Israel is in a classic colonizer’s paradox. It would like to put in place a political and security structure in the territories it occupies, that it can deal with on its terms. But for any political leaders and security forces to have any legitimacy in the eyes of the subject population, they must be willing to oppose the colonizer. As a result, the colonizing country always ends up destroying genuine homegrown leadership and is left with either a group of collaborationists with no credibility or an increasingly radicalized opposition –as each succeeding group of leaders is done away with. Yet Israel has persisted in replaying this paradox over and over again for decades. It has steadfastly refused to allow any distinct leadership to form in the Territories.

At the same time, it is unclear if the Territories ever could have been economically and politically viable on their own but it is evident today that they are basket cases and that their viability is now impossible. Beyond this are the demographics. Israel is effectively incarcerating a huge and growing fraction of the population that lives on the land it controls. It has been doing so for 40 years but at some point the apparatus of that prison system will become too expensive or too shameful to maintain and it will collapse. Pressures on this system will only increase with the worldwide economic downturn, the relative drying up of American aid, and the sheer number and wants of Israel’s subject population.

To escape the paradox, they cannot return to the same approaches they've used in the past as this merely escalates and ratchets up the cycle. It's the very definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

By turning it's back on international and Israeli law, the Geneva conventions and Hamas' calls for a peace settlement, Israel is showing the world it will not honor legal claims and will not be swayed by diplomacy; what does that leave?

The USA should stop sending them billions of dollars *and* fighter planes, tanks, missiles, bombs and other weapons to be used to further this insanity.

Israel is in a classic colonizer’s paradox. It would like to put in place a political and security structure in the territories it occupies, that it can deal with on its terms. But for any political leaders and security forces to have any legitimacy in the eyes of the subject population, they must be willing to oppose the colonizer. As a result, the colonizing country always ends up destroying genuine homegrown leadership and is left with either a group of collaborationists with no credibility or an increasingly radicalized opposition –as each succeeding group of leaders is done away with. Yet Israel has persisted in replaying this paradox over and over again for decades. It has steadfastly refused to allow any distinct leadership to form in the Territories.

At the same time, it is unclear if the Territories ever could have been economically and politically viable on their own but it is evident today that they are basket cases and that their viability is now impossible. Beyond this are the demographics. Israel is effectively incarcerating a huge and growing fraction of the population that lives on the land it controls. It has been doing so for 40 years but at some point the apparatus of that prison system will become too expensive or too shameful to maintain and it will collapse. Pressures on this system will only increase with the worldwide economic downturn, the relative drying up of American aid, and the sheer number and wants of Israel’s subject population.

To escape the paradox, they cannot return to the same approaches they've used in the past as this merely escalates and ratchets up the cycle. It's the very definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Israel is in a classic colonizer’s paradox. It would like to put in place a political and security structure in the territories it occupies, that it can deal with on its terms. But for any political leaders and security forces to have any legitimacy in the eyes of the subject population, they must be willing to oppose the colonizer. As a result, the colonizing country always ends up destroying genuine homegrown leadership and is left with either a group of collaborationists with no credibility or an increasingly radicalized opposition –as each succeeding group of leaders is done away with. Yet Israel has persisted in replaying this paradox over and over again for decades. It has steadfastly refused to allow any distinct leadership to form in the Territories.

At the same time, it is unclear if the Territories ever could have been economically and politically viable on their own but it is evident today that they are basket cases and that their viability is now impossible. Beyond this are the demographics. Israel is effectively incarcerating a huge and growing fraction of the population that lives on the land it controls. It has been doing so for 40 years but at some point the apparatus of that prison system will become too expensive or too shameful to maintain and it will collapse. Pressures on this system will only increase with the worldwide economic downturn, the relative drying up of American aid, and the sheer number and wants of Israel’s subject population.

To escape the paradox, they cannot return to the same approaches they've used in the past as this merely escalates and ratchets up the cycle. It's the very definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

By turning it's back on international and Israeli law, the Geneva conventions and Hamas' calls for a peace settlement, Israel is showing the world it will not honor legal claims and will not be swayed by diplomacy; what does that leave?

The USA should stop sending them billions of dollars *and* fighter planes, tanks, missiles, bombs and other weapons to be used to further this insanity.