Territorial dispute between the Israelis and the
Palestinians is a never ending saga. It appears to me that the cycle of
violence and truce keeps repeating every couple of years or so. Each time, the
innocent Palestinians keep getting the shortest end of the stick. Whenever
there are lives lost, it’s always easy to blame the Israelis for the
Palestinian misfortunes; however, everyone share the responsibility whether
they are directly involved or not.
What do I mean by everyone? When I say ‘everyone’, it becomes
a vague way of pointing fingers at a whole lot of people. Let me provide a list
to outline what I mean by ‘everyone’.
1.
Israel – The expansionist policy adopted by
Israel has been going on for a long time. As Israel slowly expands or
solidifies their hold on disputed territories, more and more Palestinians get confined
into regions surrounded by walls and blockades. At the same time, whenever
Israel periodically initiates military operations with the excuse to weaken
Hamas militants, the collateral damage is often unimaginable. Thousands of
Palestinian men, women and children end up losing their lives. In addition, recouping
the loss of properties become extremely difficult.
2.
Hamas – Israel and its close allies consider
Hamas as a terrorist organization despite being elected by the Palestinian
people. Israel and its allies wrongfully try to block all aids to the
Palestinians in an attempt to cripple Hamas. This is turn add more to the
misery of the Palestinian people. On the other hand, Hamas continue to build
tunnels or purchase new rockets for their anti-Israeli campaigns. Every now and
then, the militant wings of Hamas start launching unnecessary rocket attacks
deep inside Israeli civilian population. This types of actions provide Israel
an excuse to launch indiscriminate military operations deep inside Gaza
3.
Israeli allies – Many of the Israeli allies have
been providing financial and military support to Israel for a long period of
time. These long running assistance programs have made the State of Israel as the
most powerful nation in the Middle East capable of initiating nuclear and
chemical warfare. Whenever conflicts flare up in the region the allies turn a
blind eye no matter how brutal and relentless Israeli actions may be. Thus
making the conflicts completely a one sided affairs where Palestinians face the
harshest of realities.
4.
Arabs – Since the beginning of Israeli occupations,
many Palestinians have taken refuge inside several Arab nations. Some of these people
have been living in poor conditions in many refugee camps for generations.
These generations of refugees are still treated like third class citizens by
many Arabs. Sometimes, when Israeli-Palestinian conflicts arise or hope builds
up for potential peace treaty, Arab nations fail to live up to the challenge in
helping the Palestinians. Their halfhearted efforts have failed the Palestinian
people and the refugees time and again.
5.
Palestinians – How can Palestinians be
responsible for their own sufferings? I can think of a few reasons.
Palestinians need to realize that territorial settlement will never return to pre-sixty
seven borders. So, they can’t be overly greedy when it comes to negotiations
with the Israelis. It happened before, and let us not forgets the failed treaty
during the Bill Clinton era. Currently, Hamas is an elected government and they
have every right to function as a legitimate government without any
interference. What Israel and its allies are doing to undermine Hamas by
blocking aid and support is simply wrong. However, that should not give Hamas
the excuse to build tunnels and drop rockets deep inside Israeli territory. In
fact, Hamas is taking these actions right under the noses of Palestinian people.
The people are either completely unaware of what the Hamas militants are doing
or they are unwilling to prevent such actions. This almost makes the Palestinians
guilty by playing ignorance.
6.
Rest of us – I am placing everyone around the
world who are not in the first 5 categories listed above, as the ‘rest of us’. In
order to understand the ‘rest of us’ better, I am breaking this group into the following
sub-categories:
a.
Biased people – This group of people are die
hard supporters of either the Israelis or the Palestinians. The supporters of
each side are completely blinded by their beliefs. In fact the beliefs are so strong
that they are incapable of listening to what the other has to say. In addition,
these people frequently dig up conspiracy theories from the internet simply to
justify some terrible actions.
b.
Centrist people – These folks are people like
me. We try to look at concerns of both the Israelis and the Palestinians with some
level rationality. We believe both sides need to compromise and make difficult
choices in order to achieve peace. Many Muslims who belong in this category
will most like recognize Israel as a state.
c.
Careless people – The people in this group probably
could care less what happens in their neighborhood let alone in another
country. Many of these people are probably unaware of recurring conflicts
between Israel and Palestinian.
Regardless of our categories or our
beliefs, we are not involved enough to make a difference. We cannot or
unwilling to put pressures on our respective governments. As a result, our
governments are not applying enough pressures on Israel, Palestine and their
respective allies.
To summarize, it’s not a black and white situation when it
comes to long running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I must point out that the Palestinians
are not the only ones sufferings. Many Israelis are on the same boat as well.
However, by looking at the casualties on both sides, Palestinian people seem to
be in a far more painful situation than the Israelis. Most current Israeli-Palestinian
conflict with scores of people dead on the Palestinian side is a perfect
example. So, I feel everyone including the Israelis and the Palestinians are
responsible for the sufferings of the Palestinian people.
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