Palestinian Bid For Statehood

[Shelley]

Isn't Hamas that stuff I put on my pita bread?

 

[TheLaw]

My apologies -- I deleted my posts in the hope that this conversation would simply end since there would be nothing left for dispute or conversation but yet it continued. I see it's not going to work either way so I'll sum up my thoughts.

This is a complex problem that requires everyone in the middle east being on board to bring about peace. It involves a time investment from every person with an opinion to understand terms used here, what is being said and really listening and taking to read more than you are. I am 100% pro peace and finding the right solution for the right reasons that can make that happen for the long term. But the only way to even propose a solution is by trying to fully understand the problem.

• We have one poster who thinks that the Israel-Palestinian conflict doesn't have to involve any discussion of the rest of the middle-east nor its bordering countries either. Not sure I need to expound on this one.
• We have another poster who is not or cannot appreciate the difference between (i) a country of Palestine which never existed and (ii) the region referred to as "Palestine" where many people lived stretched well into Jordan and Syria. People are not opposed to the creation of such a state as many of you insist. It's clever marketing that has you fooled into thinking one side is incorrigible combined with your failure to read what it means and who is and isn't on board. (See the reaction to the Sinai Treaty where Egypt made peace but Arafat considered this a "stab in the back" and Sadat was assassinated.)
• You've got one post convinced in his "proof" that anti-Jewish sentiment never even occurred in middle-east prior to 1948 -- only in Europe and in Russia -- until it was caused exclusively by the Zionists. This spontaneous combustion not only doesn't make sense, but the poster obviously didn't read the entire article, only the beginning, which states quite the contrary. In easy terms to understand - anyone see The Matrix? Cause and effect.
• You've got another article for "suggested reading" on the conflict authored by a man the poster evidently has some admiration for. But perhaps the poster was unaware that this man was kicked out of the UN for his vile and obvious bigotry. It takes a rather large act to be so displaced.
• You have another who thinks the parties should just "grow up" - I won't elaborate on this either.

I have been to the middle east many times. I have friendships with Palestinians, Jordanians, Muslims, Christians and Jews. Most of them are people just like you and me who have the same concerns, the same sensitivities and truly wish that more could be done. You cannot lump all of the people together in one pile and pretend like it is one group versus another. You cannot ignore the fact that there are a significant number of extremists who must be also on board in order for peace to happen - and they have an entire culture that is completely foreign to any of you. This includes very powerful people - such as Ahmadinejad - who have made their agenda clear. (Who funds radical groups?) The amount of misinformation and misunderstanding in this thread is astounding and that should stop too -- so my suggestion is to create a suggested reading list and move onto something else.

 

[Kier]

And I think that is a good point at which to end the discussion here. Let us conclude with a link to the most recent headline, and agree to take this discussion to a website more suited to it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15033357