The Need to Budge
Learning a Lesson and (Possibly) Decoding a Message from Dr. Seuss
It comes down to this: Hamas will accept a ceasefire only if it means a guaranteed, permanent end to the war and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Israel will only agree to end the war if Hamas lays down its arms and relinquishes its rule of Gaza. Israel rejects Hamas’ position, due to security concerns and coalition priorities. Hamas rejects Israel’s position, because it sees its “weapons of resistance” as a “red line as long as Israel occupies Palestinian land,” by which it means not only Gaza, but all of Israel.
At the moment, “compromise” is not in either side’s vocabulary. For Hamas, “compromise” has never been an acceptable term. The organization’s charter is a treatise on intransigence, which explicitly calls for Israel’s destruction and the rejection of any negotiated resolution or political settlement. “Compromise” used to be part of the Israeli lexicon, but was purged from it on October 7. Since then, Israel has become uncompromisingly committed to Hamas’ destruction.
This standoff brings to mind the great parable of conflict resolution, The Zax, by Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, which opens:
One day, making tracks In the prairie of Prax, Came a North-Going Zax And a South-Going Zax. And it happened that both of them came to a place Where they bumped. There they stood. Foot to foot. Face to face.
The story continues with our protagonists stubbornly refusing to alter their ways:
“Look here, now!” the North-Going Zax said, “I say! You are blocking my path. You are right in my way. I’m a North-Going Zax and I always go north. Get out of my way, now, and let me go forth!” “Who’s in whose way?” snapped the South-Going Zax. “I always go south, making south-going tracks. So you’re in MY way! And I ask you to move And let me go south in my south-going groove.”
Next—for those of you who believe there are no coincidences—the North-Going Zax anticipates the danger we face by mentioning the number of hostages still being held in Hamas captivity:
Then the North-Going Zax puffed his chest up with pride. “I never,” he said, “take a step to one side. And I’ll prove to you that I won’t change my ways If I have to keep standing here fifty-nine days!”
The South-Going Zax reiterates the crucial number, but intensifies the dispute by speaking of years instead of days, and by reaffirming his rigidity:
“And I’ll prove to YOU,” yelled the South-Going Zax, “That I can stand here in the prairie of Prax for fifty-nine years! For I live by a rule That I learned as a boy back in South-Going School. Never budge! That’s my rule. Never budge in the least! Not an inch to the west! Not an inch to the east! I’ll stay here, not budging! I can and I will If it makes you and me and the whole world stand still!”
And, finally, the moral of the story:
Well… Of course the world didn’t stand still. The world grew. In a couple of years, the new highway came through And they built it right over those two stubborn Zax And left them there, standing un-budged in their tracks.
We must defeat Hamas militarily. But we must also compromise diplomatically to ensure the release of the remaining fifty-nine hostages. If we continue to “stand un-budged in our tracks,” this war will drag on indefinitely, the world will move on, and the hostages will be lost forever.
Dr. Seuss. The Zax. From The Sneetches and Other Stories. Copyright Dr. Seuss Enterprises 1961, renewed 1989.
Whoa.