“It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.”
So, another tragic situation arises in the Middle East. I’m not sure how to talk about this other than I see it as madness.
“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”
A new story, but also an old one. And one can sympathize with both sides. One has to go back in history to see where the conflict lies. Under Muslim rule, notably under the Ottoman Empire, in the Middle East, including Palestine/Israel, life was pretty benign. Jews and Arabs lived in relative harmony. Then came World War 1 and the demise of this empire and British control of Palestine. Prime Minister Balfour promised the Jews a homeland. But this did not transpire right away.
World War 2 and the Holocaust changed things. Sympathy for the Jewish plight led to more demands by the world for a safe place for the Jews to settle. On 25 November 1947, the United Nations announced a Partition Plan for Palestine that envisioned a Palestinian State and a Jewish State. The British Mandate for Palestine, which had existed since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire expired on 14 May 1948, the Israeli state was proclaimed. On 15 May 1948, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria invaded the new country with the avowed purpose of destroying Israel and driving the Jews “into the sea”. Israel survived that war as well as the 6 Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Skirmishes, raids, and rocket attacks were continued by Hamas, the PLO and Hezbollah up until this October 7th. Israel has always had to fight for its existence despite efforts over the years to normalize relations with Arab states, starting with Egypt in 1978. Israel has a right to be paranoid. Many of you probably know this history, a bit of reminding doesn’t hurt.
The Palestinians, the poor Palestinians. In many ways they are the victims and pawns in this history. During the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, the Palestinians were encouraged by their Arab neighbours to temporarily leave the country with the promise that with victory they would have the country back, reaping the spoils of war. They became the victims. But victory never came. The now homeless Palestinians were not welcomed into their Arab neighbouring countries, but huddled into enclaves on the fringes of Israel, in Gaza, the West Bank and southern Lebanon. They became the pawns. Their populations grew and they had nowhere to expand. And, in the West Bank, Israel started to encroach on their territory. It could be said that in response to some of the skirmishes and rocket attacks, Israel overreacted with bombing and shelling of Palestinian territory. Paranoia will do that to you sometimes.
So, who is to blame for this current war? There are a number of players who could be singled out. The Arabs for one for encouraging the Palestinian diaspora in the first place, and for not attempting to absorb the Palestinians in the intervening years. The Israelis in turn for overreacting to Palestinian attacks, and also for not dealing with the Palestinian authorities on trying to find a solution. The United States and other allies for continually supporting Israel at the expense of other Arab states. The United Nations Security Council members who veto UN attempts to broker a solution, preferring instead to try to keep the area in turmoil for their own geostrategic advantage. So, it could be said that it is everyone’s problem but therefore nobody’s.
There will be no winners in this war. It will solve nothing. It will only mean the death of combatants and the innocent alike. However, it may show several countries that a more permanent and equitable solution must be found for all of the victims, Israeli and Palestinians alike and therefore spur Arab and Western countries to action.
“All war is absurd. For thousands of years, human beings have chosen to settle their differences by obliterating one another. And when we are not obliterating one another, we spend an enormous amount of time and attention coming up with better ways to obliterate one another the next time around. It’s a little strange when you think about it.”
Malcolm Gladwell, from his book The Bomber Mafia
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