This recent escalation of violence between the
Israelis and Palestinians (Hamas Faction) has got me thinking about how this
whole problem could have been solved in a much more peaceful way. Now quickly
let has recap the origins of the conflict.
Issues between Palestinians and Jews living in
the Palestinian territory began to occur during the late 19th century with the
rise of Zionism and Arab Nationalism. Both these philosophies claimed to
represent the freedom their people desired. The Zionist a freedom from
persecution in a new land and for the Arabs, self rule away from the Ottomans.
The territory was largely an Arab-Muslim majority with a minority group
consisting of Arab-Christians, Arab-Shia and Jews. With Zionism encouraging
immigration to Palestine and Arab Nationalism encouraging establishing a
majority Arab nation, the two sides were destined to collide at one point or
another.
Violence
began when Jewish immigrants arrived in droves into the country. As more and
more Jews arrived, they would purchase land from wealthy Arab owners and replace
the Palestinian workers with Jewish workers who could not afford to buy their
own farm so they would work on someone else's.[1]
This caused a feeling of displacement in some Arab-Palestinians. Coupled with a
threat to their national identity the Palestinians chose to respond to these
encroachments with violence. This meant to scare away settlers, but in response
to this violence, the Jewish population organized its own fighting force known
as the Haganah. From this point on the Arab and Jewish populations of this
region have been in bitter conflict, with factions and whole nations rising on
both sides in an unrelenting struggle in which no one truly wins and everyone
loses. The biggest defeat and easily the largest mistake made by the Arab
Nationalists was to attack Israel on the day it declared itself independent.
Now
I do not claim the Arab Nationalist are the ones that started the conflict nor did
the Zionist movement. The demographic situation in Palestine coupled with an
unrelenting Jewish zeal that only wanted Palestine and no other country and an
uncompromising, stubborn Arab population that turned down any negotiation
attempt was perfect for this type of territorial conflict. Therefore, both
sides can share some responsibilities for the continuation of the violence.
With that being said, I repeat: The biggest mistake was to attack Israel
instead of recognize it. By attacking Israel in 1948, Arabs across the region
committed themselves and the Israelis to half a century of chaos. The war in
1948 and the subsequent Arab defeat allowed Israel to establish its borders and
presence in the Middle East as well as doom the Arabs in a cycle of revenge. As
the years went on the Arabs invested money in their military and tried a number
of times to defeat the Israelis, such as in 1967, 1973, and the terrorist
campaigns starting in the 1980's and continuing on into the present day. All
this has led to a shrinking of Palestinian territory, military defeat or
stalemates and finally plenty of atrocities and despair on both sides.
Some
of you are probably wondering how the Arab-Israeli conflict could have been
solved peacefully if only the Arabs would have recognized Israel and not have
attacked it. If Arab nations had been able to accept Israel, it would have
opened up the doors to a solution possibly sooner in the century and in a much
more peaceful and just manner. How? Well the Arabs having accepted Israel could
focus on providing their Palestinians Kin the resources they needed to establish
a state alongside Israel such as schools, hospitals, and basic infrastructure. Aside from aiding the Palestinians, the Arab
states could have begun to invest in their educational systems, modernizing
their countries and establishing political and economic relationships with
countries like the United States. These investments would have led to a much
different Middle Eastern situation. With an educated population and stable
modern economy the Arab world would not be the hot bed of terror and conflict
it is today. Instead of the resort to violence to achieve its goals, this union
of Arab states or league of Arab states or whatever you want to call it would
be able to use its political and economic influence to lobby the United States
the same way Israel does with APAIC. APAIC'S ability to persuade both Republican
and Democratic politicians with the promises of finances and votes really plays
a key role in the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. Instead of having
politicians that only represent the interests of Israel; you would have an
organization garnering support for Palestinians on the other side, in theory
creating a much more balanced American involvement in Palestine. Sadly, the
Arabs did not choose this route, instead they chose violence and the lobby
groups now present in the United States are fractured and focus on
self-interest rather than unified efforts at helping the Palestinians. Instead
of learning from this endless violence, they continue to fight and have now
Islamized the situation in order to garner greater Islamic support from around
the world. In response, the religious right in Israel is moving in on making
Israel a much more Jewish state, turning this in into a religious conflict. Out
of this conflict, we also get the terrorist conflict of the 20th and 21st
century. Seeing as how America favors Israel more than Palestine, several
Anti-American terror groups and nations emerged promising to bring the war to
America. A series of hijackings and attacks led up to the 9-11 attacks that pit
America directly in conflict with the fringe of the Arab/Muslim world. So in theory if the Arabs would have accepted
Israel and concentrated on developing a Palestinian state, internal
improvements such as education and by modernizing the country the Arabs could
have secured a free and much more acceptable Palestine with
little to no violence (again depending on things play out).
Due to the current movements in the
Arab world dubbed the Arab Spring nations like Tunisia and Egypt have moved
toward a much more representative version of government. Yes they elected
"Islamist" to rule over them, but guess what? It was a democratically
run election and both Egypt and Tunisia have a long way to go before they reach
the levels of democracy found in the West, but they are on the right path. With
that being said these two nations alongside an aggressive Turkey and a wealthy Qatar
can hopefully push the Arab world and the greater Islamic world toward a much
more civilized way to deal with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Again this
will all take time!
This
is just an un-researched theory and not to be taken as fact. If anyone has
another alternative theory or something to prove me wrong or help me understand
please email me with it or leave it as a message!
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