Thank you, Catherine, for your sanity.
About a week ago I was able to have a brief conversation with the wife of a Jewish American couple who were about to travel to Israel to visit their children. I got the impression that she wasn't against a Palestinian state. What seemed to concern her was how Israel would be expected to defend itself against its enemies. She pointed out that at one point Israel is only 12 miles wide. She had no answers.
Well, I have to eat my words as being too simple.
I am part way through 'The Next Decade' by George Friedman, the founder of Strafor intelligence and research, and on pages 84-104, he reveiws so much of the info that is applicable to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I cannot urge anyone too strongly to read this first to understand the situation as it is so complex and convoluted especially for remote countries like the US to consider their response.
G. Friedman examines issues from both the realist vs idealist approach and how neither is sufficient until itself when one is the President of the major military force in the world. Fascinating reading but a small dose at a time is all I can take in as he covers so much background history that is very readable and concise before conveying a view from that base.
Hello, I have been reading all of your posts with interest as an informal and yet serious student of the Israeli-arab conflict who has met and spoken with many people of the region and a few of the leaders. I want to focus on two or three points raised in the thread which I think are mistaken and what I believe to actually be true. The first is historical. There is a widespread assumption that arabs and jews have been at each other's throats for centuries. Actually there was little violence in what is now Israel, Palestine or Jordan until the nineteen thirties, when British control over the region began to weaken.
The British had made promises to both the arabs and jews as a result of World War I, in essence promising
independence to the arabs and a homeland to the jews clamoring for a state of their own. When neither side recieved something equal to their expectations. They began to organize politically and militarily to fight for what they believed to be their rights. The increasing persecution of jews in Europe made them more desperate to secure some place that was safe and there was an influx of many jewish refugees to Palestine from 1930 on. The arabs felt as if they were being pushed out of their home in a collective sense and being forced to share their land whether they wanted to or not.
I am not sure that there is really an inherent hatred of arabs by jews or vice versa. I believe the world of the thirties with the Great Depression caused people in Europe to embrace Fascism and blame the jews for their problems and the arabs were regarded as colonial subjects whose needs or wishes could be ignored. Palestine was not empty. It had a large number of moslem and christian communities. The total number of people living there was much smaller than today but they had been there for many generations on the whole. There was also a jewish presence dating back many years.
The settlements which have been established across the "Green Line" are an emotional issue because they symbolize the displacement of the Palestinian arabs from what is now Israel and more recently, from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. One can argue whether the settlements are justified or not but they have come to represent much more than mere condominiums or houses to the palestinians. They cannot claim land inside Israel for their needs but Israel can and does claim land across the line for its use. It is hard to find any arabs who support the settlements but it is easy to find people who are rightly concerned about the lack of housing or water accessible to the arabs. Sad to say that have large demonstrations in Israel over the lack of affordable housing by jews while the government spends millions to subsidize the settlements.
The de facto policy of the government seems to be to expand the settlements as much as possible until the Palestinians agree to accept what is left. That is hard bargaining and it's hard to agree to, especially when one is the weaker party. This sense of being a victim or being inferior is a large part of the reluctance of the palestinians to engage in negotiations.
The Palestinians are seeking affirmation of statehood at the UN. Good friends of Israel will support them in the endeavour. The recognition of the new Palestinian State was not to be achieved by a UN
I was just informed that a friend of mine from college just learned that her son and his family were slaughtered like cattle in their home by Hamas yesterday.
Oh, Bae.
Oh no, what terrible news.
Bae, I’m so sorry to hear.
I see a task force centered on the USS Gerald Ford is en route.
That's sad and reprehensible. I don't understand what's to gain by murdering civilians and taking hostages. I imagine there will be heavy price as pay back.
"what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote