From the Imaginary Line to
the Imaginary Dome
By Dallas Darling
If wars first begin in the mind and with one’s imagination,
then so does peace and security. I was reminded of this when
President Barack Obama sent a request to Congress to pay
Israel more than $200 million to fund a new missile shield
called the “Iron Dome.” It will consist of a weapons system
that will intercept rockets and artillery shells. But much
like the Maginot Line, it will never solve the real problems
surrounding the causes of war, nor will it guarantee ultimate
peace and security.
The Maginot Line was the name given to a system of
fortifications built by France after World War One. It
consisted of a complex system of underground bunkers, antitank systems, field fortifications, outposts and artillery
fire, and included areas that could be flooded before the
system came under assault. Having taken more than twelve years
to build, the Maginot Line was portrayed in French propaganda
as impregnable. It was also built to defend provinces that
were won back from Germany and the Alpine frontier. (1)
Reinforced concrete and armor plates, along with gun turrets
that could be retracted underground, spanned the countryside
between France and Germany. In the much larger fortified
complexes, facilities and barracks were equipped with their
own power plants and stores of food, water and ammunition. The
Maginot Line boasted of an internal railway network and lifts
for troops and artillery. With interlocking fields of fire,
theoretically it was impossible to destroy the defensive
fortifications.(2)
When Germany invaded France at the start of World War Two, the
fortifications held-up well in the Alps. However, smaller
complexes were easily overrun or surrounded, proving to be
inadequate. Individual casements, unsupported by major
fortifications, fell quickly. Germany outflanked the Maginot
Line too by marching through the Netherlands, Belgium, and
Luxemburg. It is estimated that the failed Maginot Line cost
over three billion French francs and tens of thousands of men
working hundreds of thousands of hours.
The colossal breakdown of the Maginot line, though, mainly lay
in unresolved grievances. The Treaty of Versailles that ended
World War One humiliated Germany by forcing it to accept sole
responsibility for the war. The victors also punished Germany
by making it pay $33 billion dollars in reparations. While the
Allies kept overseas colonies, Germany had to surrender
theirs. Germany also had to turn over Alsace-Lorraine, parts
of the Rhine and Sudetenland, and the Danzig Corridor, which
divided Germany.
If dictating a harsh peace leads to conflicts, then so do
unresolved injustices, especially against those who are
irrationally wronged and are innocent. When Israel was founded
in 1948-after years of rule by a British mandate in which more
than 50,000 Palestinian-Arabs were killed-750,000 PalestinianArabs were forced from their land. Massacres occurred in some
villages too. Until Israel recognizes this human catastrophe,
or the Nakba, President Obama’s and Israel’s Iron Dome will
never provide peace and security. In truth, what was done to
Palestinian-Arabs was a transcendent wrong that has enveloped
nearby nations.
Still, Israel (and the United States) will never experience
security until justice and restitution for Palestinian-Arabs
becomes a major political and social priority. National
security can never be realized through seizing one’s territory
and then imposing military bases and checkpoints, nor can it
be sustained by taxpayers in a distant empire. In other words,
until the United States and Israel realizes security is a
home, food on the table, employment, equality, and human
dignity, Iron Domes and those military bases in 150 nations
will only be imaginary. They will continue to fail miserably
like the Maginot Line.
If President Obama is committed to Israel’s security, the
Nakba will have to be addressed and resolved. Expansive Jewish
settlements and U.S. military aid ($3 billion dollars per
year) to Israel will have to cease. Israel and the U.S. will
have to explore better ways in talking to Palestinian-Arabs
and be committed to an independent Palestinian State. If they
are truly serious about security in the Middle East, they will
value Islamic values, along with Judeo-Christian ones. In
doing this, the threat of war will likely be eliminated.
It is said that the Maginot Line had its imitators and
competitors.
Belgian
followed
with
above
ground
fortifications, as did Czechoslovakia. Germany built the
Siegfried Line. (3) One has to wonder if instead of building
fortifications and imagining war, what if all of this money,
time, manpower, energy, and resources had been used to build
trust and material equality between peoples and nations? If
the U.S. and Israel can imagine an Iron Dome-which assumes a
future war-surely they can imagine a future peace with justice
and lasting security. Righting the historical wrongs against
Palestinian-Arabs would be a good start.
-Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading
on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations
Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism,
Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John‘s
Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity:
Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and
Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can
read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and
wn.com//dallasdarling. He contributed this article to
PalestineChronicle.com.
Notes:
(1) Corvisier, Andre. A Dictionary of Military History and the
Art of War. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers,
1994. p. 277.
(2) Ibid., p. 278.
(3) Ibid., p. 278.