactical air support. 

          Those lines on paper that define borders can be lethal.  The borders that define modern Israel are such borders.  The borders at the 1948 cease-fire were untenable.  Parts of the new Israel were so narrow that large bore artillery could literally fire across the entire nation.  When the 1967 war broke out, Israel pushed back on those regions in order to gain a wider segment of land.  It was only after Syria and Jordan entered the war against Israel that the IDF captured the Golan Heights and the West Bank.  At the cessation of hostilities, the central portion of Israel was a much more defensible area on the maps and in reality.  However, all the infrequent negotiations for “peace” with the would-be-Palestinians call for Israel to surrender lands it captured in battle and to return to a nation defined by the pre-1967 borders. 

          In 1947, following the Holocaust, there was sufficient guilt, sympathy, and anti-Semitism to cause the infant United Nations to call for the creation of two nations in the former British Palestinian Mandate.  Israel accepted the decision and began building a modern state while simultaneously bringing in Jews from all over the world to become citizens of Israel. And, while simultaneously fighting a war for its very survival against enemies that intended to complete the Holocaust.  The world made little further effort to protect the new state of Israel.  But since the Jews were outnumbered and outgunned, there was some cheering when they managed to survive.  There was less cheering when they fought well in the 1956 Suez War.  There was amazement followed by demands for an Israeli pullback in 1967.  The 1973 and 1982 wars found Israel to have become regarded by most of the world’s nations as an aggressor nation, a condition amplified by the most recent battles with Hamas and its Iranian supplied rocket arsenal. 

          The sympathy for the “underdog Jews” that led to the creation of Israel is no longer apparent.  The UN’s Muslim nation’s bloc and the still evident European anti-Semitism have created a worldview of Israel as a military force that is undeserving of support when it tries to defend its borders and its citizens.  No longer are the underdogs, the Israelis expected to allow Hamas and Hezbollah to fire thousands of rockets at civilian populations while engaging in no retribution or reprisal.  Along no other borders in the modern world are such demands made of a nation that seeks only to defend itself.