Israel's Next War?

This time it will not be against Arabs, but against right-wing Zionists who want, and totally believe in, a purely Jewish state. This is what "Israel's Next War?", a documentary aired on PBS tonight, suggests. In this film, the ideologies of right-wing Zionist groups in the colonies (referred to in the media as settlements) are presented. The threat of those ideologies to the Middle East peace process in general, and Ariel Sharon's withdrawal plan from the occupied Gaza strip in particular, is also highlighted.

So, after all extremists exist on both sides. That's one of the not very well known facts stated by this film. Watching the interviews with several Kahanists, it's difficult not to ask: What's the difference between today's extremists and the members of the Haganah and the Argon more than fifty years ago? Those so-called extremists were brought to Palestinian occupied land, given government subsidized housing on illegal colonies, and were told that this land was given to them thousands of years ago by God, so how come they are wrong?

Yeah, maybe a secular movement is growing in Israel, but isn't Israel, by definition, the homeland of the Jews? So maybe non-Jews should just go somewhere else? But wait a minute, does this include Israeli secularists? How about Israeli Arabs, who are expected to outnumber the Jews in a few decades? So the Israeli democracy - the only one in the Middle East as we always hear in American democratic preaching - will result in a Jewish minority in the Jewish state?

Lots and lots of questions that need to be answered if we are really looking for peace. I'm not sure about the only democracy thing, but I'm sure Israel is the biggest Paradox in the Middle East, and unfortunately it was a paradox by design.