It has become obvious to everyone in the civilized world that there will never be peace in the Middle East until there is a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is mutually acceptable to all sides. Everyone, except Israel, that is. It's starting to look like Israel is happy with the status quo.
President Obama has made it clear the Israel must stop building new settlements on the West Bank, because these settlements are an impediment to the peace process. The European Union agrees, and they've been putting pressure on Israel this week during Netanyahu's European visit.
Netanyahu has refused to just stop the building of new settlements. Instead he has said he is working toward a compromise. The compromise would let Israel continue to build settlements already approved, while not approving any new settlements.
That's not really a compromise, but instead is an Israeli victory -- for a couple of reasons. The watchdog group Peace Now says Israel could go on building indefinitely just using plans that have already been approved. There are already 300,000 Israelis living in the West Bank and more are moving there every day.
It's obvious what Israel is trying to do. The longer they delay and the more settlements they build, the easier it will be for them to argue that at least part of the West Bank should remain a part of Israel -- even if a two-state solution is finally reached. In a word, they're trying to steal Palestinian land by delaying and building.
Israel could negotiate a real peace if they wanted to right now. If they pulled all Israelis out of the West Bank, and let a Palestinian state be set up in the West Bank and Gaza (a real Palestinian state not under Israel's control), I think peace could finally come to that part of the world. It is achievable and the Palestinians are ready to negotiate.
The real impediment to the peace process is Israel itself. They have America's guarantee to defend their existence, and also the opportunity to expand their territory by building on Palestinian land. There is no real reason for them to negotiate right now.
Maybe it's time for the United States to give them a reason to negotiate. The United States should suspend all foreign aid directed to Israel until they stop building settlements and start negotiating. Otherwise, we'll just see more delay and land theft by Israel.
This war started when I was still a boy! I am 74 now and there are no more signs that peace is possible in 2008 than in 1948. Why? The facts on the ground are still the same. You see, lots of Jews have occupied what was once Palestine, and they did not bother to ask permission. They just came in, by the tens of 1000's, heavily armed by America. They drew some new borders and told the Palestinians “from now on this is Israel and all this land belongs to us. You can live here if you want but you’ll probably be 2nd class citizens. Because this is the Land of Israel and we have reclaimed it finally after all these many centuries. We are in charge here forever more. Deal with it.
ReplyDeleteSo… there was a big war, and against all odds (most of the Arab countries joined the fray) the Jews won! (with a lot of help from the US and Germany) In the process Israel took over a whole lot more land. Over the next few years they fought several more wars, of “self defense”, and each time took more territory from Palestine. Meanwhile, in the newly conquered territories the Jews were quickly building what look like to be very permanent towns and a lot of infrastructure.
There are heavily armed troops everywhere in what most of the rest of the world calls “the occupied territories”. The term optimistically suggests that Israel someday (in an ill defined future) is going to give them back. Military service is not optional. Israel has been in a continuous state of siege since 1948. They have not succeeded very well in making friends with any of their neighbors.
Most Christians, especially evangelistic Christians, think that this is all good and right, and part of God’s plan for the earth. For the last 7 years we have had evangelistic White House inhabitants who have looked the other way at the invasion of Lebanon (causing 100’s of thousands of casualties and billions in damage), the bombing of Syria (to this day the American public doesn’t know exactly why Israel did it) and also air and ground attacks on militants in Palestine, blockades of the Gaza strip and the West Bank from even food and humanitarian supplies. Okay, some bad guys keep firing rockets into Israel which causes damage and sometimes kills people. But collective punishment for the misdeeds of a tiny minority is hard to justify. After all these years Israel might notice that punishing innocent Palestinian civilians has had no deterrent effect whatsoever. It makes recruitment of suicide bombers a whole lot easier.
We have ignored the results of the first Palestine free and open elections because the “wrong” guys won handily. (They are the guys who are still very pissed off about everything that’s been happening for the last 60 years. That’s six zero years!)
We tried to keep it real hush-hush, but it’s gotten out that we have helped Israel obtain nuclear weapons. Is it any wonder then, that Moslems don’t invite us over for coffee and doughnuts anymore? We are lucky that
We are willing and able to pay any price, any price, for their oil and
they are totally dependent on our military to keep the 1000’s of members of the Saudi “Royal Family” living in the lap of unfathomable luxury.
To think that there will ever be peace in that region is to believe in the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause. As Now I am not urging pessimism. I'm just arguing for a little realism!
We should not be involved in the Middle East “Peace Process” at all because it is so obvious we are not a fair broker. Hey, would you want your mother-in-law to be the “decider” about financial arrangements, who gets the Porsche and who gets child custody/support and how generous it should be when you are divorcing your wife? Fair is fair, and this wouldn’t be.