This is not an 'ageless conflict'

Submitted by sara (United States), Mar 18, 2010 at 19:24

I agree with your sentiments in general, however I needed to point out that the Arab-Israel conflict is not ageless. It began in earnest after the USSR pulled Yasser Arafat under their training wing in 1967 in a chess move to counter the U.S. control in the region. The Palestinian people did not exist as an Arab-Muslim entity before that. Once a title was slapped onto the residents of Gaza and the west bank, suddenly Arafat was their 'leader'. The rest of course is history.

Prior to 1967 the Arab nations wanted to send the young state into the sea, but were thwarted in 1948 as we know. The deterrence created in the wars until 1973 would have ensured peace if not for political succor by western countries and figureheads. Many mistakes were made that gave false legitimacy to the claims that are now accepted as fact.

According to Muslim mindset, once a land has had Muslims living in it, it becomes officially Muslim land. That is the source of the conflict, but their animosity on that one is not relegated to only Israel. They feel the same about Andalusia (Spain), Kosovo, Balkans, Kashmir, etc. etc. It is all about Muslim pride and acting as an Ummah, or Islamic nation. Fortunately for us, as my dear father liked to say in the 70's "If the Arabs ever unite, we're all dead", that has never happened and never will.

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