Lori Falce: Israel, Hamas and object lessons for America

The conflict between Israel and Hamas is not new.

The bombs falling and the hostage taking and the outright murder are this week’s problem, but the enmity is as old as the sands in this disputed land, despite Israel being just 75 years old and Hamas only 35.

Could we diagram the history of it? Could we timeline it, marking red X’s that say when one side did this and the other did that and try to tally them to find an answer? We could try, but it would probably only waste ink and lead to more fighting.

For all the serious repercussions and geopolitical intrigue, this is an issue that will never be solved. The wounds are too deep. There has been too much retaliation on both sides. The best that can be hoped for is balancing upon a knife’s edge that could at any moment slip and turn bloody.

At worst? The worst is how we get to most dystopian movie settings. Imagine the globe as the kind of bomb you see in cartoons, the kind shaped like a bowling ball with a ropy wick. Israel and Gaza are that fuse.

In the U.S., we should be watching and, more importantly, learning from the bloody horror show that has gone on since Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday.

American administrations have long advocated for a two-state solution for the embattled and embittered 8,000 square miles along the Mediterranean. There has to be a way for the two sides to live together — if not in peace, then at least in separate-­but-equal resignation. Much as that might be ideal, it seems like a fairy tale.

And that is why the bombs and blood and hostages must be a wake-up call to an ever more divided America. The country becomes further divided politically. Maps are sliced up along blue and red boundaries. We may not have a border as defined as the Gaza Strip, but it isn’t hard to envision — especially when politicians have already thrown around the idea of secession.

This is a time for Democrats and Republicans to set aside issues of winning and control. For the sake of what has become our role as a global leader in diplomacy and for selfish issues of our own national security, this is when we must decide that our allegiance is to nation over party.

We have done it before, like we did after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. We did it after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This is that time again.

The best resolution for Israel and Hamas is likely to be a return to simmering instability, and there are bound to be more bodies to be tallied along the way.

But as the U.S. House of Representatives works to change leadership this week and Congress and the White House have to work toward important issues like spending, immigration and security, what is happening half a world away should be an ever-present reminder of the consequences of looking at the opposition and seeing an enemy.