However, thanks for this article which somewhat confusingly makes my point: The creation of the State of Israel is in fact the root problem.
Actually, you could as easily say that the root problem is either
(a) the inability of the Arab world to accept the exchange of population that took place in the late 40s and early 50s; cf:
Dr. Ya'akov Meron, a lawyer and Orientalist at the Israeli Ministry of Justice, explains this:
"Actually, what happened was a kind of 'population and property exchange,' and each party must bear the consequences. Israel is absorbing the Jews of Arab states; the Arab states, for their part, must settle the Palestinians in their own midst and solve their problems. There is no doubt that, at the first serious discussion of the Palestinian problem in an international forum, Israel will put these claims forward."
US President Bill Clinton also labored this point in June 2000, saying that,"There is, I think, some interest ... on both sides in also having a fund which compensates the Israelis who were made refugees by the war, which occurred after the birth of the State of Israel. Israel is full of people, Jewish people, who lived in predominantly Arab countries who came to Israel because they were made refugees in their own land."
However, it is clear that the Arab countries are reluctant - to say the least - to absorb their Palestinian brethren. Nor will they accept the idea of compensating the banished Jews for their economic losses.
or
(b) the inability of the Arab world to functionally adapt to the modern technological world, which politically has meant that they had to find a scapegoat to distract the masses from this unfortunate reality and on which they could focus their anger (rather than their political leaders). Jewish people have served that function for Arabs and Christians for hundreds of years now. After all, think about it for a second. Let's suppose that Israel no longer existed, the country was called Palestine and was a predominately Arab country, with the Jews magically whisked off (rapturously?<g>) to, say, the promised land of the US. How would Arab peoples be better off, in real terms? Do you know how small Israel is? They have almost no natural resources and natural harbors--certainly nothing that couldn't be duplicated in existing Arab countries. Would a Palestinean country have created the jobs that Israel has? Would they have developed the land? Who would be better off? Will the 1.2 or so million people in the refugee camps that the UN keeps going (for what reason?) be settled in this Palestine without further ado, reclaiming their "ancestral" lands? No conflict there, no.
Think about it. What is the "root" problem, really? |
