Israel, Palestine and Just War Theory

Walzer has just published another essay, this one he co-wrote and appeared in the NY Review of Books. In it he and his co-author directly address the work of Israeli pundits that places an emphasis on saving the lives of Israeli soldiers at the expense of Palestinian civilians.

This is the natural, logical conclusion of the "anti-war" message of support the troops - bring them home. That is, fearless reader, that the real reason we want to end a war is to protect the lives of our own. This line of thinking directly feeds into and off of the "othering" philosophy and behavior that plays out especially during wartime. We keep meticulous records of the several thousand US war dead, but the numbers of Iraqi and Afghani casualties is almost never recorded or talked about. They remain part of a large mass of others out there who all hate us and threaten us and would do us harm if only given the chance.

So, the West has been busy building weapons systems that leave "friendly" soldiers out of the line of fire. There was a recent report on Democracy Now! about the Predator drones in Afghanistan that are piloted from Nevada. We have created the capability of killing without threat of being killed, and without even really having to confront the reality of one's actions. The line between soldier and civilian is getting murkier.

And so, the Israeli authors argued that in order to save Israeli (soldier) lives, it was justified to use massive force in the form of artillery to destroy buildings in which terrorists were holed up, never mind the fact that many civilians might be living in said buildings.

Clearly, the massive inhumanity of the wars of the 20th century has affected us, but it appears that we have lost the sense that war, in itself, was responsible for the inhumanity of millions killed. Now, it appears, war is back in fashion, as long as the only ones dying are the "others". Given the massive technological advantages that the West has, and the process of "othering", I'm not surprised that terrorism has grown. The question, as always, is how to get people to stop the cycle of "othering" that leads to the dehumanization that justifies or excuses the violence?