The ENTIRE Middle East had better come to at least the 20th Century, or they will disolve themselves. We have people in this country, who have ancestors from every single part of the world. Most of the time, we get along.
I agree with you completely. I think the Israel-Pal situation could be solved by creating a new, secular nation for Muslims, Jews and Christians in the land currently called Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. I've laid out my peace plan here:
Message 23214027
A multicultural Pasreal which is blind to ethnicity and religion and grants equality for all citizens, next to a similar Lebanon, would be a good start in the "modernization process" for the remainder of the Middle East. Rather than having your "Shia crescent", we'd have your "tolerant human crescent" all the way from Pasreal to Lebanon to Kurdistan and hopefully next Southern Iraq.
And at some point a similar formally declared separation of Church and state for the "Islamic Republics" of Iran-Saudi and the rest would be nice as well. Perhaps something along the lines of "If you don't recognize the separation of nationhood and religion, we won't recognize your national sovereignity. Iran and Saudi, we will take your oil fields and leave you with the oilless patches of dirt where you can have your religion-based nation. Take your pick, 1) oil and separation of church and state, or 2) Muslim nation status sans oilfields. You have one decade to decide." |
