Both Israel and Palestine are small plots of land recognized as nations of people. Both want the same exact land for their people. Israel was granted power over Palestine and the outcome today reflects that power.
If Israeli settlers are moving into the West Bank with the intention of populating the entire area, that should be ruled an international crime. It is a form of genocide and the United Nations knows it. All Israeli settlers in the West Bank need to be removed by a peacekeeper force that will defend the borders of the West Bank from aggressive and/or passive occupation by Israel.
The reason there is no allowance for Palestinians anywhere in the occupied territories is that Israel has convinced other major powers it can rule over land in peace and every person within those lands will have an opportunity for greater quality of life.
Every major power in the world is convinced Hamas is the real authority in Palestine and to validate them as leaders will only escalate the conflict. That is incorrect. Hamas is the only POWER within Palestine that is proven to hold on to land.
The international community gave the Jewish people a place on Earth where they could live without others having power over them and then left the rest of the timeline to fate. That was an error.
Israel obviously has strong allies that provide all kinds of weapons to rule the land, but, the Palestinian people are completely disarmed to protect their land and as a consequence, they have lost enormous swaths of land over the decades. My revelation, while not unique, is the impetus that will only increase the resolve of Israel to not only take the West Bank and Gaza but, to expand further into countries near their borders and beyond. The Israeli leadership today are expansionists with no determined end to their plans. Of course, they will deny that, but, it is true. Israel eyes Syria and believes it is best to rule the land and provide for all people.
There is no leadership in Israel or Washington, DC today that will allow peacekeepers on the land to protect Palestinians. The fact the USA backs Israeli ideologues should be a crime as well. The USA has a veto power within the UN Security Council and that is what maintains the conflict between the two nations of people and provides for Israeli expansion.
NO ONE can deny Israel has expanded from the original land granted to the Jewish people. I don't want to hear there is a better solution for the region because of Israeli leadership's grandiose ideas that have worked. That is a lie. If their ideas worked there would not be dead unarmed Palestinians. There are dead unarmed Palestinians because the world believes they are violent people as defined by Israel. They are violent people because they have no other choice, ie: Gaza.
Israel has set itself on a path of expansion for decades now and it has reached it's limit. Currently, Netanyahu has plans to expand Israel at any cost under the guise of establishing peace. Israeli settlers have to leave the West Bank and Gaza has to be provided relief from persecution by Israel. The people are suffering and it needs to stop. Israel cannot continue to impose suffering as a measure to require peace. Stop demanding President Abbas bring Hamas under control, that will never happen because Abbas has not been able to end the occupation and settlements, even in the West Bank.
Current Israeli leadership is grossly inadequate to end violence in the lands. That has to be a fact the international community has to recognize. Israel has been completely unable to establish peace between the two peoples while its settlements and occupation have created an intractable circumstance. That is the truth and the international leadership must impose that value on Israel. It has an extremist ideology, no different than Palestineans at this point in history.
Israel is not capable of peace because of the power it has compared to the land it occupies. Israel, in the past, has been a beacon for all Jewish people. Its leadership has been instrumental in providing for peaceful existence for it's diaspora. That is Israel's mission. Increasing violence in the land of Israel is destroying that mission.
The current leadership in Washington, DC and Israel are capable of a war that will move borders. They are capable of creating a protracted war that will last for generations. Stop it now. Israel is wrong and outside of it's internationally recognized borders. That is the truth and the tragedy of the Palestinian people is directly related to the passive occupation of Palestinian lands.
It is proven there is no leadership in Israel capable of peace. Prime Minister Sharon was the world's last hope.
The Arab nations have to stand together to prevent opportunistic war since the end of Daesh with both Israel and Iran. The siege of Saudi Arab has to end as well. Both Israel and Iran are now fighting opportunistic wars where stabilization and normalization should be occurring. I believe sanctions of both Israel and Iran are in order if the violence does not end.
There needs to be an official map of the region. This map is completely disproportionate.
By Wajahat Ali
Should I lie to an Israeli soldier in order to be allowed to pray? (click here) This was a theological dilemma I never studied in Sunday school, one I never thought I would have to confront.
Anxious and on edge, the soldier was standing in front of me, rifle in hand, blocking my way, and all I had to do was tell him I was 50 years old, and then I could pray at one of Islam’s holiest sites. One minor problem: I’m 37. Typically, when violence happens in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israeli authorities ban men younger than 50 from entering Haram al-Sharif, the compound known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount. And there had just been a small—by Middle Eastern standards anyway—spasm of violence. Three Palestinians had shot and killed two Israeli police officers near al-Aqsa Mosque inside Haram al-Sharif, which led to Israeli retaliations, which led to mass Palestinian protests, which led to yet another predictable round of stories datelined Jerusalem about the legendary Middle Eastern “cycle of violence.”...
