The Heart of the Problem With Israel: The Mass Expulsion of the Palestinian People

[fujiyama]

73. It's easy to blame this on Zionism but that's not a solution to this conflict

The modern conflict in the region is in part due to the Zionist movement, but it's difficult for me not to empathize with some of their early goals to an extent though the theft of others' land is difficult to reconcile.

Considering the history of antisemitism throughout the world and particularly in Europe, it was clear by the end of the 19th century, to many Jews that a homeland free of persecution was needed. As the Ottoman Empire fell, more Jews began migrating to the region under the British mandate. Obviously this need was felt greater than ever with the holocaust.

Most people would say - and rightly so - that a homeland for the Jews should have been paid not by the indigenous Arabs living there for generations - but by Europeans themselves. A Jewish homeland in the heart of Europe would have made more sense in many ways, as most Jews that founded Israel were European in culture and recent residence. But I think to most Jews, Europe was not the center of their religious culture and the myths they were raised on for the thousand-plus years they were scattered about. The isolation forced upon them throughout the continent never made them part of the countries they resided in. I remember hearing that during the early part of the movement, a state in the African continent was considered - somewhere in Uganda I think.

But of course, the "real homeland" - Israel, or Palestine as it had come to be known - had people residing there for many centuries. To kick them off their land was wrong - and bloody. These were innocent people, whose land was ultimately stolen from them.

But so much of history is about land being taken from others. What the Palestinians have endured is wrong, but after more than three major wars, all of which ended in defeat and more land being lost, the Arab nations should have realized that forging a lasting peace with the goal of a second state for the Palestinians was the only real solution. Instead the Palestinian movement became taken over by radical Islamic groups - not with the goal of establishing a thriving and independent state of Palestine, but "driving the Jews to the sea". And of course, most subsequent Israeli governments since '67 have only made half-hearted attempts build a lasting peace. Instead more land in the West Bank has been occupied by a radical religious settler movement with harsher and more humiliating conditions for the people living there.

It's a mess and very few US presidents have had success building any peace. Carter did with Egypt (because he also was the most balanced in his treatment of both sides) - and Clinton was close. Of all the Presidents I've read about regarding Israel policy, Clinton seems the most informed. I've always enjoyed his interviews on the region. Republican presidents have merely treated Israel as a pawn for the religious right, as an outpost during the Cold War or simply within the lens of oil politics.