Intractable! Divisive! Explosive! These are all ways in which people respond to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a conflict born out of stateless peoples’ quest over thousands of years for a homeland and the right to self-determination. The site—a patch of desert populated by Palestinians, Muslims, Christians, and Jews—is surrounded by Arab states, oil oligarchs, Muslim holy sites, and the ancient home of the Hebrews (modern-day Jews) and the almost as ancient home to Palestinians. The State of Israel in Palestine was identified by WWII allies based on the British Balfour Declaration during WWI. Some say they chose this place to create Israel so as not to have the Jews settled en masse in the midst of Western Europe; others claim it was to punish Arab support for Hitler. Still others claim it was an attempt by the Western powers to divide and conquer the oil nations of the Middle East. The current war is merely an extension into today.
Now there is a pause in the current fighting, but for how long is anyone’s guess. I asked friends, a young couple who were scheduled to come to the U.S. to work for one of the Israeli embassies, whether they still planned to come, given the recent horrors. “No,” was their immediate response. “We do not plan to leave.”
My response was, “I find this all unfathomable.”
“It is our home” was their reply.
I get it, as I get that the same response is probably echoing all throughout the ravaged area amongst both Arabs and Jews—it is our home! This conflict will never end.
Carole J. Garrison 