I have studied Israeli-Palestian conflict for 9 years (middle-east in general, but this one in specific), many times much more deeply than a normal person would (or should). I have spoken to many Israelis, conservative Jews, non-Zionist Jews, non-Israeli Jews, Palestinians, Lebanese, Egyptians and Iranians about the conflict (unfortunately only few from Jordan or Saudi Arabia). I have read a lot of literature on this subject, read many UN resolutions and watched a whole lot of documentaries. I have spoken to Lebanese whose relatives were dragged away by Palestinian militants from refugee camps in Beirut only for bodies to turn up next day. I have spoken to Jewish people who lived in the forest for years during the second world war during Nazi persecution. I have spoken to Jews from Chabad house after the Mumbai Attacks (not the one in Mumbai). I have talk to ex-israeli military personnel about six-day war and Yom-Kippur war and the summer war of 2006. I have argued Lebanese POV on Sheeba farms with Israelis, Israeli POV on Golan heights with Syrians and have heard concerned Palestinians talking about the first unity government - both when it was formed and when it collapsed. Having said all this, I can tell you that this conflict dates back, at least to Theodore Herzl and the anti-semitic pogroms in Eastern Europe and Russia in the early 1900s. The mess that happened during the inter-war years after the Ottoman Empire collapsed is itself hard enough to fully analyze and comprehend. And even beyond the origins of the problems, what happened after Israel was born is an entirely new mess in its own right. That is why the Israeli-Palestinian problem is so complex and why many people have failed trying to resolve it. Now why do I write this? Because, all of a sudden, Facebookers have woken up to the conflict now and are suddenly taking positions and making simplistic arguments to justify their positions. It is not just the facebookers. I now hear such, uh, unshopisticated talk, in coffee rooms - some supporting Palestinians because Israel is killing children and some supporting Israelis because Israel is not India to put up with rocket attacks by terrorists etc. This lunacy reached a peak when AAP released a statement concerning the conflict that read like someone when to youtube, watched two videos, made up his mind and released the statement. This is not the first time Israel is bombing Hamas sites in Gaza and definitely not the first time Israel has had to drop bombs in densely populated areas. Ok, what I am trying to tell you is - You dont know sh** about this conflict. Stop taking positions and stop exchanging PR videos made by Pro-Israelis and Pro-Palestinians...all taking narrow views. Kindly go and study the conflict more, like I did. And then you will know why I am not taking any positions.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 09:33:01 +0000
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