Gambling or paying old debts?

I have been tardy lately with the weekly scan of the blogs I have blogrolled, what with this and that. Mainly it is this, but some undeniable elements of that could not be... er... denied.

So it is only today that I have read the post titled "In need of an intervention" by David/Treppenwitz. There is a lot I agree with in that article. Even with the title. It may be a good time to remind our newly created neighbors some rules of neighborly behavior.

However, there is a common thread to this post I have to argue with. And it is difficult to argue with Treppenwitz, especially when the playing field is his home one (English). Besides, SimplyJews are rarely using polite language, and this is one of the rare exceptions where politeness is called for.

Anyhow, this thread I have a problem with is gambling David is so much against. I am against gambling too, by the way - on general principles. However, this country with all its fair citizenry is a gamble from the word "go". Declaration of independence was a gamble, and we are already past celebrating the 58th. All our wars were gambles, each to its own degree. Etc., and most of the people who are not suited to it are not with us, but somewhere else, where gambling could be reduced to a relatively harmless loss of all your earthly belongings in a casino.

But the main gamble, the one we (our fathers and, in some cases, grandfathers, to be precise) took was one of 1967. The gamble of staying out there, where we do neither belong nor wanted. The gamble of not deciding to finalize the borders in a (painful, no doubts) round of negotiations, but hoping that it will somehow happen to be "beseder" (OK).

And as a result we have two (three) generations of people who are absolutely sure that it is ours, that these hills, stones, sparse grass and an occasional snake or scorpion of Judea and Samaria are a mandatory part of our national body and spirit. That it is permissible and even laudable to spill our blood and, (of course, surely) the blood of our cousins for each of these hills, stones and other pieces of this real estate.

David, you say:

Why is it that the Israeli government, whose strong suit has never been the ability to think strategically (meaning being able to plan more than 15 minutes into the future) ... is completely unaware that it has lost its legendary ability to think tactically (meaning being able to extricate itself from a jam in which most normal countries wouldn't be caught in the first place!)?

It is exactly that lack of strategic thinking in 1967 that brought us to the necessity to gamble today. Gambles of our fathers, so to say. By the way, I wouldn't blame our government for something all others share. Lack of strategic thinking, that is. This is something politicians all over the world and all over the history lack to the same degree, in my opinion.

But the main point I would like to make is not the outstanding (or not) qualities of our politicos. It is the great divide created by the aftermath of 1967 in our nation. It is more dangerous than anything else. If I have to make a choice between secure borders and united people... well, there is no choice for me, actually. United we stand, and for a divided nation there are no secure borders, only a countdown.

David,

You are saying quite a few bitter things, including some about the sickness of the people in the current government. I am not to be a judge of that. I am sure you have your reasons. But I seriously doubt they are sicker than other politicians we let to rule us before. I am also quite sure that you do not have enough to base this hasty judgment upon and that it reflects more of your current mood than what you really think.

P.S. To set the record straight and to save some breath to some people: I love these hills we are going to give back. I ate too much dust and other stuff there as a soldier to be indifferent to their fate.