Ok, I consider myself a fairly smart guy and relativly political astute. However, I am pretty clueless when it comes to some basic issues regarding confilct in the middle east. I have pretty much tuned out all stories/information about that region becuase it fills me with such despair. But I was thinking the other day that I don't know why there is such confilct. I have no doubt at all that treeman or someone has discussed this before but I really don't want to wade through the 400 topics about the middle east to find it so I was kind of hoping someone could answer some of these questions for me... 1) Palastines want Isreal gone. Why? Is it for land? Do they not like Jews? If not, why not? Where is the reason for their hatred of Jews? I would have thought that with the whole Crusades thing that they'd hate Christians even more. 2) Egypt fought in the war against Isreal, right? That was the 6 day war? Why does Egypt hate Isreal? Is Egypt mostly Muslim? If so, is it another case of Muslim vs Jew? I think there was one more basic question I had but I can't remember it now. But if anyone can help me with this so I can at least understand the roots of the conflict a bit more, I would be grateful.
1. The Palestinians were afraid that the Jews would rob them of their culture, which they hold sacred. The Palestinian Jews (those who lived there prior to the Zionist movement), didn't even want a Jewish state. So you basically have a bunch of foreigners come onto the land your people have lived on for the past 700 years, rob you of your land through underhanded business exchanges (absentee landowners), and even go so far as to gloat about how they are/will oppress you.......and their only justification for settling is a dubious tie to an imaginary kingdom that 'existed' some 3000+ years ago. Then, partition is put into effect, and they convienently give Israel the majority of arable land for farming. The feeling of resentment in Palestinians is no longer transient....it's a state of mind. 2. I'm not that familiar with the 6 days War, but Egypt is considered the center of the Arabic world. I'm sure there was massive public outcry for action to be taken against this country (Israel), which had been created by a foreign power (Britain) that was wielding power outside of its sphere of influence.
Egypt the country doesn't hate Israel - part of the problem is the inefficient government doesn't want it's people to focus on the cause of the widespread poverty when it can redirect them to hating Jews and the United States. The Palestinians were there for a few years and the Israelis pushed them out or the Palestinians left when the Israelis came in during the founding of Israel after World War 2 and during the 1967 War as well. The Israelis claim it because it's the land of their forefathers, and some holy sites and the Arabs have the same claims. A little bit of background: http://slate.msn.com/?id=2064500 http://slate.msn.com/?id=2057949
dylan, you will have to use your own judgement on this one, since you will get very differing opinions on this topic. For instance, in this thread alone: The Palestinians were there for a few years and the Israelis pushed them out or the Palestinians left when the Israelis came in during the founding of Israel after World War 2 and during the 1967 War as well. The Israelis claim it because it's the land of their forefathers, and some holy sites and the Arabs have the same claims. The Jews began emmigrating in the late 1800's. They lived and worked with the resident Arabs under Ottoman rule (there was no Israel, Palestine, Jordan, etc etc). Jewish immigration increased rapidly starting around 1930. Apparently there were radicals on both side who committed heinous acts after a UN partition granted Jews the rights to Israel and fighting broke out. It is difficult to say who fired the first shot, but then is that even the first question to ask? Good Luck. As good a history source as any. Run by Arabs, Israelis and Americans seeking Peace: http://www.mideastweb.org/index.html A cool BBC site on the history: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/israel_and_palestinians/timeline/ BBC Maps - break-up of Ottoman Empire: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/israel_and_palestinians/key_maps/7.stm (note tiny 'international zone') A couple of articles from a pro-Israeli web site, reprinting an Arab-American editorial from a right-wing (?) website (interesting viewpoint, I don't know how accurate, but is eye-opening): http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/myths.html http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/moremyths.html Palestine Timeline (from pro-Israeli source): http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/palestine.html
There are some reasonable summaries here too. http://cbc.ca/news/indepth/mideast_struggle/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/0,2759,377264,00.html
Thanks to everyone who responded to my post. Except Jeff, he's just a jerk. The links have been helpful and informative. While very few people (if any) are free of bias in this situation I feel that I at least have a better idea of why this area is such a mess right now... Thanks again all.
Cohen, I actually stated both sides of view in my sentence you quote, perhaps I didn't word it very well but it's there. The bbc link is pretty good, but I prefer my one sentence run on summary. Some ancient history, both people claim land, Israel founded shortly after World War2, some Arabs leave, some stay, Israel gets more territories in wars started by somebody, more Arabs leave, some stay. I'm not even sure how you got that I proffered an opinion except to stay neutral to either side!
