Israel and Palestine
After decades of war, peace talk efforts and terrorism, Israel and Palestine still do not agree upon what is holding peace out of their grasps. Yet, they continue to fight, and continue to disagree. They continue to fight because they are fighting for two distinct classifications of peace. Israel wants safety; to live in a land where they can be unafraid to walk down the street, or ride on a bus, or walk into a restaurant. Palestinians, on the other hand, see no peace with the creation of a Palestinian state. Their peace will come with the acquisition of their own land. Is there a way for each of the two sides to find their peace? Israelis feel that they have come to an impasse. They have not felt safe in their own country for decades, and yet, they see no end to the fighting. They do not see a peace in sight. While Israelis would like to believe that with the help of the United States, an agreement will be reached, very few would actually admit that they see it as a viable solution to their seemingly never-ending struggles. In an article about the need for a new sort of peace movement, David Newman, the chair of the department of politics and government at Ben Gurion University in Israel, expresses his opinion that
" Yet, he gives no solution to the problem that indicates any compromise, leaving the question: what shall the Israelis do once they are shocked? On the other side of the world, the United States wonders what to do to help. Benedictus De Spinoza, an ancient Jewish philosopher also commented on the path to peace. Newman suggests that the two sides reach a solution rather than an agreement. Abu-Zayyad's article, which is appropriately titled "Land: The Core of the Conflict," expresses the Palestinian view of what has occurred during the past five decades with regards to the disputed land. "The Palestinian population has very different opinions of the concept of peace, and should not be expected to think that the Israeli government, which has treated them so unfairly in the past, would allow them to live, at the least, in physical freedom. Both sides must avoid unilateral actions that gratuitously provoke the other. Yet, Newman understands that even these right-wingers must want "an end to warfare and bloodshed," which is why Israelis agreed to the Oslo Agreements in 1993 and 1995. Palestinians feel that their land was stolen through supposedly "legal" means such as the 1948 Land Law, which stated, that "any land not in active cultivation for three years, was considered "neglected. He believes that "we can live as correct neighbors, and slowly, build up a level of trust through years of hard work, of proving to each other that neither of us poses a threat to the other, that each of us can live our lives in freedom - physical and spiritual - and that we can devote our energies and attentions to improving the quality of humankind rather than destroying it. " Although the United States admits to having "vital strategic and economic interests" in the region, the Israelis and Palestinians must work with one another to make peace. Included in this is the necessary observation of what Middle-Eastern peace will resolve. Edward Walker, the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Studies somewhat agrees with many of Newman's ideas. They now wonder if it is worth the time and effort to deal with the Palestinians whom they see as violent terrorists.
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