The Palestinian Question

According to the Jerusalem Post this morning, there was an article that read "Increased signs of anti-Hamas intifada in Gaza".

I sincerely hope that one day, this tragic predicament can be resolved for once and for all. I, for sure, would like to visit parts of Palestine one day (except for Gaza Strip and the West Bank of course), but it doesn't seem like that is going to be a reality anytime soon.

The current situation is volatile and potentially explosive in nature. On one hand, you have the larger conflict between Israel and Palestine. We all know Israel was essentially a gift to the Jewish population after the Holocaust, which came at the expense of Palestinian territory that was annexed under the British mandate post-World War II.

I think we can all agree that if they have been fighting since Biblical times, there's no tangible reason to believe that they will miraculously stop anytime soon. I don't believe in miracles - at least when it comes to Middle Eastern politics.

Then you have an even more dangerous conflict that is brewing within Palestine itself. The ruling party of Palestine had historically been the the PLO, spearheaded by the now deceased Yasser Arafat. In 2004, I was in Hong Kong flipping through the channels on my TV when i noticed a CNN breaking report that Arafat had died. It was then that I KNEW this conflict would spiral out of control.

Arafat had ruled Palestine up until that point. The PLO, being a multi-party confederation had many different factions beneath it. One of them, was Fatah, a sub-wing of the PLO that can be seen as the 'muscle' or militant arm of the party. Every analyst knew that Arafat's death would create a political vacuum in the party which would destabilize the entire region.

Analysts were right.

In 2006, the unthinkable happened when Hamas, a globally recognized terrorist organization responsible for scores of suicide bombings in Israel had been democratically elected by the Palestinian people.

Let's think about that for a moment.

A global terrorist organization had been democratically elected by the people to administer rule over the state. I think that pretty much is a reflection of the desperation faced by the Palestinian people.

This brings us to the current situation.

I think it can be acknowledged that the Fatah movement and Hamas are engaged in a full blown guerilla war at the moment, with Hamas being funded by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Not surprisingly, Ahmadinejad has been known to fund Lebanon's Hezbollah Organization to attack American troops in Iraq. The U.S government and Israeli regime have countered this threat by funding Fatah in Palestine, mobilizing its troops with American made weapons to fight Hamas.

If you look closely at the situation from a macro point of view, you are now witnessing a potentially dangerous situation where large powers on the outside are essentially playing chess to serve their own interests using Palestine as the chess pieces. What you are seeing now parallels closely to US-Soviet conflict during the cold war era, where the two sides were careful not to confront each other directly, but did everything they could to spite each other by funding weapons and money to the other side . In a sense.....it's the classic ideology of "my enemy's enemy is my friend" (think when American troops armed South Koreans with M-16s, and the Russians arming the North Koreans with Avtomat Kalishnakova 47s during the Korean Civil War).

Fatah Party (PLO Loyalists)


Hamas Party

Now, I'm naturally quite a hopeful and optimistic person, but given the complexity of the situation in Palestine, I can't help but feel cynical about everything.

Here is what I would do if i had a choice (although i clearly don't):

Israel and U.S should recognize Hamas as the legitimate ruling government in Palestine. Israel must come up with an agreement with Palestinian authorities to create an official Palestinian state using Jerusalem as the shared capital between Israel and Palestine (easier said than done of course). On top of that, Israel should withdraw from the "Green Line" all of the land it annexed from Palestine during the "Six Day War" in 1967.

Palestine should do its part by officially curbing the 'infitada' they have launched with Israel, declare an end to holy war, and control Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and scores of other sleeper cells to put an end to suicide bombings in Tel Aviv. The U.S. government should play a pivotal role in encouraging both sides to conduct discourse with each other, while staying neutral during bi-lateral talks.

The reason why I believe solving the "Palestinian Question" is of the utter most importance right now, is because much of the broader conflict in the middle east STEMS from the problem in Palestine. Many neighboring countries that surround Israel/Palestine have openly acknowledged that Israel's border patrolling and containment of Palestinians has created one of the largest state-prisons in the world. It is this mistreatment of Palestinians that is sowing the seeds of hatred, causing young children to grow up with the idea that killing Jews for religious reasons is justifiable. Generally speaking, Arabs are fueled with hatred that their Muslim neighbours are subjects of Israeli humiliation.

Ultimately, Palestine must be given their own state, and Hamas, a democratically elected government must be recognized as the official ruling party, regardless of whether or not it is labeled as a terrorist organization. Western nations should not have the privilege in refusing to recognize a democratically elected government, when it is these same nations that are the ones to harp about the greatness of democracy. Doing so, would be a double standard.

This is the only solution I see.