(WT # 6) Trouble In The Middle East

Everybody must have heard about the Palestinian / Israeli conflict.

In the very beginning, the territory -- the centre of this conflict, figuratively and literally -- belonged to the Jews. No, to the Arabs. No the Jews. Arabs. Jews. Arabs. Jews. Maybe both at the same time? Well, after some time, it belonged to the Arabs, anyway: the Philistines. After them, the Romans. After them, the Byzantines. After them, the Arabs again. After them, the crusaders. After them, the Turks. And then -- no, first this.

For centuries, Jews didn't have their own land. They were pretty much lower class "people" everywhere in the world, scapegoats, and because of that, their wish to return to the promised land, the wish for an independent Jewish country, grew. What do we call that? Zionism.

And then there's colonialism. Now THAT has messed up the world, believe me. The British (who succeeded the Turks) occupied the whole territory that is now Israel / Palestina, and permitted large Jewish groups to live there.

In 1947, during the time most colonies from all over the world gained their independence (we, the Dutch, had to give up Indonesia, where we had been behaving like bastards), the Brits had to give Palestina to the UN. The UN, then, declared there should be two states: a Jewish state, and an Arab state.

But that didn't happen. Just before the Brits left forever, the Jews declared the state of Israel.

We all know what happened. The Arabs attacked, but lost. (A little David / Goliath going on there). The PLO (not related to Koon, but "Palestinian Liberation Organization") initially wanted Israel to completely disappear and make way for an Arabian (Palestinian) state. Yet, in 1988, they officially recognized the state of Israel. In 1993 and 1995 things were looking up, when Israel agreed to give Palestinians autonomous pieces of land. (Remember Clinton with Rabin and Arafat?)

And then, we had one Israeli state, and one Palestinian state. There. Happy face.

Not yet! Because there is something called fundamentalism. And fundamentalism sez: "We want it all, or we want nothing." So they placed bombs in warehouses, emptied guns in streets, and more of that.

Israel: "Hey Palestina, keep your rebellious friends under control."

Palestina: "We haven't got any control over them. Sorry!"

People in Israel scared and angry. People want different leader, a strong man. People elect right-winger Sharon. T.R.O.U.B.L.E. Across the water, in the USA, people elect Bush. And Bush, unlike Clinton, thinks the Jews and Arabs should wash their own dirty laundry, so no intervention. A year later, when things start escalating (because there's no third party to mediate?), he's drawn back in again (but not as much as Clinton).

We're up-to-date now.

Now this: do you think that the West -- or any third party -- should intervene / mediate in this conflict? Western fingerprints are all over it, as you can see.

Still, apart from Israel, most of the Arab world wants to have no Western mingling whatsoever. It does seem to create a lot of hate for the West in those countries, and what that can lead to, we all know.

What do you think, Middle East expert? Should "we" play Big Boss or not?

 

I find it tragic (and typical) that so much bloodshed has been caused by simple geography. The fertile crescent is not just an agricultural cornucopia, but was also a strategic location between many super-civilizations, host of trade routes and other profitable benefits. It quickly became the target of greedy rulers, using religion and other means of control to divide people against each other in hopes of gaining power.
It's the oldest trick in the book, and things haven't changed much in thousands of years. *sigh*

 

Sadly, from what I have seen there needs to mediation. THere seems to be no way that these two groups can come to an agreement without it. There was an agreement. There was going to be a Palestinian state, but like Casper said, some didn't think that Isreal was giving up enough. So, radical groups decided to use scare tactics to get more out of the deal. These scare tactics are what put the Right winged Prime Minister into office. THe people of Isreal wanted hard hitting action taken against the PLO. This in turn angered the Palestinians. It's a never ending cycle.

Where this cycle ends is for both the Western and Middle Eastern worl to compromise on. And by compromise, I mena fair to both sides.


Why this hasn't happened yet is beyond my understanding. I see tragedy in Isreal followed by retaliation by Isreali forces. I hate seeing this happen. There is no need for anyone to die for land. Everyone should live with respect for each other, even if you don't agree with the other person.

I just want to see a stop to all of theis unneeded violence. Create a Palestinian state, and let them govern themselves.

 

While I think that it's totally possible for the "leaders" of both sides to reach a compromise, I don't think that such a compromise would necessarily stop the violence... you will always have fanatics, and fundamentalists, people who aren't happy with whatever compromise is made unless they get everything.

We also need to remember that a lot of these people are suffering in extreme poverty and horrible living conditions. This fight gives some of those people meaning, something to believe in, and also a scapegoat, an enemy to blame. That might seem twisted and wrong to us, as we sit back and wonder why they can't all just get along, but these people believe so strongly in their cause that they are willing to blow themselves up.

I think that this region is going to continue to be plagued by violence for a long time, whether the West intervenes, or the leaders reach a compromise, or not.

 

Yes, it's always been unstable. It's been unstable from the moment people inhabited it.

My grandfather used to know an Israeli General, and he always said: "Don't attempt to try and understand the situation. You never will."