The final solution to the Middle East conflict.

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis

Tuesday April 20, 2004 11:48

by John Boy Walton

What should be done?

Many Irish people who wave Palestinian flags and march against Israeli brutality in the West Bank and Gaza believe quite rightly in my opinion that israel should withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza anbd Golan and remove Jewish settlements.
It will solve many problems will not be satisfactory to Palestinians and the greater Arab world.

As you know since the time of Exodus when Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt and the biblical kingdom of Israel was established there have been Jews living in Palestine.
When the Romans finally defeated the Jewish uprisings of the first century A.D. the kingdom was laid waste and the Temple of Jersusalem destroyed.
Small numbers of Jews remained while the rest scattered throughout Europe, Africa and Asia.
Arabs who lived side by side with Jews for millenia expanded and filled the void and the memory of Israel faded into history.
Many times Jews were persecuted and some of them returned to live in Palestine which by the late twentieth century was part of the Ottomon Empire.
Post World War 1 the British controlled Palestine and after serious fighting and attacks by both Jews and Arab terrorists they left in 1948. The Jews and the Arabs turned on each other.The Jews won out and so the State of Israel was established.
Of course all through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Jews in European countries had been moving to Israel but not in any significant numbers. It has always been the aspiration of Jews to return but most European Jews prefered to consider themselves French, German, British, Irish or East European or Russian.
Anti-semitism rose to murderous heights in the 1930's and during World War 2 and this was the turning point. Millions of Jews fled to live in Israel and Zionism inspired them to establish a Jewish state in the land supposedly given to them by Yahweh.
Since 1948 this has meant constant warfare with the Arabs.
The occupation of the Golan Heights prevents Syria attacking through the strategic valleys of that region.
The occupation of the West Bank means no Arab army can attack across the Jordan river.
The occupation of Gaza and before that of the Sinai peninsula means that Egypt cannot attack Israel from the south.
The former occupation of Lebanon meant that there was a buffer from an attack from the north.
Basically the Israeli mindset is of their state under seige.
But also the Jews see this territory as their birthright according to the Bible.

But wasn't all this done by the explusion of Arabs from their land by the Jews.
Yes that's true.
Aren't Jews occupying The West Bank and Gaza and Golan and attempting to colonise it? Yes they are.

When Arabs call for a Free Palestine they don't mean the return of the West Bank, Gaza and Golan. They mean the end of the State of Israel and the return of Arabs to their former lands.
There are just over 6 million Israelis living in this area. 20% are Arabs and 80% are Jewish of which 20% were born in Israel.
Non Israeli Arabs are quite clear that the Jews will have to leave.
The question is would the Jews agree?
They have one of the most modern armies in the world and possess 200 nuclear weapons and have the support of the United States the only remaining world superpower.
The Jews would hardly go peacefully.
How would they be made go then?
Arabs say by jihad. A holy war against Israel.
They don't have the military capbility to defeat the Jews so they use the tactics of guerilla war and terrorist attacks.
Can they realistically destroy Israel by these tactics and force almost 6 million Israelis to leave?
Israel are not justified in occupying the West Bank and Gaza and quite rightly should give it back to the Arabs and let them set up a Palestinian state and remove the Jewish settlements.
But is it reasonable to expect the state of Israel to cease to exist and for the Jews to return to Europe, Africa and Asia?
Certainly not unless you want a genocidal war in the Middle East.
What should be done then?
Clearly Israel will not negotiate with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world unless such extremist ideas are abandoned.
Then the Palestinians will be allowed to have their own state.
Terrorist attacks against Israel would have to end and Israeli occupation and settlements would have to finish.
The fact is uncomfortable to Arabs but the fact remains that Israel exists and it will only cease to exist unless there is genocide commited against the Jews on a scale exceeding the Nazi extermination.
Thats just not tenable.
Israel and Palestine will just have to exist side by side.