Saturday, December 27, 2008

Settler Spirit

I was reading something last week which really put into perspective just why the US stands effectively behind everything the state of Israel does. It really should have been obvious to me on many occasions before. There is something inherent in the settler spirit that so defines the 'American' ideology, implicitly tied up with the American dream. It has deep roots with the arrival in a wild hostile land, and conflict with the indigenous people as somehow analogous with the struggle to survive natural obstacles. As the land is conquered, so are the 'natives'.

So then if we consider the birth of the American nation, we can see strong parallels with the creation of the Jewish state, with the native Americans replaced by what could loosely be described as the Palestinian people. Thus America really cannot be expected to question the legitimacy or validity of the Zionist dream, for it is a reflection of the very dream of the Americans themselves. America cannot question, cannot face the dissonance which would ensue, Israel, for such a question would be an enquiry as to their own right to exist as an entity.

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