07-18-2003, 01:04 PM
I have been doing a little reading on that part of the Israel/Palestine evolution, and I noted that the British tried, for about twenty years after the Balfour declarations, to get an agreed "here is how we will all get along together" accord worked out. THe Arabs were just as hard headed as the Israeli's, the Hebrews, in being hard to reach compromise, and the immigration from Europe put many of the newly arrived Jews in the condition of "boat people" the world over. The arguments against the validity of the Zionist movement that spurred some of the immigration are, at this point in history, water under the bridge. However, like the anitpathy toward anything Muslim or Turk in much of the Balkans, it forms an underlying context of "they don't belong here in the first place" in the eyes of many Arabs.
If folks want to look at the failures of contemporary politiciand and statesmen (they are not the same thing, far fewer statesmen around these days) to make any headway, they need to appreciate, IMO, the complete unwillingness of the Arabs to make any sort of accomodation of immigrants to their sparsely populated land, and the parallel arrogance of the European based Jewry who emigrated there for a variety of reasons, be it fleeing the pogroms and ghettos of Europe or following the dream of Zion.
The ghosts of the past are still deeply embedded in the present, and form a vital component of the point of view of folks on both sides. That emotional investment in the past, like a similar cultural emotion in the Former Yugoslavia, will not be easily suppressed.
If folks want to look at the failures of contemporary politiciand and statesmen (they are not the same thing, far fewer statesmen around these days) to make any headway, they need to appreciate, IMO, the complete unwillingness of the Arabs to make any sort of accomodation of immigrants to their sparsely populated land, and the parallel arrogance of the European based Jewry who emigrated there for a variety of reasons, be it fleeing the pogroms and ghettos of Europe or following the dream of Zion.
The ghosts of the past are still deeply embedded in the present, and form a vital component of the point of view of folks on both sides. That emotional investment in the past, like a similar cultural emotion in the Former Yugoslavia, will not be easily suppressed.
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete