So a couple of hours ago, I set out to figure out this Israeli-Palestinian debate bullshit. Not surprisingly, I'm not there yet.

What sparked this quest for knowledge was reading this editorial by William Safire. Safire's an idiot. I read his colums from time to time partly to get a different perspective on things, and partly just to get pissed. I found myself agreeing with a lot of what he said, but the one-sidedness of the article reaffirmed my distaste for this guy.

I originally started a rant on how Safire's column was just indicitave of theis country's continual, unflagging support of white people, but it really wasn't going anywhere. As such, I decided to just go back to the roots of this train of thought, and focus on the Middle East.

Several days ago, I asserted that I'm pissed off at the Administration because it isn't doing enough to push the Middle East peace process forward. My reasoning was that the U.S. could wield its influence and actually bring about progress if it so desired.

The more and more I look at things, I think maybe we should stay out of things. When it comes to dealings in the Mid East, we don't exactly have street cred. The reason why is because we've always been William Safire - continually supporting the Jewish position while condemning the Palestinian position. Our condemnation may not be explicit, but implicit in things like delaying the unveiling of the roadmap at Ariel Sharon's behest. This, of course, isn't a new theme. Take for instance the three decades worth of Mid East peace-related vetoes by the U.S. in the U.N. security council, many of which were not exactly pro-Israel. Three fucking decades, dozens of vetoes, where we were the lone dissenter. And we have the gall to get pissed at France for one threatened veto?

I suppose my original stance holds, though, that the U.S. could do some good. It could do some good, as I said, by giving Sharon's government some "tough love". For once, don't take the side of the white people. More importantly, show the Arab world that we aren't continually on the side that they aren't. The problem is, this won't happen. From the moment Israel declared statehood in 1948, we have been on their side, and their side only.

The more and more I think about it, and the more and more I try and pick a side, the more and more I realize that picking a side is the whole fucking problem. This situation is such a mess that I don't know if it matters who is right or who is wrong. Just like with internet file sharing, everyone is wrong. Somebody just needs to stand up and say that this is fucked up, and start making some concessions.

The problem is that I know this is oversimplifying things. Sharon said a couple of weeks ago that he had finally realized that it was soon going to be time to make some "painful" concessions. That'd be great, if he actually followed through. The problem is, if Sharon's government started to yield, that would just piss off a lot of Jews. So, in the end, no one is happy. I don't know if you can even make enough people happy to make it worthwhile.

Okay, clearly, I don't know shit about shit, and this rant is unravelling just like the original U.S. and white people vs. the world entry that I deleted. But, dammit, at least I'm trying.