When my generation was growing up after World War II, the concept of right and wrong in international affairs seemed easier. We were not far removed from the war, and we knew who the enemy was. At least we thought so. In Europe, the United States was good. The USSR was good initially as an ally but had become bad over the dividing up of the defeated Germany. They had been good until the end of the war but had replaced the Germans as the enemy of world peace.

You may remember that the villains in post-war pro wrestling had been guys like Fritz von Erik. After some years the shifting post war sands led to the emergence of wrestling characters like Ivan Kalmikoff as “heels” as they are called in the squared circle. You can learn a lot watching wrestling.

In my school years the Middle East situation presented to us was that the newly minted state of Israel was “good.” They were sort of like us. Anyone against them was bad. That was okay for a few decades. In the “Seven Days War” we were all for Israel. They wore the white hats. There was at the time a thriving Jewish community in St. John’s.

Today, there are several troubling notions that are presenting themselves as the world evolves and becomes more complicated. Troubling at least for older people like me because there are certain questions being asked. In the horrible and ongoing and bloody conflict in Gaza the question arises about right and wrong.

Where is there a road to peace and who really wants it? Ten years ago, I would have supported Israel without question; Today? I don’t know. It is a complex situation.

Gaza is a narrow strip of land used as a refuge for the Palestinians since 1949. Egypt did the administration first. I say narrow but two million people live there. It is one of two Palestinian territories. The other is known as The West Bank.

Now in the middle of all this is HAMAS. It is the government of Gaza but is seen by many nations as a terrorist organization. An HAMAS attack in the fall left more than a thousand people dead. An enraged Israel retaliated. Here is the problem. Everyone in Gaza isn’t HAMAS and thousands of innocent people in this conflict have died. Women have died. Children have died. Now there have been demonstrations in North America on behalf of BOTH sides. In St. John’s recently a Palestinian Action Group was named Grand Marshall for the Pride Parade. That group: was calling for a cease-fire in GAZA and ended up at the head of the Pride Parade. That complicates things.

Where is peace? There have been calls all over the place for a cease-fire. It is an elusive target. In Israel and around the world there are political issues involved. How do you pressure Israel to accept a cease-fire in an American election year? The importance of the Jewish vote is not to be underestimated.

Meanwhile, people continue to die. People are displaced and the sound of ambulances continues to wail in the middle east. A friend of mine said to me with some resignation to not get my hopes up for peace. He said people have been fighting back and forth the sands of that part of the world for about four THOUSAND years.

It leads you to wonder if the desire for peace is universal at all. It even gives rise to a dark thought about conflict that it might be part of our nature. I hope that is not so.

You can contact Jim Furlong at [email protected]