The beginning of last year saw the creation of a new student discussion group, the Middle East Group or MEG, as some of us fondly called it. As a member, I was in the Palestinian camp. Since back in those days I was ardently pro-Palestine, I used to feel that the Palestinians were the oppressed class, the innocent people being forced by the "cruel" Israelis into committing suicide-bombings.
However, over the past three months I spent at home in Seattle, I learned much about conflicts in other parts of the world. I now feel that there are struggles at least as important, and possibly more important, than the Israel-Palestine conflict to which we need to pay attention. I mentioned Chechnya in my last article. Kashmir is another. The constant civil wars in East Africa definitely need to be resolved. Operation Iraqi Freedom is the most recent of these conflicts that deserves our attention.
But whenever we talk about conflicts, we always pay greatest attention to the Israel-Palestine issue, a wholly unnecessary struggle, with the Palestinian goal totally unattainable under any circumstances in today's world.
Why? I believe this is primarily because Israel is one of the world's most powerful countries, militarily. It is said to possess nuclear weapons, although this has never been confirmed by Israel. Armies around the world use Israeli-made guns and bombs, or so I have read.
Perhaps most importantly, Israel is backed by the United States, the lone super-power in the world. The only nation in the world that can project its forces around the world is the United States It is also the only country that has the ability to fight a war on more than two fronts, as is apparent today. And, we cannot forget the United States' history of supporting Israel in the Security Council, consistently vetoing any anti-Israeli or pro-Palestinian resolution. As the Palestinians can testify, Israel can very well imprison each and every Palestinian who lives on its territories if it wants to.
Economically, Israel is better-off than most Arab countries and is definitely richer than Arafat's ragged land. The Jewish population in the United States is one of the most affluent, and they continue to influence American Foreign Policy in the Middle East. The Jewish community continues to support Israel in its "war" against the Palestinians both financially and verbally, as I remember from our heated MEG discussions.
On the other hand, the Palestinians are dirt-poor. Most of them live in refugee camps or in substandard conditions in their homelands. Their only weapons are those bought from illegal sources. Suicide bombing is their only effective tactic. As we all are well aware, this involves the killing of innocent civilians.
Palestinians in the United States are a minority within a minority. If you remember, Arabs make up a tiny percentage of Muslims around the world and the Palestinians (or whatever's left of them) make up an even tinier percentage of these Arabs. So, they are unable to sway the American authorities to their side.
Of course, in many ways, the Palestinians are themselves to blame for this continued fighting. Each time the United States, the European Union or even Israel proposes a peace-accord, Arafat and his corrupt, immoral goons are most eager to reject the offer even before analyzing it's pros and cons. They would like to push the Israelis into the Mediterranean Sea and take over the entire area. They would like control of all lands they had before 1967. None of this is going to happen, so it is time to accept a solution that will stop this killing.
What all of this amounts to is that the Palestinians have no chance, whatsoever, to win. They can never expect a free Palestine. Hence the title of this article. Stop this cold-blooded massacre of human beings on both sides. Stop this killing of innocent Israelis by Palestinian bombers and of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army. Stop all of this, for God's sake, so that we can devote more time and energy to other discords.
This is not to say that I do not support the Palestinian cause. I am not saying that the Palestinians are not justified in carrying on this fight. All I am saying is that there is no way that they are going to achieve their objective; there is no way that the Israelis are going to tolerate Arabs blowing themselves up in major Israeli cities. This needs to stop.
