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Contributor: jwitt
Date: 2003-03-16 16:44:49
fatmomma
The issue of Israel and the Palestinians is deeply complex and needs to be approached in an historical context. Unfortunately, the media presents the conflict with deliberate bias toward one side or the other. It is quite difficult to find any reporting which is truly balanced, as opposed to badly polarized and unhelpful. I see the polarization of opinion toward one side or the other as a major part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution. I would have to cite comments such as the following as a prime example: "IMO Israel is extremely dysfunctional. Its government is a total failure to its people, both Jews and Arabs. Its complete failure as a viable nation state is a primary reason why it is so dependent on the US and has dragged the US into confrontation with Arab fundamentalists. It is also a good example of how organized religion can sometimes poison the minds of people. As things stands, Israeli government policies have a good chance of triggering WWIII".
As someone who has spent considerable time in both Israel and the West Bank, as well as elsewhere in the middle east, I would have to describe such statements as biased, seemingly uninformed and unhelpful. Like it or not, Israel has a public health, education and transportation system which puts Canada's to shame, and to dismiss the country as a "complete failure" is nonsense.
Horrible atrocities have and continue to be made by both the Israelis and the Palestinians, and the behaviour of both sides must be condemned, as does the current and past behaviour of many Arab countries who have deliberately fuelled the conflict by using the Palestinians as dupes and poster children for their own ends, and completely failed to do anything tangible or meaningful to improve their condition. You are quite correct that Sharon is a major problem. His program of wanton destruction will ensure a steady stream of well indoctrinated Palestinian youths with explosive belts for the forseeable future. However, he could also be described as a democratic reaction (albeit a misguided and unfortunate one)to Yasser Arafat's response (violence and bombings)to the real and rather extensive concessions (these included east Jerusalem and the removal of most settlements) made by Ehud Barak. Bad leadership on both sides has historically, and continues today to create serious obstacles. The US has a clear bias toward the Israelis while the Europeans have a clear bias toward the Palestinains. There just doesn't seem to be much in the way of balance anywhere, and this polarization of opinion in the West only serves the purposes of extreme elements among both the Palestinians and Israelis.
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