|
OK...I have spent the last couple weeks trying to understand the crisis in the Middle East.
Israel was created and recognized by the United Nations. At the time, there was still a lot of anti-semitism in the world, so many countries didn't recognize Israel as soon as it was created. However, the United States was one of the first ones. There was a lot of sympathy for the Jews at the time since they just lost 6 million of their brothers and sisters.
Pretty much every single President has supported Isreal. However, some are for different reasons.
Here are some reasons why all the Presidents supported Isreal.
1) It is one of the only Democracies in the Middle East.
2) It is a place where Jews can be free of anti-semitism.
Now, I think the reasons vary from President to President.
Democrats:
Democrats have always supported Israel and many Jews are a part of the Democratic Party. However, no Democrat has really stood up for the rights of the Palestinian people, who were the original people of that land. I don't think the Democrats want to expel the Palestinians...It's just that support Israel a lot more than the Palestinians.
Republicans:
This one is interesting. I think they just want to expel all the Palestinians from the Middle East. They are supported by such radical groups like AIPAC and PNAC - plus the Neo-Conservatives.
Another group that I really believe supports Isreal are the Christian Fundamentalists. In Al Franken's book, he stated that they support the Israeli state because that's where revelations will occur and wipe out all the Jews. But what Tom Delay said was that he supports Isreal for religious reasons. He stated that he has a personal connection with the Holy Land of Issac and Abraham. Issac is the father of all Christians. It is also interesting to think that his half-brother is Ishmael, the father of all Muslims.
Now, it is true that Israelis were already there at time of their creation post WWII. They started populating in small numbers during the 1880s. However, there weren't enough of them to have any influence in Palestine really. Plus, the Palestinians and Israelis lived in peace - somewhat. It wasn't until post WW-II did the refugees start pouring into Isreal. Their leader, I forgot his name, was somewhat radical and wanted to take the place over for himself. Ironically, correct me if I am wrong, but the British tried to kick the Israelis out. The Israelis fough back and kicked out the British. The British were already war torn by then so i don't think they wanted another major conflict on their hands.
The Jews were happy when their state was recognized. But the surrounding Arab Countries were furious. Syria, Jordan, Egypt, countries like those, fought back against the Israelis...but they continually lost these battles.
This went on for a long time. There was a war in 1967 where Israel staved off attacks from Egypt. However, this led to Isreal actually gaining land and taking over the Sinai peninsula. There was a peace agreement in 1977 I believe with Pres. Carter that gave that land back to Egypt.
The Isrealis had the opportunity to stop the war in 1972. However, they declined the peace agreement and the battle still rages on till today.
Now you ask, how does this relate to us. It has EVERYTHING to do with us. The terrorist use the conflict as an excuse to rally fellow Muslims around the world to beat back the great defender of Israel - America. This is their rallying cry.
The way the peace process is going is terrible. Bush is not even enforcing his own peace plan. The money still goes to Isreal to build houses on prime Palestinian land. The wall is another thing. To me, I'm not as concerned about the wall, but the direction it is going. It is taking all the arable, good Palestinian land and leaving them with the rest. This is totally unjust.
If the Jews continue to build this wall, there will be no such thing as a two state solution. The Palestinians will have no place for them, and they will be a people without a home.
|