Since the arrival of the Crusaders in the 11th century AD to the Levant, the West has never stopped dreaming of occupying and controlling the land of the Muslims. The West, after being defeated several times, has finally decided to use the Zionism cause (maybe even invented it) to plant its modern presence in the Middle East.
Israel today is nothing more than an outpost of the racist West ? underscoring its intent to permanently deprive the people of the Middle east of their freedom and liberty.
Why does the West feel such hostility to the Muslim and Arab World? Why is the West determined to keep the Arabs and Islam under constant turmoil? They are afraid of us. The West is fully aware of the power and potency of our civilization and religion. They are afraid that unless they keep the area engulfed in conflicts and wars, the Arab and Muslim will rise to overtake Europe and the Western civilization.
Israel?s presence in the Middle East enforces the Western objectives in keeping the natural resources of the Middle East under Western control while preventing the Arabs from rising to become a threatening force to the West.
The West has used Zionism to its advantage ? get rid of the European Jews and send them to Palestine while keeping them busy fighting the Arabs and the Arabs fighting them. A win-win situation to the West.
This is a war waged by the West against Arabs and Muslim. Israel is just one example of it.
I am a United States citizen, and have watched the Arab-Israeli conflict from afar for some time now. For what it is worth, there are a lot of us here in the states who are troubled by our government’s geopolitical strategies, and it is difficult to predict whether or not my nation will ever change its ways.
In response to the assumption we are afraid or are hostile to Muslims, I can only speak for myself and the culture I live within. I have no hostility towards Muslims, nor am I afraid of them. I have attended university with Muslims, worked with Muslims, and taught Muslim children in my technology/engineering classes. I grew up in a Christian home, I have Jewish roots, and now have little to do with religion all together. We have virtually nothing as historic as all of the holy sites in your region. Multiple generations of Americans are completed disconnected from what these places mean to all of you, or simply have never heard of them. This is unfortunate, but quite prevalent.
How do you get Americans’ attention? If you want to change how the American people view the Mideast and this conflict – I would recommend reality TV. I hate to say it, but many Americans are extremely shallow and ignorant unless they have something in front of them showing what a situation is really like. This may seem far fetched, but imagine a few mega hit reality shows that appeal to peoples’ emotions. You will never change Americans’ minds through our politicians and military leaders, unless those leaders take the lead (we all know how that has been working out..)
Lastly – all sides need to remember that there’s about 300 million+ people in the U.S. We’re not all bad or out to take advantage of everyone. There are millions of people just trying to make a living and enjoy life, and a lot of us hope that you all can find a way to coexist and do the same.
I believe that most in the West are not hostile towards Muslims. Unfortunately, at least some of those who are, are in power.
The only way that peace will be achieved is for the ‘peacemakers’ to keep the pressure and publicity up.
I am a Christian. My God does NOT condone what is happening in the Middle East. I do not think the God of Islam does either.
Many (most?) Australians are appalled at the situation in the Middle East.
May God’s peace be upon the people of Palestine, they deserve it. Indeed, upon all people of the region.
I find this comment objectionable because of its inherent prejudice. I would like to remind you, sir, that the only reason that there were ever Muslims in the Levant in the first place is that Muslims conquered it through their own “Crusade” – during the Islamic conquests in the 7th Century.
Arabs are no more indigenous to the Levant than were European Crusaders – both were foreign conquerors who harnessed religious zeal to further their imperial and expansionist territorial ambitions. All across the region we may still see remnants of the pre-Arab Middle East that remind us of this fact. The pre-Arab Copts of Egypt, the Christians/Animists of South Sudan, the Berbers of North Africa, the Jews, the Kurds, the Assyrians, and various other indigenous peoples who were conquered by the Arab-Islamic Empire.
I would like the author to consider these facts. I would like him to confront the inherent prejudice of his question, and explain why Islamic acquisition of territory by conquest is legitimate, while the conquests of all others are illegitimate and labeled “occupations.”
If one considers the question objectively, Syria is just as much a “Crusader state” as Israel.
Just in reply to the above comments, i have to disagree with your comment about ‘we both have a rightful claim to this land’. I don’t believe in Jewish folklore so why should i believe in your ‘historical right of the promised land’. The question that keeps buzzing in my head is how can some one live in some else’s house and think it’s OK! What happened in 1948 is considered ethnic cleansing, the local population which im sure many of them existed on this land for centuries perhaps even before the rise Judaism.
and as per calling Syria or other Arab nations “Crusader states”, a genetic study showed that over 50% of today’s population of Egypt are descendants from the same stock as the ancient Egyptians and the rest are the result of Greek, Roman, Sub-Saharan African as well as Arabic admixture, so this is just an example that shows you that the people who live in this region are the same people who lived here for centuries and the whole Islamic conquer was a switch from Coptic/Aramaic to Arabic with some Arabian waves of settlers which wouldn’t make a huge impact on the ‘indigenous’ population of those regions since it happened through out centuries (some of even predates Islam e.g. Lakhmids and Ghassanids) unlike the Israeli way.
You might say im an Israeli who was born in Israel and didn’t choose to make an ‘Alyah’ to Israel? I’d say I wouldn’t blame you for being born on this land as long as you choose not to live an apartheid regime which supports the oppression of the Palestinians. On the other hand, I believe your parents or grandparents who chose to go and live in Israel are part of this tragedy and are guilty. To be honest I personally have different views on Israelis. There are those who oppose Israel’s crimes and protest against the government, and yet the majority see happy to support the killing, murder and pillage of Palestinian land. These Israelis are nothing more than accomplices to Israelis genocide. Why was Israel created? It was created on the back of the holocaust which took place in Western Europe. So why not ask yourself, IF it were the German Nazis who committed the crimes then why not relocate the Jews by giving them a part of Germany as compensation? why do the Palestinians have to suffer. The jews came into Palestine, and stole land. To this day they build their walls, they DEMOLISH PEOPLES HOMES, they build settlements, they kills children and use white phosphorus. They have just killed people in a boat carrying aid to Palestinians because Israel has created the biggest open air prison in Gaza. A top Israeli commander recently threatened a bigger holocaust against the Palestinians? I could seriously go on for a long time. I just want to know how Israelis feel about this.
I don’t want this to devolve into the usual fights over the history, but it’s disingenuous to call the 1947-8 events an unprovoked or planned ethnic cleansing. After the UN partition, no Arabs were displaced, and the Jews accepted the arrangement. The refugee crisis was created by the ensuing war, which the Palestinians started and in which they intended to take all the land back. It’s a shame to still see things in such zero sum terms, as such thinking has repeatedly and painfully failed the Palestinians more than anyone. Also, don’t expect to garner sympathy while simultaneously being resentful of Jews for fleeing or surviving the Holocaust. What happened to that famed Arab hospitality?