I think this is pretty much what all the parties to Israeli/Palestinian conflict—including the U.S.—have tacitly (although never openly) decided. Because, as long as the war goes on, as long as no-one actually “wins,” then everybody on both sides can continue to think of themselves as “good” and “right” and “justified,” without having to actually CHANGE (i.e, make painful or humiliating or costly accommodations to reality). The price for this “virtuous continuity” is the endless bloodshed that somehow seems less awful than modifying or abandoning barbarous policies “sanctified” by religious assumptions. It’s inhumane and yet, so very human.
