Israel Blockades Lebanon

Again, completely naive. You're suggesting Israel oversee and infringe on the soverignty of a new Palestine like an elder brother making sure the younger is cleaning up his room. There's not much that would be considered a bigger humiliation from the Palestinian point of view and it would be completely unacceptable to them.

If you don't think other Arab countries -the same ones that have been using the Palestinians to fight their proxy war against Israel for 40 years- won't help the Palestinians militarize, you really don't understand the politics of the region.
 
maybe this explains why the US soldiers are being so well recieved by the population in iraq.
 
I likewise have worked with a pretty large group of Muslims. I would say the majority do just want to live their lives in peace, raise their children to believe the same as them, are generally very nice people. I have also ran into some that do believe that no land that was once Muslim controlled can ever be allowed to not be Muslim controlled.
 
I'm not naive, I'm realistic, are you suggesting that Israel wont be watching the Palestinians carefully? It would happen without a doubt.

Again, do you think Israel would let that happen? No newly formed Palestinian state would enter open war with Israel, any conflict would be with hardline Islamists, just like it is with Lebanon now. The Lebanese government have no control over what is happening today, it is Hezbollah and Hezbollah alone who are fighting the Israelis.
 
If all the Palestinians want is a 2 state solution, they could have had it with Camp David, Oslo, and remember UN Resolution 181 in 1947 that divided the British Mandate into 2 states, one Jewish and one Arab?

Hamas' position on a 2 stste solution is that it's a first step towards the destruction of Israel.

With the withdrawal from Gaza and the planned withdrawal from the West Bank, Israel was on it's way to implement a 2 state solution. When the Palestinians got control of Gaza, they could have started to build a state infrastructure. Instead they destroyed much of what the Israelis had left.

When Egypt controled Gaza and Jordan controled the West Bank between 1948 and 1967, why did they not declare a Palestinian state?

If you think that the Arabs are willing to live in with a 2 state solution, you are incredibly naive.

The start would be for the Arab world to recognize Israel. Then the actual borders can be negotiated. I won't hold my breath.
 
So apparently you've forgotten about the soldiers sent to China/Russia during Vietnam, oh and those soldiers the laotians STILL claim they have. And thats okay?

Oh and just an open question for anyone, what does Israel do for us that justifies the billions in aid that we send them?
 
Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and to a lesser extent the PLO have stated they want the destruction of Israel. They do not want a 2 state solution.
 
Hezbollah and Iran have absolutely no say in the matter whatsoever. Hamas have said they are receptive to the idea of the 2 state solution. Were Israel not currently massacring the Lebanese people we might actually be seeing some very positive steps towards that goal.
 
Iran arm Hamas' militant arm, but the Political party is almost a different organisation. Besides, if Hamas fail to move towards peace in the middle east I doubt the Palestinians would elect them again.
 
Shimon Peres had a phenomenal interview with Wolf Blitzer recently. I'm going to see if I can find a transcript of it.


EDIT:
Here it is: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/16/le.01.html

Scroll about a third of the way down the page to get to it. There's also an interview with the Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Sinoria directly below it.

(Searching for the word "Premier" will also get you there easily)
 
You might be on to something, especially since many of my students are as block-headed about what I'm trying to teach them as you are. Sometimes it's like banging my head against the wall, because just like you, they are unable and unwilling to let go of the values and judgement system of their own culture that filters how they percieve the world at large. Because they can't accept that other cultures have different priorities and values, or accept that their own world-view is shaped by their own culture, they just can't come to grips with the idea that someone from another culture will interperet the same factual information they have in a completely different way. It's the ultimate form of western arrogance and the reason US policy makers, and the media for that matter, continue to 'get it wrong' when dealing with the Muslim world. And in you, and the way you represent the typical attitude of the western world, we have the perfect example of why the west will continue to 'get it wrong'.
 
Oh what the heck, here's the whole thing.

I can post the other interview if anybody else would like to read it.
 
Were the people you have experience with raised in the Muslim world, or were they Muslims raised in the west? I happen to agree with you, and my own experience has been that the Muslim Arab is a very friendly person who wants to live and raise their children in peace. That doesn't change the fact because of their culture, the Muslim world often views US and EU foreign policy decsions in vastly different ways than the people who crafted the policy. It's not just specifically Arabs who 'screw it up', it's that cultures with other concepts of time, responsibility, free-will, etc will by nature hold different world-views and hence interpret things differently than we intend. Our problem is that we continue to make decisions based on the way we would interpret things instead of how they interpret them.
 
So if Israel will not allow an independent Palestine to arm itself, how do you think they will go about preventing it? And how will that be different from the situation you have now?
 
No I haven't forgotten them, not at all. I'm a big believer in bring them home or send us back. Normalizing relations with Vietnam is just one more disgrace Bill Clinton brought on to the American presidency because of this very issue.
 
Hezbollah and Iran think they do have a say. Enough so that Hezbollah fires rockets and kidnaps Israeli soldiers and Iran threatens Israel with nuclear destruction.

Hamas seemed to be coming around to the 2 state solution before certain members also attacked Israel. If Hezbollah and Iran have nothing to do with it than neither should Lebanon since that is in response to Hezbollah attacks.
 
in my opionion any curriculum on muslim culture that uses a sites like jihad watch for unbiased information is a joke.
 
1. There's no such thing as "unbiased" information. Better to check a variety of sources in order to form a more accurate picture. Jihad Watch and Apostates of Islam are an example of one side while magazines like Challenge represent another.

2. Jihad Watch is not a source material for anything in the curriculuum.

3. Attempting to discredit what I've said about the cultural differences of Muslim/Arabs and our relations with them by picking one of many sources (especially one that isn't part of the course) as being biased is a lot like an ostrich sticking it's head in the sand for protection. It's a pretty sad attempt really; trying to justify projecting your world-view onto the Arab population and assume they hold the same values you do for the same reasons. Until the west accepts the Muslim world does not share our values or basic tenets of the way the world should be, we will continue to come into conflict with a people you, and countless others like you, are unwilling and unable to understand.
 
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