Israel and Palestine. Will it ever end?... and why women suffer because of men's stupidity.

(updated September 1, 2003)

Today's news is no different from the one in 1997. CNN's cover story says Israel vows 'all-out war' on Hamas. What has changed all these years? And what hope remains? It does not need a historian to figure out that the clashes between the Israelis and the Palestinians have followed a rollercoaster ride in the last 2 decades. Everytime new bombs erupt and new clashes occur, Time, Newsweek, CNN, MSNBC open the case again and write or broadcast "special feature" stories that make us ask "Is this the beginning of a new series of events?".

Whenever I read about these stories and watch the innocent civilians being taken to hospitals as others run helter skelter right after the bombing, I feel that the scene is cliche. Yet I ask myself whether this will ever end. I am not a supporter of Israelis or Palestinians but the past has shown us that this small area on our planet will continue to drive attention from the world over when they fight over occupied territory as long as the United States gives it the attention it has always given. The media has become so predicatble in these matters that a huge segment of the news market is often blocked out from other newsworthy events of the world, where America is not even indirectly involved.

More than 30,000 innocent Indians (citizens of India; not to be confused with native Americans) have died in clashes in Kashmir, one of the most pristine places in the world, yet one of the most disputed. When NBC news anchor Brian Williams visited Kasmir in 2002 to do some special reporting, Americans saw the face of a nation that is the largest democracy in the world and ranks second in population.

There is a striking similarity between the Israel Palestine dispute (dispute is a euphemism) and the India- Pakistan fight over Kashmir. In both cases we see continual and increasingly predictable barriers toward steps taken for peace. It almost makes us wonder whether things will change for good.

Ask yourself the question. Can you imagine a day in the future (say in 2045) when we'll have a world in which the Palestinians will be content with what they have and the Israelis will no longer be considered a threat to them? Can you imaine day in the future when India and Pakistan just solve their dispute with diplomacy and each country is happy enough to appease everyone on both sides? It sounds too good to be true. And the reason behind such a cynical opinion from me is because of the psychological factors that I observe behind pockets of resistance that keep surfacing.

Though economic (oil, labor) and religious ( exploitation, jihad, teritorial dispute over historical significance of a land) are excuses to hinder progress, what matters most is the collective fanaticism that exists among the youth, more so in middle aged men who travel in limos and order mass manslaughters. September 11, 2001 showed everyone that a rigid set of religious beliefs wrongly driven into hatred and effectively carried out by fanatics can lead to unprecedented levels of destruction.

On a satirical note, I sometimes wonder why these disputing nations don't just bomb each other and let the more powerful win. After all, the more powerful still rule don't they? When was the last time you saw Argentinian troops in Syria or the Sri Lankan army in Sudan? The geopolitical chain of events that we are witnessing in the new millennium show little promise of undergoing change. This will hold true as long as men make decisions. Without any doubt, men, the agressive sex have won territories by killing women and children (not to mention other men) only to be attacked by someone else. How would the founding fathers have thought about the attack on America on 9/11 if they were alive today? "Freedom will be defended" Bush remarked on that day and freedom was defended by attacking. Ironic as it may seem, until human beings start thinking like they should ( a level much much higher than chickens and cows), global terrorism, territorial disputes, inhumane genocides, money driven politics and a rising arms race will continue to exist way into the next millennium.

The world is more peaceful today than it was in 1003 A.D. But the same wars now occur in pockets. Some get more attention that others. Some wars are "collateral damage" while some wars do not even exist (more on that in later articles).

Coming back to today's news story, it is becoming a weekly and sometimes daily habit to just read quickly through the news when it comes to the Middle East "Peace" Process. The only thing to read about is , who atacked and who suffered, who claimed responsibility and who is the next US intermediator to make a comment or visit the holy land. And of course, who were the poor victims of war. The worst thing about war is that the people who are responsible for the war are not the ones who lose their family and homes.

Arton Online