America has invested a lot of time into the middle-east. Some time has been spent better than others. Time is one of our most precious commodities, and we have been using up a bulk amount of our time in the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. Over the past thirty years we have been trying to create peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but to no avail. Because of all of these failed attempts the people of America want their voices heard to tell our president what to do. The two opposing parties have both created diverging views on this conflict. But to understand aspects of these parties, we have to understand the History behind this conflict.
The conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians has been raging on since the end of World War II. The Jews never had a home nation since Judea was conquered by the Romans in ancient times. They had been scatted across the world since then. However, in the year 1917 the League of Nations mandated that a piece of Palestine be given to the Jews for the creation of a home nation. Unfortunately, the Palestinians were very bitter about being forced to give land to the Jew, and violent riots broke out in protest against the Jews. After the violent outbursts from the Palestinians immigration of the Jews to Palestine stopped. However, after the Holocaust, a great amount of pressure was put on to give the Jews a new home. The immigration of the Jews into Palestine began again but instead of trying to integrate the Jews in with the Palestinians, a divide was created into both Jewish and Arab states within Palestine. The Arab state did not recognize Israel as a separate entity, resulting in multiple wars, and the conflict we know today.
Given all that has happened in this conflict we can assume that a divide in opinions has been created in the U.S. Regarding what we should do. The Democrats feel that we should be looking out for the interests of both states and that we should keep the divide between the two. The Democrats want to put more pressure on Israel to be able to be more self-sufficient on this conflict and rely less on American intervention. Democrats of the U.S. feel that the continued support of the Israelis is weakening the United States. The Republicans, on the other hand have a completely mirrored view on what should be done in this conflict. The Republicans feel that we should do nothing but support the Israelis in this conflict. The Republicans feel the the interests of the Israelis and the U.S. Are the same. The GOP feels like the Israelis are put in the same position as us after 9/11. They feel that the Israelis are being terrorized by the Palestinians.
In conclusion, there is a lot that must be done to bring this conflict to an end. Peace talks need to be continually made and agreed upon to stem the violence in the Gaza Strip and the West bank of Israel. We have been making progress to stopping the violence in the middle-east with the Camp David Accords and the Oslo Accords, but nothing we do seems to be enough. We need to find the most peaceful way to end this conflict, and as quickly as possible.
Bibliography
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/middle_east/conflict/keyplayers/keyplayer2.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-zogby/democratic-republican-vie_b_191180.html
http://www.mideastweb.org/nutshell.htm
