I have never known a Middle East that wasn’t at war. It seems that every new President for the past hundred years has always had to devise a strategy to “deal” with the Middle East, and for the past 50 years or so they’ve also had to have some type of peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians. Not that anyone in the Middle East pays heed to these strategies or plans; most of them are dead on arrival.
The Jews and the Arabs have been at each others’ throats for what seems like forever. In 1948, the State of Israel was established and the Palestinians have had their noses out of joint ever since. The Palestinians show their displeasure over the situation by sending suicide bombers into Israel and killing innocent civilians in market places, night clubs, and buses. Israel usually responds by firing a couple of missiles into the West Bank or Gaza Strip. If Israel is really mad, they send troops and tanks into the West Bank and destroy settlements. Each points their finger at the other and blames them for every wrong thing under the sun.
In the later portion of the 20th Century, many Western leaders have advocated a two state solution to put an end to the fighting. Bill Clinton came the closest to making this solution a reality, but Yasser Arafat, then the leader of the Palestinians, rejected a proposal which gave the Palestinians practically everything they were asking for. Frankly, ever since this rejection I have always thought that the Palestinians, rather than wanting an end to the violence and bloodshed, have simply played games with the Israel and the West in order to keep the hate going. It is no secret that the Palestinians who are in charge of the government want to eliminate Israel completely, as do many Middle Eastern nations. I guess Israel finds it hard to make peace with nations who desire their destruction.
In my opinion, the Palestinians and the Israelis have been killing each other for so long that it no longer matters why they started fighting in the first place. The fight has become personal and inbred among the people in that region; it is simply what they do every day, just like eating, sleeping, or getting dressed. Palestinian children are taught from birth that Israelis and Jews are beyond contemptible, and that it is their duty to kill them. Death has simply become one more fact of life for the people who live in the region; so much so that it hardly raises an eyebrow anymore.
I am no great scholar of the Middle East and its conflicts. Most of what I know comes from cable news reports and internet news reports. However, I do find myself siding with Israel in this fight. It seems to me Israel, despite having hundreds of its innocent citizens killed by Palestinian suicide bombers every year, at least tries to conduct their fighting as a military campaign, targeting mostly those elements who are doing the bombing. They’re not perfect, of course, but when you’re fighting an enemy who hides behind women and children there isn’t much that can be done about collateral damage.
Will there ever be peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians? I think not. I don’t think there is anything Israel can offer the Palestinians which would convince them to stop the violence. I think the only thing which would cause the Palestinians to stop killing the Israelis would be for Israel to cease to exist. Neither side is rational anymore when it comes to discussing terms to end the conflict. As long as one side (or both) wants the violence to continue, it will continue unless or until one side ceases to exist.
