The Middle East Conflict Is Hard To Solve, Easy To Explain (Its Arab Irredentism, Stupid Alert)

Townhall.com ^ | 07/18/06 | Dennis Prager

[goldstategop]

The Middle East conflict is difficult to solve, but it is among the simplest conflicts in history to understand.

The Arab and other Muslim enemies of Israel (for the easily confused, this does not mean every Arab or every Muslim) want Israel destroyed. That is why there is a Middle East conflict. Everything else is commentary.

Those who deny this and ascribe the conflict to other reasons, such as "Israeli occupation," "Jewish settlements," a "cycle of violence," "the Zionist lobby" and the like, do so despite the fact that Israel's enemies regularly announce the reason for the conflict. The Iranian regime, Hizbollah, Hamas and the Palestinians -- in their public opinion polls, in their anti-Semitic school curricula and media, in their election of Hamas, in their support for terror against Israeli civilians in pre-1967 borders -- as well as their Muslim supporters around the world, all want the Jewish state annihilated.

In 1947-48, the Arab states tried to destroy the tiny Jewish state formed by the United Nations partition plan. In 1967, Egypt, Syria and Jordan tried to destroy Israel in what became known as the Six-Day War. All of this took place before Israel occupied one millimeter of Palestinian land and before there was a single Jewish settler in the West Bank.

Two months after the Six-Day War of June 5-10, 1967, the Arab countries convened in Khartoum, Sudan, and announced on Sept. 1, 1967, their famous "Three NOs" to Israel: "No peace, No recognition, No negotiations."

Six years later, in 1973, Egypt invaded the Israeli-held Sinai Peninsula, a war that ended in a boost in Egyptian morale from its initially successful surprise attack. Though nearly all of the Sinai remained in Israel's hands, the boost in Egyptian self-confidence enabled Egypt's visionary president, Anwar Sadat, four years later (November 1977), to do the unimaginable for an Arab leader: He visited Israel and addressed its parliament in Jerusalem. As a result, in 1978, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in return for which Israel gave all of the oil-rich Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt.

Three years later, in 1981, Sadat was assassinated by Egyptian Muslims, a killing welcomed by most Arabs, including the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). Why welcomed? Because Sadat had done the unforgivable -- recognized Israel and made peace with it.

The lesson that Palestinians should have learned from the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement was that if you make peace with Israel, you will not only get peace in return, you will also get all or nearly all of your land back. That is how much Israelis ache for peace.

Think about Israel for one moment: Israel is one of the most advanced countries on earth in terms of culture (most books published, translated from other languages and read per capita; most orchestras per capita, etc.); major advances in medicine; technological breakthroughs; and decency as a society, as exemplified by its treatment of its women, gays and even its large Arab minority (particularly remarkable in light of the widespread Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism and desire to annihilate Israel). This is hardly a picture of some bloodthirsty, land-grabbing society. And Jews, whatever their flaws, have never been known to be a violent people. If anything, the stereotypical Jew has been depicted as particularly docile.

As a lifelong liberal critic of Israeli policies, the New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman wrote just two weeks ago: "The Palestinians could have a state on the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem tomorrow, if they and the Arab League clearly recognized Israel, normalized relations and renounced violence. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know Israel today."

Give Israel peace, and Israel will give you land.

Which is exactly what Israel agreed to do in the last year of the Clinton administration. It offered PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat about 97 percent of the West Bank and three percent of Israel's land in exchange for peace. Instead, Israel got its men, women and children routinely blown up and maimed by Palestinian terrorists after the Palestinians rejected the Israeli offer at Camp David. Even President Clinton, desirous of being the honest broker and yearning to be history's Middle East peacemaker, blamed the ensuing violence entirely on the Palestinians.

Israel's Camp David offer of a Palestinian state for Palestinian peace was rejected because most Palestinians and their Arab and Muslim supporters don't want a second state. They want Israel destroyed. They admit it. Only those who wish Israel's demise and the willfully naive do not.

If you don't believe this, ask almost anyone living in the Middle East why there is a Middle East War, preferably in Arabic. If you ask in English, they will assume you are either an academic, a Western news reporter, a diplomat or a "peace activist." And then, they will assume you are gullible and will tell you that it's because of "Israeli occupation" or "the Zionist lobby."

But they know it isn't. And it never was.

[goldstategop]

What the real reason there's no peace in the Middle East? Its Arab irrenditism, stupid. As Dennis Prager points out, the real issue is Arabs' refusal to accept the existence of a Jewish State in their midst. Israel is ready to give back land for peace but it has never been the issue. Those honest enough to acknowledge why Arabs continue to seek the destruction of Israel despite signed peace treaties, know there is no chance of a meeting of the minds between Jews and Arabs any time soon. No sane person would sign his own death warrant and the Jewish State won't give its enemies the chance to pronounce that sentence upon her. So the wars go for a very simple reason.

(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em, Down Hezbullies.)

[skaterboy]

Anybody else see Ol' Pat Buchanan or however you spell it on MSNBC earlier? Saying Syria had nothing to do with it and Israel is wrong and immoral..McCaffrey and Kudlow embarrassed him..What a buffoon

[PerConPat]

Anybody else see Ol' Pat Buchanan or however you spell it on MSNBC earlier?

No, but I would have loved to watch it. Pat has become one of the champion sore losers of his generation. His ego is driving him to show the Pub's, who rejected his presidential bids, just how wrong they were. He has to come up with these contrarian approaches to Iraq, Israel etc. to set himself apart from the shakers and movers of the Right.

[Valin]

Ping

[Valin]

Saying Syria had nothing to do with it and Israel is wrong and immoral.....

Meanwhile back in the real world


McCaffrey and Kudlow embarrassed him..
Did they have to break a sweat? Somehow I doubt it.


What we see in this is even really smart/sharp people can be really stupid.

[Tolik]

Nailed It!
Moral Clarity BUMP !

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[Tolik]

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/ published this article together with this cartoon:

[Tolik]

You are going to have a problem with "quick" readers telling the quotes from your replies. You've got to start using something to separate them <<>> """", anything.

You've got me on this one too: who is "even really smart/sharp people can be really stupid"? You mean Buchanan, not Kudlow?

Not a critique, just a feedback :^)

[Valin]

Thanks
We learn and grow

I mean Buchanan.

[SJackson]

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[Convert from ECUSA]

Israel's definition of peace - Israelis live behind defined borders without being kidnapped, blown up by homicide bombers, hit with rockets, etd. Muslim definition of peace - Israel and the Jewish people no longer exist.