It makes one proud to know that someone out there is willing to show the world exactly who is boss and why. Israel is our only ally in the Middle East and we have let them down continuously and have shown only lukewarm support during the Obama years. But then, as we learned in elementary school long ago, the only way to have a friend is to be a friend. Many of our troubles can be directly attributed to our willingness to ignore that.
Why are you so pro-Israel and anti-Palestine? You and zillions of others? I don't get it. Is there some Biblical prophecy that says when Israel gets its way in all things the second coming will occur or the end of the world and your transit to heaven will be in the bag? Can you explain why Israel can do no wrong in your eyes and Palestine can do nothing right? This is a serious question Polk. Can you answer it? Thank you for your reply and Happy Sunday.
Why MrWitch? Why does the world sanction whatever Israel does? Why are those who support Palestine's position always excoriated and attacked? What is the hold Israel has on the world? How can a bully like Net be condoned/supported/revered by so many? I honestly don't get it. Is it all about some Biblical promise that Israel is the key to the second coming or the end of the world and the transit to heaven? This is an ongoing problem. Those who are pro "anything Israel does is okay with them" never explain why that is. Can you explain why it is to me in terms that are really simple? You know. As you always do? Doing something just because you can when it affects the lives of others adversely sounds like bully tactics to me. Thank you for your reply! :)
Lol - thank you for giving me such an easy job on a Sunday Rosie! :)
I can try, but must warn that it won't be very short, and will of necessity deal almost exclusively with generalisations. It may also offend some people, but I'm not going to apologise for that.
Still interested? Ok, don't say I didn't give fair warning. :)
First off, like most human conflict, it is based on what I think is a nonsense. This little patch of land has been competed over more than any other in human history. Why? There are hardly any natural resources there. Much of the land is rubbish for efficient agriculture. Why is it so wanted?
Because the Religions of primitive, unlettered, backward desert dwelling nomadic tribes said so. That's it. No justification. No explanation. Just Religion saying, 'That's yours, I decree it'. Well as I mentioned before, 'God' is a crap landlord and should be prosecuted for letting the same property to 3 different clients. So far as I can tell, they all only want it because their personal sky fairy said they should and could have it. Certainly there's no oil there (and surely a loving God would provide for His children's future?) and it's practically the only bit of the Middle East that doesn't have it.
So, that's the ancient history basics. It's a lot more interesting and complex than this really, but it's worthwhile remembering that Religion is at the heart of this. Always has been, always will be.
All of our available history (and not just for that region) is filled with examples of Jew-hating, Christian-killing, Muslim-murdering fools who either fell for the religious propaganda of the day or used it for their own political purposes. Understandably, the result after many centuries is that the neighbours don't really get on and certainly don't talk to each other much. Deep suspicion and deep dislike is the order of the day.
Now we need to move onto more modern history, and here I have to be brief, because not to be would still see me typing in a month! :)
In Europe, the 19th century saw many examples of organised, state-sponsored Jew hating. The result were what became known as pogroms occurring in Russia and some other Eastern European states. Some western ones too, to a lesser extent. The result of all this (apart from death and suffering) was massive Jewish migration west. By the late 19th century there were huge Jewish populations in all the western European nations - especially Britain, but also Germany, Holland and France. Quite a few of course, encouraged by information about the 'freedoms' of the US, scrimped and saved and travelled even further, and by the early to mid 20th century the US had a very large Jewish population indeed.
This had happened many times and in many places over the previous 1,500 years or so and the result was the spreading of Jews around what is now called the developed world. In some places they were welcomed, in some tolerated and in some persecuted some more. All on the back of Religion, remember and no one place or country had a monopoly on the type of reception.
Now I'm going to hustle on to the 20th century. I'll gloss over the activities of National Socialism and the crazies who believed in it and merely say that there was widespread recognition of the appalling horror of the result. The international community decided that it was right for there to be a formal, recognised Jewish homeland, in order to prevent or minimise the effects of future nutters and evil bastards. Good idea, n'est pas? Well yes, but it conveniently ignored those without much of a racial/national card to play, who had also suffered horribly. No suggestion of land for the other minorities persecuted and murdered under that disgusting system.
However, everyone seemed to think this was necessary, apart from the inhabitants and neighbours of what was decided as the focus for the end of the diaspora. The result of this has been unending violence of one kind or another. So far as I can see, this has been facilitated by three main causes. The first is the economic, social and political power that is held in many nations by people either of Jewish origin or with Jewish sympathies. The second is an underlying guilt about the events of 1933-1945. The third is US foreign policy. Western journalists still comment occasionally (and sometimes crassly) on 'The Jewish Vote', usually applying this phrase to the US. Indeed, since the ascension of the US to world power, the reasons for the success of Israel can mostly be found in the domestic US political arena. Israel is and always has been a product of US money, and this support has been a central piece of US foreign policy since WW2.
US hegemony needs a friendly face in the region. It made political sense to take advantage of the new nation of Israel and not to try to prise waning British influence from other middle eastern states. Actually, the US was doing a fairly good job of the latter until the assassination of JFK, when numerous Arab despots had a sudden change of mind about who they wanted to organise their security. From the 60s then, US foreign policy for the region has concentrated on Israel.
Because of this, Israel is still not 'persona non grata' among major nations for it's continual breaking of international law and the persecution of large parts of 'it's' population. Powerful friends are valuable friends, and the US of the 20th century is a perfect example. :)
Benedict Arnold 