Middle East

Imagine living in a nation were the government wasn't on your side. Everything that the government did was in there best interest without any consideration of the people. Imagine that your government was in a conflict with another government and this government had the power to say if you were getting food eat and water to drink. Imagine that in this so called nation the kids instead or going to school would rather throw rocks at members of the other nation instead of going to school. Imagine that one day that that kid that was throwing rocks might one day strap a bomb to himself and go and try to blow people up because he thinks it is the right thing to do. This is actually happing in the middle east. These so called nations are Israel and the Palestine state that is not yet a nation. In the middle east this is everyday life and all they know is that there government doesn't care for them so they continue to fight for a cause that will never be settled because their government doesn't want to come to an agreement. The United States is for peace and freedom for all people but they aren't doing enough to help out the middle east. The United States must take action to settle the conflict in the middle east to preserve life for the people and save the holy land. Before you can solve the problem in the middle east you have to understand how they became what they are today. It all started at the end of World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The southern portion of their empire was left to the British which they called "Palestine." The Jews stated to again migrate to the area and rid it of swamps and malaria, "they did not rid the land of the few Arabs that were there though(United)." For this reason many Arabs also migrated in to this area for a better quality of life. ""In 1923 Winston Churchill claimed he created, "in an afternoon," Trans-Jordan which separated Palestine into two parts(Kifner)." The new area east of the Jordan river was an Arab nation and called Trans-Jordan, meaning across the Jordan river, which today is known as Jordan. The land that lies west of the Jordan River remains Palestine, "which will soon be called Israel and imaginary Jewish land that is made reality(Bard 22)." The Arabs that live in the new Trans-Jordan wanted to take over the remaining part of Palestine. Trained by the British the Arabs invaded Palestine and tried to over-throw the Jews. It was obvious now to the Jews that they must fight the Arabs and keep out the British(United). After the Jews formed an army and began fighting the British stopped backing the Arabs and the issue was left up to the UN. The UN created the Partition Plan also know as Resolution 181. In this plan 25 percent of the Palestine Jewish state was offered to the Jews and the rest was going to be an Arab state. The Jews accepted this offer but the Arabs turned it down because they wanted it all(United). Since there wasn't a settlement here there would be another war. This time when the Arabs attacked the other Arab countries, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan joined in on the attack. This battle broke out in 1967 and was know as the Six Day War because it only lasted six days. This war backfired on the Arab nations at the end of the war the Jewish Palestine state, now called Israel, was victorious and took over the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and The Sinai Peninsula. The Gaza Strip and West Bank are Arab states and the Sinai Peninsula was part of Egypt. Unfortunately, Israel was now an "occupier" of 850,000 Palestinian Arabs from both West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These Arabs would refer to themselves as refugees from the previous war of 1967. . . , Israel is responsible for bringing about some of their own problems. The Arabs were packed and ready to leave when Israel persuaded them to stay (United).
The United States finally get involved to come up with a peace agreement. On September 17, 1978, President Jimmy Carter invited Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat, President of the Arab Egypt, and Menachem Begin, Prime Misnister of Israel met at Camp David and the Sinai Peninsula was agreed by Israel to be given back to Egypt (MFA). Since this agreement Egypt and Israel haven't had problems to this day. The problem now lies between the Arab Palestinians and Israel and the United States somewhat involve in the mid-east, but favor Israel since they are the only "friends" we have in the mid-east. Palestine is a group people that aren't really a nation. One of the main goals of Palestinians is to have there own nation and not be apart of Israel were they still consider themselves "refugees." They also wish to have Jerusalem as their capital due to religious ties to the city. Israel wants to get rid of the Arabs and take back West Bank creating a greater Israel(United). They also have their ties to Jerusalem and also wish to have it as their capital. Now that you can see how the mid-east became what it is today and you know what each nation wants you can see what must be done by the United States, who has strong influence in the UN, to create peace in the mid-east.

What has the United States done and what are they doing now? The US's main interest in the mid-east is peace and oil. The US is for the freedom and quality for life for all people but hasn‘t done enough in the middle east. In the UN the United States has veto power. "A resolution offer by the UN called Resolution 242 was vetoed by the US, this resolution consisted of the termination of all claims of belligerency and respect for a acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence free of threats and the right to live in peace(Yale)." The United States wished to find peace between the Palestinian Arabs and Israel and this was a good example of a way to find peace between the nations, but the US didn‘t agree with it because they were for Israel and what they want. The US gives aid to Israel that is use to buy military weapons. The US stayed out of the middle stayed out of the middle east issues until the year 2000 where President Clinton, who has great concern in the middle east, invited the Palestinians and Israel back to Camp David to possibly come to an agreement and create peace between the two nations. "This plan was an upset because Palestinians stated that there wouldn't be any agreement made unless the entire area of West Bank was given to the Palestinians and the possession of East Jerusalem including the Temple Mount(Mideastweb)." Since Bush has been elected President, "he has spent his presidency has avoided the mid-east affairs and letting the adversaries settle it themselves(Ratnesar)." Since Camp David II failed the US has stayed out until Sept. 11. where Bush's "War on Terrorism" has begun due to the attack of the Trade Centers and the Pentagon. Due to the need for cooperation in completing this campaign the, mid-east is now very important to America, "Bush plans to go global with his war on terror which can't be completed with the violence and endless fight between Israeli's and Palestinians, the Israeli's have made it clear to Bush that the crisis can no longer be avoided(Ratnesar)." The problem is that Bush is faced with, is that there can't be any progress on his goal without cooperation. . So what has to be done? Now that Bush realizes there isn‘t going to be any progress until he faces the problem. It is time to take action, and action does not mean using military force and forcing the two states to create a cease fire, they have to come to an agreement and the US and the UN must make this happen. The problem is that, ""Israel believes it can conquer the whole West Bank without any problem" stated by an Israeli officer(Ratnesar)." The Palestinians would love to prove this wrong and have no intentions in letting Israel take over. The US could easily use force in Palestine to create a cease fire but this could get the other Arab nations involved and possibly create another World War. Instead the US must take the interests of the two nations and use it against them. For example, suggested by retired Colonel Jacobson, "the Palestinian's main interest is becoming there own nation(Jacobson)." The US has previously gone against this idea when the UN has suggested it for example the refusal of Resolution 242. Offering to recognize Palestine as a state independent from Israel would most definitely create a reason for a cease fire. Now to deal with Israel and making them stop the violence. Israel is ruthless to the Palestinians, "they recently stopped, UNRWA trucks carrying food and water into refugee camps, from entering. The trucks weren't able to unload so they just turned around and left(UN)." Dealing with them could be done in three ways since their only friend is the US we don't have to worry about other states getting involve we could choose the option of using force against them. But a more logical idea would be to cut the United States aid that is given to them. They don't really have a strong source of income due to the fact that they don't really export any goods and there isn't any oil for income. The US aid is very important to them. These actions should offer a good reason to have a cease fire. After the cease fire is created there is a lot that must be done by the UN lead by the US to maintain peace and deal with the other issues that are a problem such as Jerusalem and the borders that should be established. So how can you go about solving these problems? The first issues that must be dealt with before setting boundaries is Jerusalem. Who should have control over it and be able to call it there capital? The main solution would be not to give it to either of them, "no political identity should have a right over its sovereignty(Shurdon)." This city should be the capital for all believers in God such as Christians, Muslims, and Jews. The United States should make a movement to have Jerusalem as, "the eternal capital of humanity and peace(Shurdon)." Jerusalem should now be regulated by the UN and everyone would have a right to the holy city. Next issue would be to establish the Palestinian West Bank as their nation. As for the Gaza Strip it is a waste land, "48 percent of the population is unemployed(Bard 374-375)." It is not a wonder why there is so much terrorism that comes out of the Gaza Strip they have nothing better to do then fight. That is why increasing employment rates in this area is so important. Whether the Gaza Strip becomes its own nation, stays part of Israel, or considers itself as part of the Palestine nation, creating jobs in this area is the most important. The key solution is introducing something similar to the Marshall Plan used to help out Europe after World War II. The plan propose by Marshall at Harvard University states: That as the war-torn nations faced famine and wake of economic crisis in the wake of war the United States should propose to rebuild the continent in the interest of political stability and a healthy world economy. Marshall called for American assistance in restoring the economic infrastructure. . . , the remedy lies in breaking the vicious circle and restoring the confidence of the nation to benefit the economic future of the countries as a whole(NARA).
In restoring the infrastructure there could be roads, schools, and jobs created. The United States is already giving money to Israel for which they buy military support, this money could just be used for good. I addition to the United States, the support of the G7 countries could also add their support in contributing money. Once the infrastructure is rebuilt there will be jobs created and when a group of people are busy working there isn't any time to fight. Along with this there would have to be established communication between the two states. Once there is communication a working government might be possible. But once this infrastructure is created and aid is brought a lot can be changed in the attitudes and the lives of all the people. As Mr. Jacobson says, "These kids just want shoes and to live a normal life(Jacobson)." Giving these kids shoes will defiantly persuade them to put down their rocks, if you offer a kid new shoes for his rocks he is going to put down his rocks. Changing the children's is the most important have of the Palestine population are kids, these kids will soon be the one's in charge of their new nation. As of now though the two nations may not be happy with UN maintained Jerusalem and they may have a problem with but this is a big change and it may take awhile for everything to work. This isn't a idea that can just be done with in a year, it is a long progress were the United States and the UN will have to give constant support to why it should work is because you are not trying to take it away from them you are just maintaining it and they will still have access to Jerusalem. The importance of Jerusalem being maintained is that, ""the holy places are bones in the throat," constant sources of frustration that flame up at any time(O'Malley)." In rebuilding these nations peace should be able to be possible. In the middle east, "Taseen Bashir, Egyptian diplomat, like to say that only Egypt and Iran are real countries the rest are just lines on a map supported by "tribes with Flags," artificial countries created by the European countries after WWI (Kifner)," this can be changed though. In conclusion, the mid-east has been through a lot shaping and reshaping itself. The Arabs and Jews have been through almost constant war sometimes worse the others at the battles flair up for whatever reason. Due to this constant struggle of war a cease fire must be maintained and a form of the Marshall Plan must be introduced to create jobs and reshape the nations into a more livable atmosphere. It might appear the Israel is getting less of a benefit from the idea by losing land and not having Jerusalem as their capital but this is what must be done to ensure peace or at least have a lasting peace. With their nation rebuilt maybe Israel with have a new export that creates jobs and builds there economy and is much more important than trying to take over land that will never be allowed to acquire. The United States has the power to make all of this happen. This is why it is very important for the US to get involved and stay involved in the middle east affairs.