First Gaza, then New Mexico?

With the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza continuing, I’ve been watching the Palestinian reaction. They’re not proclaiming it a great step towards peace, towards an end to decades of hostility and war and terror. No, they’re declaring victory, saying that they’ve defeated the Zionists and are reclaiming their homeland. They say this is but the first step, before they next take back the West Bank, then Jerusalem, then finally all of Palestine — which means the end of Israel, with all the Jews killed or “driven into the sea.”

This put me in mind of a similar situation, in the US Southwest. We have a determined group of people who want to “reclaim” their lands for their own ethnic group, reasserting their own dominance and taking it back from the government “occupiers.” Whether they call themselves “La Raza” or “MEChA” or “Free Aztlan,” their stated goals are much like the Palestinians.

And as we see Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Fatah and the rest all rejoice in their great victory, and we see the United States and the rest of the world applaud the same thing, can those groups I mentioned above help but be encouraged? Perhaps to even follow the Palestinians’ example and escalate to violence?

I hope not. God, I hope not. But as they say, nothing succeeds like success.

I'm on Hold
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12 Comments

  1. joe August 18, 2005
  2. Will Franklin August 18, 2005
  3. Laurence Simon August 18, 2005
  4. fatman August 18, 2005
  5. Leopold Stotch August 18, 2005
  6. -S- August 18, 2005
  7. -S- August 18, 2005
  8. NtvAmrcn August 19, 2005
  9. McGehee August 19, 2005
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  11. Aaron's cc: August 21, 2005