True Colors

So, Gaza has been evacuated. Some 8,000 religious and nationalist fanatics (not a word I use lightly, or often) have been removed from the midst of around 1.3 million people whose lives were essentially destroyed for the convenience of the eight thousand. Not only didn't the settlers see the obvious sense of the move, they abused and sometimes attacked the soldiers sent to make sure they left on schedule, and unharmed. The same soldiers who had assisted and supported the setttlers for decades, against all standards of justice and decency, sometimes at the cost of their lives, and certainly at the risk of their souls. At the few settlements near Jenin that were also removed, similar scenes took place. The explanation is extremely simple; while the settlers got everything they wanted at the cost of everyone but themselves, they were only mildly savage when in the public eye. Now, finally, their true colors have begun to show...in public, that is. The Palestinians learned early, and in great pain, just who their neighbors were.

Of course, if you turn over many rocks in Israeli society, you will discover similarly nasty surprises. The question is, do you have the courage, and the integrity, to start turning?