I have to run for today...I look forward to continuing the discussion between the pragmatist(me) and the ideologue(you).
The above isn't pragmatic. It ignores the very real impacts that dialogue has in framing the issue. Your comments that US attitudes won't change is also statistically incorrect, they have been changing over the years it just isn't close to a tipping point yet, as has the international response to such incursions. I find your "pragmatism" to be a little lopsided because it recognizes the power of Israeli PR and propaganda but completely ignores the concept of PR and propaganda from Palestinian factions and completely ignores international pressures, not only on Israel, but on the US as well. I'd also argue that it is in no way pragmatic to lump all Palestinian factions together or to ignore the evolution of insurgency and the threat of a third intifada as the Abbas administration gets further undermined by violence in Gaza. That's just an excuse to avoid talking about issues that you might not be as well versed in.
finally your final line rather ignores the entire history of modern conflict resolution. That's not the way it works so leaning on that isn't very "pragmatic".
You're suggesting my joke wasn't pragmatic? I see.
The rest, however, was. The Palestinian PR machine has been in high gear for several years now. It really hasn't gone anywhere important. Israel has kept it's PR machine at the lobbying level. They certainly have the capacity to ratchet it up whenever they desire for the American public. And let's face it, they can easily use examples like the idiot Hamas spokesperson and the Hamas charter to blow all the concepts out of proportion. This is why the Palestinians and their vitriolic language will fail. They need to decide whether to use PR or force. They are unable to use both at once because of the nature of how they drum up supporters to blow themselves up.
1.) Polling data in the US over time would indicate otherwise.
2.) I agree that Hamas hurts the Palestinian PR effort greatly.
3.) Education isn't as easy to push and it takes longer / more involvement, but it can also be used to defeat propaganda. The Israeli PR machine rather depends on a largely ignorant US public.
This one in particular is important. It should have caused a dramatic shift, and it would have except for groups like Hamas and people like Arafat. This is why it will also continue to fail.
For the first part of the sentence: I don't think so, it has been a slow shift and hasn't reached that tipping point yet. Operation Protective Edge helps though.
For the last part: It will only fail in the absence of educational levels of the conflict. like I said, the Hamas / Arafat angles only really work as propaganda against those unfamiliar with the details of the conflict. So in that area, time is not an ally of Israel.
The reason I disagree with this is that the level of education required to get beyond this is far too great for the American public to care enough about. People in the US tend to prefer to look at the simpler solution, and I'm not saying that particularly rudely. It's the same reason rights are being diminished slowly. The discussion of how to stop it is formidable, and most assuredly more difficult than justifying it and going along with it. I admire your optimism, but I suspect it's not going to work out well.
I can agree to some extent. It really depends on the narrative that our media chooses to push, though the phenomenon you are describing is why I stopped listen to our TV media in the first place. What i did see this time compared to Operation Cast Lead is much more condemnation of Israel 9though I didn't watch things like Fox News) and much more speaking out against the operation on social media. all despite the fact that Operation Cast Lead contained (most likely) way more potential war crimes and human rights abuses. So that's something.
Part of your problem is you don't watch enough fair and balanced Fox. I wasn't really aware until last night how much effort Israel was putting into propaganda. There were some wild advertisements vilifying Hamas...who I don't really see in as bad a light as many others...and asking for your support via a website called "stophamasnow.com". I haven't worked up the interest yet to check it out, but they were pretty much on every 5-10 minutes. I have MSNBC on now, because I want to see if it's mass advertising.
Well, and the 2012 ceasefire. But I also don't see economic opportunity as something that is going to improve things here for a couple of reasons (despite the fact that I usually love this track to conflict resolution):
1.) The ultra-Orthodox will prioritize occupation over economic growth. This is inherent to their social structure. And as long as such Orthodox parties are kingmaker parties within Israeli governmental coalitions then they will be able to block peace plan progress as they have in the past regardless of what the majority of Israelis want.
2.) Israel doesn't really need Palestine economically, it can (and has in some cases) simply push Palestinians out of the market and appropriate desired economic territory for itself through settlement expansion.
If Palestine...and by that I really mean Gaza...can avoid sending rockets over, and stop doing the stupid stuff like building tunnels to kidnap and kill, then Israel's militant stance becomes immeasurably more difficult. Honestly, if necessary, Perhaps the final solution would be to cut Gaza loose, and have the rest of the Palestinians say they want nothing to do with them. I'm not sure how well that would work because Israel would scream about it, but the threat may diminish the popularity of the various militant groups there, and possibly force Hamas out of power. As I mentioned, I don't find Hamas itself all that bad, but they are inextricably tied to the militants, whether it's fair or not.