The Middle East Conflict

It has been about nine years since I wrote my original article on the conflict in the Middle East. Previously I read two books, The Middle East - A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years by Bernard Lewis and Jerusalem - The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore. The Middle East was originally published in 1995 before 9/11, the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the War on Terror. I learned a lot about the history of the Middle East and it provided some context for the events that have occurred over the past dozen years or so. Jerusalem was originally published in 2011. I thought I knew a fair amount about Jerusalem's history before reading Jerusalem, but as I slowly progressed through Jerusalem I realized how little I really understood about Jerusalem's extremely complex history and its critical role in the overall history of the Middle East and the world. Since Jerusalem was written fairly recently the author was able to discuss very important recent history.

I very recently read Ari Shavit's 2013 New York Times bestselling book, My Promised Land - The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel. This book was eyeopening. As I read the book I realized how little I understood about the history of Israel and the Palestinian issues. Since I fundamentally believe that everyone should be willing to change their views on any subject when they receive more factual information, I have decided to revise The Middle East Conflict for a second time. I realize that this article just touches the surface of a very deep and complex set of interrelated subjects but I hope it is useful to the readers as a tool for further thought and personal investigation of the subject matter. I recommend all three of the books mentioned above to those that desire to study this subject in much greater depth.

The Middle East has been engaged in many conflicts over the past 3,000 years. Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Jews and many other peoples battled for control of different parts of the Middle East for centuries before the creation of the Islam religion by Muhammad the Prophet in 7th century AD. After Islam was established the conflicts continued as the Arab Empire, Byzantine Empire, Sasanid Empire, the Seljuks, the Fatimids, Kahnate of the Golden Horde, Il-Khan Empire, Mamluk Sultanate, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, Russia and others battled for control of the Middle East and territories beyond what we consider the Middle East for centuries. The conflicts continued as the European colonial powers, led by England, France and Germany, became embroiled in the conflicts over control of the Middle East in the 19th and 20th centuries. Since the creation of Israel in 1948, out of the area known as Palestine, as a homeland for the Jewish people, after the United States and its allies won World War II, armed conflict in the region has been almost continuous. The level of the conflict and the names of the combatants have varied over the past 70 years but the bottom line is that Muslims and Jews continue to fight for control over Palestine/Israel and the city of Jerusalem. The United States has fought two wars against Iraq and a war in Afghanistan that are a continuation of the centuries of conflict in the Middle East. However, the conflicts of the past 70 years are simply the continuation of the almost continuing conflict that has lasted for centuries

The fundamental ideology of Islam appears to be fairly straightforward. The quotes in this paragraph are from The Middle East. Muhammad was "the last of a long series of divinely appointed apostles" including Moses, David and Jesus. Muhammad was "the last and greatest of them, and the book he brought, the Qur'an (Koran), completes and supersedes all previous revelations". "The term Islam denotes the religion taught by the Prophet himself, through the Qur'an and his own precept and practice as recorded by subsequent generations." "It came to denote the whole complex system of theology, law (shari'a) and custom ...on the basis of what was taught by the Prophet and what was ascribed to him." Shari'a law includes an obligation for the Muslim people to conduct "jihad", normally translated as "holy war". The Muslim jihad is a religious obligation that continues until all the world had adopted the Muslim faith or submitted to Muslim rule. All Muslims that believe in the fundamental principles of Islam will be in conflict against the rest of world until everyone has adopted the Muslim faith or submitted to Muslim rule. However, we know from history that the emphasis on jihad has varied dramatically over the centuries and at times there was limited to no effort to conduct jihad. However, as long as Israel exists and the United States and other nations support its existence, it appears that true believers in Islam will conduct a jihad against non-Muslims they believe are responsible for displacing those Muslims that have legitimate claims to Palestine and Jerusalem.

How can a tiny strip of land, now called Israel, and a medium sized city of less than one million residents, Jerusalem, become the center of the world's attention year after year, decade after decade? How can such an apparently insignificant area become the center of the world's focus? Why can't reasonable people in the region solve their differences of opinion and negotiate solutions that everyone can accept so that all parties can conduct their lives peacefully. I wrote these questions almost nine years ago. After reading Jerusalem I now realize that there is no simple answer to any of these questions. Jerusalem's role in the world has been built over millennia. Many cultures and leaders have impacted the development of the city and its ever changing mix of people. Every day residents, pilgrims and tourists interact in an environment that includes ancient ruins, historical religious sites built and reconstructed over many centuries and modern buildings that are a part of everyday life. Ideological battles (and throughout most of its history, physical ones as well) are fought daily between various Jewish sects, several Muslim sects and five separate Christian sects (primarily in conflict with each other) in today's world. One can make the case that the simple answer is that peoples whose religions are the dominant element of their philosophy of life, and are in direct conflict with each other, have very little or no apparent room for resolution. However, many times during Jerusalem's history agreements have been reached between conflicting parties. Some of the agreements have gone into effect and lasted for many years. Some of the agreements couldn't be put into operation because of internal conflicts on one side or the other. All of the agreements were eventually abandoned due to armed conflict. Unfortunately, history tells us that is unlikely that a deal can be brokered to permanently resolve this conflict. It appears that it is impossible to separate the secular and religious aspects of life for those that are true believers on all sides. These people appear prepared to live in a world of perpetual conflict.

Mr. Montefiore, the author of Jerusalem summarizes the situation in historical context extremely well. "For 1,000 years, Jerusalem was exclusively Jewish; for about 400 years, Christian; for 1,300 years, Islamic; and not one of the three faiths ever gained Jerusalem without the sword, the mangonel or the howitzer. Their nationalistic histories tell a rigid story of inevitable progressions to heroic triumphs and abrupt disasters, but in this history I have tried to show that nothing was inevitable, there were always choices. The fates and identities of Jerusalemites were rarely clear cut. Life in Herodian, Crusader or British Jerusalem was always just as complex and nuanced as life is for us today."

I first became aware of the conflict in the Middle East when I was a teenager in the 1960s. I read newspapers and watched television and learned about the 1967 Six Day War between Israel and the Arab nations. During that period I also learned about the Jewish holocaust that occurred during World War II and the resulting exodus of European Jews to Palestine and the establishment of the nation of Israel. Unfortunately, during that time I didn't learn about the entire story about the Zionist movement in Israel and its relationship with the Palestinians and the surrounding Arab peoples that led to the Six Day War.

My father was in a US army engineering battalion during the war and was involved in the liberation of several concentration camps. He didn't want to talk about the atrocities he had seen. It is deeply disturbing to me today when I hear or read about someone or some organization attempt to minimize the holocaust. The old combat films exist and they show the dead and the barely living in the concentration camps at the end of the war. That is all the proof that anyone should need. How should the world have addressed the Jewish homeland problem at the end of World War II in the context of the events that occurred?

Some question the legitimacy of the nation of Israel to exist in Palestine. After reading My Promised Land I now understand this issue much more clearly. While Zionist Jews purchased substantial amounts of land from Arabs in the late 1800s and early 1900s and began immigrating there from Europe, there is no doubt that during the 1948 War of Independence the new state of Israel took control of Arab owned land, towns and villages by force, committing what most people would call war crimes in the process. Land rightly owned by Arabs was expropriated by the the new nation of Israel and the take over was sanctioned by the United Nations lead by the United States. Jews claim this land as the home of their ancestors and that it was given to them by God. Arabs claim that it was their home for centuries after the Jewish diaspora (scattering all over the world). The nation of Israel exists in its current form because it was successful in taking Palestinian property by force. However, this is a very simplistic approach to analyzing the situation. The history of events leading to the Israeli War of Independence is very complex. When one reads the history of the entire region in a fair amount of detail one realizes that its history is far too complex to permit simplistic perspectives. What is true is that many Israelis have fought and died to establish their claim to their homeland and they won. It is also true that many Palestinians and Arabs fought and died to evict the Israelis from Palestine and they lost. It is also true that a significant number of Palestinians and Arabs will continue to fight to right the wrongs committed by Israel during its War of Independence and subsequent conflicts. There is no long lasting two state solution. War will continue until one side or other accomplishes a definitive victory over the other.

The issues that exist in the Middle East are not truly between sovereign nations or national populations. They are conflicts between sects, tribes and clans that have a multitude of fundamentally different cultures and religious beliefs. These groups of people have been in almost continual conflict for over 3,000 years between themselves or other peoples that have tried to take control of this area. We need to let the peoples of the region resolve their own differences. The rest of the world doesn't not have the capability to resolve their differences. This is a clash of religion and culture that is an essential part of the belief system of the peoples involved. The conflict will only be resolved when belief systems change or one side eliminates the other as an opponent.

It is very difficult to stand aside and watch these peoples fight each other. It may take the return of the Messiah to end the conflict in the Middle East.