Even the sophisticated pro-Israeli appologists are coming out the closet a little bit more than usual these days, wringing their hands and wondering out loud just what the future holds if the dangerously simplistic and extraordinalry militarist policies and attitudes rampant in both the U.S. and Israeli continue unchecked. Extreme, nearly fundamentalist Christian and Jewish right-wingers are in control at the moment in both Washington and Jerusalem; and the damage they are doing to the very fabric of international society is so severe that it will not be easily repairable even if they are forced from power down the frightfully dangerous road they have forced all of us to travel.

"The United States unwillingness over decades to take an even handed attitude towards all sides in the Middle East has 'blown back' in a massive fashion with the attacks on September 11th..."

Graham E. Fuller is a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA and he believes that the Israeli-Palestinian situation has moved into what can only be described as a stage of collective madness. And Washington is walking right down that same path, apparently unaware of or unconcerned about the abyss yawning ahead. Fuller argues that two basic schools of thought exist. One says: Unacceptable terrorism is running rampant in Israel and nothing can be done until the terror is brought under control or eliminated. The other view says: The core of the problem is 35 years of harsh and humiliating occupation. Ending the occupation is the sole means of beginning to attain peace.

It is true that Israel's 'European history' leaves little room for trusting those who have openly advocated the destruction of the Jewish people for much of the last 54 years and the fact that the racist Islamic Jihad movement represents a ground swell of ordinary Muslim opinion adds further to Israel's unease. Osama Bin-Laden's movement has established close contacts with right wing and anti-Semitic groups in Europe and there is a long history of German scientists helping Egypt build missiles capable of reaching Jerusalem & Haifa. Israel will not forget the presence of ex-Nazi security personnel in Arab countries or the help East Germany's Statsi secret police gave to both Syria and Iraq.

However, the Arab peoples can list the Israeli Irgun extremist group's terror tactics in 1948, Israel's collusion with both Britain and France in 1956 during the Suez campaign, the invasion and seizure of Arab lands in 1967, the invasion of the Lebanon in 1982 and the slaughter of Palestinian civilians by Israel's allies in the refugee camps of Beirut, the rise to power of wanted terrorists such as Menaghim Begin or those accused even by other Israelis of war crimes like Ariel Sharon. But most of all the humiliation of seeing Israel continually flout United Nations resolutions over illegal settlements and 35 years of military occupation.

However, Israel is a small country and rightly unwilling to take this steady drain on its population, unfortunately all its actions so far merely ensure that future generations of Israeli's will continue to face ever growing levels of Arab hostility.