Middle Eastern Violence

As many of you may have seen on the news, there is currently a large amount of violence taking place in the middle east, particularly in the Gaza strip between the Palestinians and the Israelis. While the United States is pro-Israel, we must remember historically that the nation of Israel was created right in the middle of Palestinian territory, leading to conflict. Many argue that the Israelis deserved a homeland...especially following the Holocaust. However, the Palestinians and many Muslims argue that the land was theirs to begin with...what are your thoughts on the matter? and how do you think this bloody stand-off will end?

This is a very interesting topic, Cory, and I'm very pleased you brought this up. My stance on the issue is 50/50.

I was and never will be an advocate of meaningless war, but I truly believe that in this case, Israel has the right to retaliate. After all these years, all I've ever heard about Israel was that there was a bombing that claimed many innocent lives. Every week up until recently, there was always a car bombing, or a suicide bomber, even a bulldozer going on a rampage! So Yes! In part, I back Israel but only to a certain extent.

War will always be paid with the blood of many innocents, and unfortunately, this is what Israel's onslaught claims even as I type this response. To be hated and ripped by you enemy is one thing, but to abandon honor and dignity to become what your enemy is, that's just disgraceful. Perhaps there truley is no other way to deal with this very issue. From my perspective, Those responsible for Israel's bombings and massacres throughout the ages are not willing to negotiate any deals with Israel. What makes me say this; Have you notcied that the Palestanian army has yet to retaliate against the Israeli army? They're too busy bombing the country of Israel rather than coming to the aid of their people.

To answer the last question, I don't think there will ever be an end. War has changed a great deal. There is no end, it will always continue. The enemies of today will stop at nothing to get the last word even if it means killing themselves in the process for an ideal that not everyone believes in. War is now an issue of genocide and religion more than what it ever was. I believe that in the time and age we live in today, War shouldn't be about such issues. But unfortunately, it is.

I disagree, religion was always a part of war. Just go back around 10 centurys back and remember the crusades. PLus all this conflicts would have never begun if they didnt put the israelis to where they are. Why didn't they put them in some part of the US so that they would be far from there ennemy's. Putting the israelis where they are now was already 50% of the start of continuous war.

But I agree with th fact that palestiniens are doing nothing to agaisnt the israelis right now. They also have alot of "friends" around that could help them. But if it still goes on like this, then Israel will gain total control of the middle east taking most of the arabc countrys around including palestin, lebanon, jordan and syria.

Interesting topic, Cory.

For the most part, I agree with Blitzsword. I don't like war, but there isn't really an alternative for Israel at this point (short of commiting mass suicide or letting themselves be bombed...[sarcasm]What, they don't like my alternative?!?! Really?!?!?[/sarcasm]) Negotiations don't really interest the terrorists (except to see how much we'll give them before they have to start taking...which feels like everything at this point....)

I'll admit I don't know everything about what's going on in the Gaza Strip, but whether or not Palistine has a right to Israel's land (I'll get to that in a sec) the terriosts (Hamas is a terrorist organization) have NO excuse to lauch 800+ rockets at Israeli civilians.

Israel's said that it does NOT intend to retake the Gaza Strip, but to stop the terrorists from launching more rockets. As long as it sticks to that, I don't really see how anyone could blame Israel.

Waaar wrote:

Why didn't they put them in some part of the US where they would be far from their enemies? Putting them there was 50% of the of continuous war.

I'll admit that this is the part I don't know too much about but technically, Israel does belong to the Israelis so why give them something else? And seriously, what does Palestine really need with Israel?

P.S. A little off topic, but where do you get that religion was ALWAYS (or even most of the time) part of war? Yes, the crusades were holy wars (who's main purpose was Defensive against the serious threat from the muslims in the east, not Offensive, though they did attempt to recapture the Jesrusalem.)but the crusades (and jihads they were fighting against) were a long ways from being the only wars.

What about WW2. Hitler did kill the jeus people in that war. What about the expansion of spain and the attempt of getting the native american to be christians. what about the war that almost was gonna happen because of the king of England who went agaisnt the will of the vatican and changed the christianism in his land.

OK not all wars were based on religion but alot of them were or atleast religion had a certain role in it.

This is very interesting. I'll throw in a little bit of information to help move things along...

The small landmass known as Palestine has been under conflict for literally thousands of years. As many of you know, this is because it is considered a "holy land" to all three of the monotheistic religions(christianity, Islam, and Judaism)...and Jerusalem is considered the most precious area of all. While the Jews were the first people to inhabit it(they were the first of the three religions), it was slowly overtaken by Islam during it's growth in the middle ages. The Jews have nearly always been a fragmented people-living throughout the world without a "nation" to call their own. Because of this, Muslims have been the dominant faction in Palestine(and the surrounding area) for centuries.

It's funny you should bring up Hitler Waaar. Although there had always been a strong desire to create a Jewish state in that place by many Americans and Europeans(many protestants believed Jesus would return if the Holy land was once again inhabited by Jews), Hitler's Genocide gave protestants the perfect reason to create this Jewish state. Out of guilt for the atrocities, the United Nations created Israel in 1948, moving many of the native Muslims into the Gaza region, and moving Jews into the area in their stead.

Ever since then, there has been a constant war for the territory. The Jews believe they have a right to the land, and the Muslims feel as though they were pushed out and bullied. Given the history, they are both right in some way...

And as for wars all being religious...there are some that aren't (like the recent Russian invasion of Georgia or WWI), but i would say the majority are.