Posted on 02/15/2017 4:53:57 AM PST by SJackson
I heard a TV news anchor say over the weekend that when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes to Washington this week he will discuss a path to resolving the “Middle East Conflict” with the new American president.
The term has always been a misnomer, making it sound like were it not for the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, the Middle East would be all peace and harmony. The Economist once ran “A Chronology of the Middle East Conflict” that was all about Israel and Palestine. It began in 1917 with the Balfour Declaration and ended with the election — apparently for life — of Mahmoud Abbas to the presidency of the Palestinian Authority in 2005. During that time there were dozens of conflicts in the region — cross-border wars, civil wars, rebellions, revolutions, massacres, etc. — that had nothing to do with Israel.
That reminded me: I recently received a review copy of “The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict.” It looked like a fine book, but that subtitle vexed me. I literally pulled it out of the envelope as the news on TV described some horrible slaughter in Syria. But the Syrian Civil War isn’t called the “Middle East conflict.”
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The only peace in the middle east is the peace within Israel’s well-guarded borders.
A more fitting term is the “Muslim problem”. The middle east would in fact be a much better place without Islam.
Israel could simply disappear from the map and the other nations in the region would still be ripping each other apart, on the basis of either tribalism or being a member of the “wrong” branch of Islam.
Muslims are the Borg V1.0
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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That part of the world has been in almost constant conflict for over 4000 years.
I never called the trouble by either name. “Arab-Israeli Conflict” always worked for me.
The same paper that can’t distinguish legal immigrants v. ILLEGAL aliens...Hubris at its finest.
Plus, no such thing as a Pali, no? So, I guess they’re correct in that regard.
LOL - talking about how the conflict is misunderstood, and then saying it began with the Balfour Declaration does not inspire confidence.
Two state, one state......... Can you say never ending stalemate?
There is another solution, messy but effective:
Declare the conquered territory a frontier. Create semi-autonomous agencies or reservations.
Land pockets of Palestinian or Israeli settlements that roughly conform to the existing occupying populations.
Each pocket could be conditionally self-governing with its own security forces or federal-based forces. There could be a constitutional guarantee of basic rights, court system, travel, employment, health care, etc.
The unoccupied areas could be designated as agricultural or herding set asides for nearby reservations.
That way Israel could militarily control the general area of Judea and Samaria, create a political and legal status for occupants of the conquered areas and obtain some sense of governance for all the peoples there.
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