The Question of all Questions

Zionism - (as defined by Wikipedia.org) is a political movement and ideology that supports a homeland for the Jewish People in the Land of Israel.

During and shortly after World War II and the Holocaust, most of the Jewish people (the ones who were able to evade the camps) left Europe. A lot of them left for America; however some came to Palestine (a British Mandate at the time.) These Jewish settlers, for the most part, had the intent on creating a Jewish homeland in the holly lands around Jerusalem. They became known as Zionist (a term which had been in common use since the mid-nineteenth century when the idea of creating a Jewish homeland first came about.)

The British Empire had no intention of letting the Jews settle in Palestine and tried to force those who had come to the territory to leave. As a result, the Jewish people began to fight back using, what some would call, terrorist tactics. However to other Zionist, they were freedom fighters.

Finally, after a lot of lives were lost, because of the “Arab-Jewish conflict,” the United Kingdom gave up the mandate and passed the responsibility of overseeing Palestine to the United Nations.

In 1947, The United Nations General Assembly created and passed the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine which created three states out of the British Mandate: Palestine, Jordan, and Israel. The plan was celebrated by Jewish leaders; however it was rejected by many Arab leaders. This of course led to several wars (which Israel won.) Palestinian, Syrian, and Egyptian land was annexed by Israel and then later much of it was given back.

Tensions still continue and everyday Palestinian terrorist/freedom fighter organizations and Israel’s Defense Forces come head to head. This holy land has become one of the most dangerous places to live and everyone says they want peace, but on their terms.

Zionist claim that the land belongs to the Jews, because they have no where else and it was their home before they were kicked out by the Romans, in the second century. Anti-Zionist say that the land belongs to the Palestinians, because they had already made the area their home before the Jews started coming in the 1940’s. The area around Jerusalem is also considered holly to the Muslims.

So what do you think? Does the land belong to the Jews, the Palestinians, or should they be sharing it?

In response to the question on Zionism:

Based on some of my religous beliefs that I have I believe that the land belongs to the Jewish race. The jews were given that land as the promised land, before they were kicked out by the romans. Archaeolgists have proved through many digs, that obviously was the old promised or holy land. I think this issue will only be resolved eventually through war, even though that it is a sad option. Their is way to much hatred on both sides for the opposing force to just allow the other one to have the full land. In fact if it wasn't for the United States, Isreal would most likely have already been invaded by one of the surrounding countries. I think eventually Israel will be given its full land whether or not if it is through a peace treaty or war, and I feel that it is rightfully theirs.

Andrew

Boycott of Palestinian Authority? Yay or Nay?

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which has limited jurisdiction of the areas referred to as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, was originally created in 1954 as a government organization with the goal of the destruction of Israel. In 1988, the PLO changed their charter so that one of their goals would be that of a two state solution. That decision was made between Yasser Arafat, the chairman of the PLO, and Yitzhak Rabin, the former Prime Minister of Israel. Yasser Arafat passed away, in 2004, in a French hospital and was succeeded by Muhammad Abbas who was a member of the majority Fatah political party.

On January 25 of this year, the PLO held elections where Hamas, which is known for being a terrorist/freedom fighter organization and has taken the claim for several suicide attacks, unexpectedly won 72 of the 132 seats in the legislature taking the majority from the Fatah party for the first time ever.

The election results stunned the world and resulted in the pulling of funds, to the PLO, from the United States, the European Union, and Israel. Israel pulled the fifty million dollars that it collects and gives back to the Palestinians from tax and customs revenues from the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority employs about 140,000 people with an operating budget of about 1.9 billion dollars a year. However, before the funds were pulled, the Authority was already operating with 750 million dollars in debt every year. Since the boycott began two months ago, no one who is employed by the Authority has been paid which has crippled the economy.

What is been hurt the most are the hospitals, once considered to be some of the best in the world. Supplies are running low and human resources are running short in this government funded industry.

The United States, the European Union, and Israel originally said that they will reinstate payments until Hamas renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel.

On the 9^th of May, Dor, an Israeli gasoline and fuel company, cut off it supplies to the Palestinian Authority who had run up a twenty-six million dollar debt with the company.

Also on the 9^th, the United States and the European Union made an agreement, at the United Nations, to make a mechanism to help pay for the medical and other aid as well as help pay for the salaries of many of the government employees. The goal is to keep the Palestinian economy running with out giving money to Hamas and the PLO.

Recently, Israel also decided to re-begin payments to the Palestinian people.

On the 12^th of May some Hamas leaders, who are currently imprisoned by Israel, released a plan to recognize Israel with in the 1967 borders as well as to discontinue acts of terrorism except in the Jewish settlements which are located in the West Bank. However, other Hamas leaders, who are not imprisoned, have refuted this claim.

Is it a good idea for the United States, the European Union, and/or Israel to help support the employees of the Palestinian Authority even with Hamas still in power?

The Wall

In 2002, the Israeli government began building a 419 mile long wall, which winds around and through the West Bank, in order to separate it from Israel as well as Jewish Settlements in the West Bank. About 95% of the wall is a 16 ft tall barbed wire fencing with a concrete base. The other 5% is a 26 ft tall concrete wall spotted with guard towers (meant to protect Israelis from gunfire.) On both sides of the wall, rolls of razor wires have been placed and a 13 ft deep ditch has been dug to keep pedestrians and vehicles from crossing. It has also separated many Palestinians from their communities, schools, hospitals, and mosques as wells as places of work. In the current plan, 10,000 Palestinians are on the Israeli side of the wall.

The wall has become known as the "separation fence" (geder ha'hafrada in Hebrew) to many Israelis and "racial segregation wall" (jidar al-fasl al-'unsuri in Arabic) to many Palestinians.

The United Nations highest court, in 2004, found the barrier to be illegal and ordered it to be dismantled. The Israeli government, rejecting the UN's order, claims that it is vital in protecting Israeli Jews from terrorist attacks and pointing to the UN decision as "one-sided, highly politicized and biased." However most of the terrorist/freedom fighters, who attempted (successfully and unsuccessfully) to attack Israeli Jews, came from the Gaza Strip and not the West Bank. It should be noted, that there have been instances where Jewish Israelis have engaged in terrorism by attacking Arab Israelis.

Both the Israeli government and members of terrorist/freedom fighter organizations (like Islamic Jihad) are in agreement that since the government began construction of the West Bank wall there has been a drastic decrease in the number of suicide attacks in Israel. Members of Islamic Jihad have said openly that it is much harder to infiltrate into Israel.

Some have questioned if the wall will set the new boundary, between Israel and the West Bank, which the Knesset, Israel’s legislative body, plans to draw before 2010, in conjunction with plans to continue disengagement. The Knesset has rejected these claims.

The first stage of disengagement took place over this previous summer with the evacuation of five thousand Israelis from Jewish settlements, in the Gaza Strip. The second stage will remove some 250,000 Israelis from the West Bank, in order to establish a larger Jewish majority in the Knesset as well as to full fill an agreement that was made with Hamas last year. In the agreement, Hamas promised to a cease fire with Israel; a promise which the new political party has kept.

In 1994, the Israeli government built a wall around the Gaza Strip, but the wall was built along the border and did not invade on Palestinian land making it far less controversial then the West Bank wall.

The question, on the table, is: is Israel justified in building this wall (which is about thirty percent complete) in order for the protection of its Israeli citizens, but at the same time restricting the rights of those peoples who reside in the West Bank?

Disengagement: Who's Fault?

On July 12, of last year, I was browsing a few stores, with my friends, in a Hasharon mall in Netanya, Israel. We didn’t stay very long, but when we did finally get back to one of my Israeli friend’s apartments (which was about 30 minuets walking distance); we got a phone call that the entrance to the mall had been blown up by a suicide bomber. I still had friends in the mall. Later we found out that there were five fatal casualties and 90 people were injured. I was thankful to learn that none of my friends were physically hurt thou we were all in psychological pain.

Today, after a recent election in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Hamas (considered freedom fighters by the Muslim world and terroist by Israel, United States, and the European Union) has taken fifty-six percent of the seats in the Palestinian Legislature. This may become a problem for the people living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank because foreign nations (including Israel and the United States) have removed funding that were used to support the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Some Muslim countries (Iran and Syria for example) have stepped up donations to the Palestian Liberation Organization. Now, most recently, Islamic Jihad, another terroist/freedom fighter organization, has orchestrated another terrorist attack that killed nine people in Tel Aviv. This being the first attack since Hamas took control of the PLO; an attack witch Hamas has openly celebrated. This most recent attack is the deadliest attack against Jewish Israelis since an attack in Beersheba in 2004, where 16 people were lost their lives.

Most people, of western thought, blame this violence on Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other "Jihadist" groups in Israel/Palestine. I think that some of the blame needs to go to the former Likud party, under the formal control of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. In November of last year, Sharon formed the Kadima party (now the strongest party in Israel’s Knesset) after heavy confrontations with members of the Likud party, including former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over disengagement.

Disengagement was a really hot topic over the summer of last year. Israel, under the control of a coalition led by Ariel Sharon, had plans to remove the ten thousand Jews from there homes in the Gaza Strip and norhern West Bank. Despite mass protest by civilians and soldiers the disengagement went better then planned (taking only three weeks instead of the expected two months.)

This did cause one very big problem, in my opinion. It gave Hamas something to rally for. They took credit for the disengagement saying that it was because of the terrorist attacks (orchestrated by Hamas and Islamic Jihad) that Israel decided to leave the territory. This, I believe, is why Hamas won the election for control of the PLO. Now, the Kadima Party (which is under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s control because of Ariel Sharon’s unfortunate coma) wants to go threw with stage two of disengagement where Israel will remove some 250,000 Jewish residents of the West Bank. I only fear for what repercussions will come from such an action; especially when parts of East Jerusalem (a holy city for all three religions of Abraham) are disengaged.