Israel

One of the main reasons that the Muslim world hates America is our support of the State of Israel. Israel was founded after World War II by the United Nations. After the 1967 Six-Day War Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, West Bank of Jordan, and the Golan Heights of Syria. In 1973 Israel defended itself from Egypt and Syria in the Yom Kippur War aka Ramadan War. In 1979 Egypt's president, Anwar al Sadat, signed a peace treaty with Israel's prime minister, Menachem Begin, with the help of U.S. President Jimmy Carter. (Sadat was assassinated by militants. Among those arrested afterward was Ayman al Zawahiri, who is now one of bin Laden's most important advisors.) Israel began a peace process to give more autonomy or independence to the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza from Israeli occupation. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by a Jewish radical, was the first to be willing to achieve an agreement. Since then the peace process has been weakened. In 2002 suicide bombings increased in what is known as the second Palestinian intafata. Ariel Sharon, the current Israeli prime minister, is a hardliner. His government has killed several innocent civilians when they strike terrorists, thus making the problem worse.

America's support of Israel angers thousands of Muslims. They view the land as the rightful possession of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, does little to stop terrorism, and his own movement, Fatah, supports it. Iran created two terrorist networks, Hizballah and Hamas, who operate in Israel. Syria and Saudi Arabia appear to support Palestinian terrorism as well. President Bill Clinton backed a plan with Prime Minister Ehud Barak to free the Palestinians, but Arafat rejected it. President Bush took a hardline policy of supporting Israel. He changed his rhetoric in 2002, but continues to keep his hands off the issue. If the U.S. and Israel were to allow the Palestinians to have a state of their own, I think things would be a lot better for us and them. The Israelis and Palestinians have suffered enough. Our support of Israel is unqualified in the eyes of many. Christian fundamentalists and some Jews think not, however. How do you think the U.S. government should try to solve the problem?

V-03 EDIT: There already is a thread on this subject, which DarthKarrde has graciously linked to. Therefore, I am going to lock this .

 

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