An Analysis of the Middle East Situation

From a Palestinian perspective, the Jews are colonialists who displaced them. They colonized Palestine and called it Israel. Israel destroyed their villages and settled the immigrant Jews there, thus creating the Palestinian refugee problem.

The Palestinians justifiably feel they are victims through no fault of their own. They did not create the Holocaust, so why are they paying the price?

That is the Palestinian point of view. I respect it. From their perspective, they are right.

But the Palestinian refugee problem, although created by the war, has been perpetuated by the Arab nations. The Palestinian refugees are not the first refugees in human history. Wars create refugees. The difference is that in all past situations, refugees settle in countries they move to.

Except the Palestinians.

The Arab countries received them but did not accept them. They kept them in horrible conditions. In camps. Without employment. Without granting them citizenship (except for Jordan). In conditions that mimic a prison or worse.

In comparison, there were more than 820,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries between 1948 and 1972.   Approximately 200,000 who were expelled from the Arab countries settled in Europe and North America. Nearly all of the remaining 600,000 journeyed to Israel, where they were first settled in tents with quite strict rationing of food. There was not enough for everyone. At the time, Israel was being boycotted by most countries and the economic conditions were abysmal. The Jewish community world-wide opened its wallets and sent money to help settle the newcomers. The Jewish refugees were absorbed and rapidly became part and parcel of Israeli society. One refugee from Iran became the President of the country. Another, also from Iran, was appointed chief of staff. A third one from Morocco was selected as a member of the cabinet.

That was not the case with the Palestinian refugees. In spite of billions of dollars the world community sent as assistance, their lives did not improve. A lot of the financial assistance was squandered by corrupt Palestinian leaders. The refugees remained in squalid camps for several generations, confined to misery and hopelessness.

Still the world sees Israel as the culprit.

Why keep the Palestinian refugee problem alive, you might ask? There were as many Jewish refugees as there were Palestinian refugees, but no one talks about that. The Jewish refugees have become an invisible part of history because they do not exist anymore – they were absorbed. Became productive citizens. Not so with the Palestinians.

Why?

Because if they were absorbed, the Palestinian refugee problem would disappear and the case against Israel would become weak, if not eliminated. Neither the Palestinians nor the Arab countries want that.

Why?

Because Israel is a foreign body in their midst. And I strongly suspect they do not want to accept the fact that they lost their land.

It is part of the Muslim culture never to give up land. They still lament losing Spain, although it happened over five hundred years ago.

Today if a Palestinian sells land to a Jew, he will be assassinated in the dark of the night.

The Muslim culture is very land oriented. That is what Muslims are attached to.

OK, that is the problem. What is the solution?

Will one state for both the Palestinian and Jews be the solution?

Well, do Muslims integrate or take over? Will the returning refugees integrate with Israeli society and live in peace with the Jewish population?

Look what is happening in Europe. Not only the latest mass immigration from Syria, but what has happened for the past, say, fifty years. The Muslims did not, nor do they migrate to become Europeans. They come to settle in Europe. And there is a difference.

They settle part of a city and if you visit it, it does not look like a European city at all. You feel you are back in some small village somewhere in the Middle East.

They build their own schools, their own house of prayer. Follow their own laws. They do not integrate. Granted, there are exceptions, but it appears the Muslim immigrants do not accept the values and culture of the host country. On the contrary, they want the country to adopt their values and culture. Over time, with high reproduction rates they spread across the host country. Eventually they become the dominant force in that nation and Islamization of that country is complete.

Look what happened in Kosovo. It was never an Albanian province. It was Serb. For generations. The Albanian Muslims were a minority.

Over time, due to high reproduction rates and illegal inflow from Albania, they became a majority and terrorized the Serbs who became a threatened minority in their own country. And now Kosovo is requesting recognition as a sovereign country. A Muslim country.

The Palestinians did not get along with the Christians in Lebanon. Egypt closed its border with Gaza and does not allow any Palestinians into Egypt. Why? Because they might destabilize the delicate balance between Coptic Arabs versus Muslim Arabs. Saudi Arabia does not accept them either.  If they do not get along with their brothers and sisters, those that share their language, history and even religion, why would they live in peace with the Jews in Israel in the one state for all solution? Especially taking into account the hatred that exists?

Do the Palestinians really want peace?  Watch what they are doing not what they are saying. Just analyze history. Anytime negotiations get close to an agreement, the Palestinians pull out using some excuse. The expression that captures their behavior is one that Israeli diplomat Abba Eban coined: the Palestinians never miss the opportunity to miss an opportunity…to have peace. Many Israelis are convinced the Palestinians do not want peace because they will never give up on the land they lost. Period.

So, can the one state for all solution work even if Israel is willing to forget the dream of a Jewish state and have a co-national state with the Palestinians? Will it work?  What evidence do we have it works anywhere? Where do the Muslims get along even among themselves?

How about a two state solution?

If it would bring peace, it is a wonderful solution. But many in Israel fear it. The fear is that the Palestinians, led by Hamas or another fundamental regime that will gain power in elections like they did in Gaza, will rain missiles into Israel just as they did from Gaza. And the Hezbollah supported by Iran will do it from Lebanon. Like they did in the last Lebanon war.  And the likelihood that the Palestinians led by Hamas will do so from the West Bank once they have their own state is not improbable. In this scenario, how will Israel survive? Surrounded by endless missiles launched from the North, East and South. To the West lies the sea.

The Palestinians insist on the 1967 borders. Do you know what those borders are? The narrowest point from the shores of the sea to the Eastern border where Palestine will be is less than nine miles. Show me a country that will take its chances and allow its declared enemy to be nine miles away. America almost went to war with Russia for placing its missiles in Cuba which is much further than nine miles away from the American border. Close your eyes and select a place from where you are sitting right now, a place that is nine miles away. Would you let Al Qaeda there?  Would you?

It is an interesting phenomena to study the so called peace process. Israel appears to be the one who is resisting peace although hundreds of thousands marched demanding concessions to the Palestinians so there could be peace. An Israeli Prime Minister was assassinated because he was seeking peace.

Show me a march of a dozen people marching for peace among the Palestinians. True, some Palestinian academics and a small group of well-meaning people appear here and there seeking peace. But as a political force, a grassroots movement for peace, none.

The Palestinians color the Israelis as the aggressor. It is an easy job to do. They are playing a tune the world recognizes: the tune of anti-Semitism. No matter what Israel does, it is considered the villain.

Take the last war in Gaza. The leaders of Hamas launched missiles from schools and hospitals attacking Israeli settlements.

If Israel dared to silence those missile pads, it would kill children, sick people in hospitals, and civilians. But that is where Hamas purposely positioned its missiles launching pads.  Israel dropped leaflets telling people to move out. They called by phone to urge people to depart before attacking the sites of those missile launching pads.  But Hamas countered by ordering the people to stay put…they used children as their shield.

The result: civilians did die. What a coup for Hamas to show the Israelis killing babies.

How do you fight an enemy that does not respect the life of its population? The enemy that spreads the belief that people who die in the war against the infidels will go straight to heaven and reside there forever?

I understand they have a reason for the hate. They lost their homes. Their land. And Israel inherited some refugee camps after the 1967 war and did nothing to change their conditions. They are people without a future. And without a present that is livable. It is not strange they hate Israelis and Jews in general and want a change in the status quo.

I also would agree that Israel has not handled its Arab minority well. They are second-class citizens in spite of having an Arab on the Supreme Court, Arab consuls serving abroad representing Israel, and Arab doctors that serve in its hospitals. And, in spite of Israel opening its universities to the Arab population and giving them more political freedom than any neighboring Arab country has been willing to grant the Palestinians in their midst, I still admit the Arabs in Israel are second class citizens and Israel could have done more and better.

What about the Israeli settlements on the West bank? I believe Israel should cease its settlement expansion. The situation is bad enough, so why aggravate it? But will it bring peace?  I doubt it.

It seems no matter what action Israel might have taken, it would not have made a difference. The Palestinians want their land back and will work towards this goal even if it takes hundreds of years. The possibility of death is not an impediment. It is all for the cause. Do not listen to what they say. Look at what they do.

Maybe, maybe, if Israel was part of NATO and the European Union, and the new Palestinian state was demilitarized, attacking Israel would have been attacking the European Union and NATO.  Maybe that would have deterred the Palestinians from aiming to destroy Israel. But that will not happen. The European Union has its own problems. Does not need more.  And anti-Semitism would not allow such a solution anyway.

The situation is dire. I see no exit. I cannot come up with any strategy that will bring a lasting peace. All proposed solutions appear to make the situation worse, not better.

How long will the Israelis hold on? Sacrifice their sons and daughters on the battleground? How much more blood will Israel be willing to bleed? The situation is and will get worse and worse. But I cannot see how to reverse the situation.

I am pessimistic and pray that Israel is strong enough to sail through the storm, although it is going to be an ongoing storm for many years to come.

I wish and pray I am wrong.

Just thinking and worrying.

Ichak Kalderon Adizes