Where’s the peace in the Middle East?

Violent conflict in the Middle East is not a new story. It is so frequent that suicide bombings and civilian casualties rarely constitute as a news value worthy of front-page attention. With weak leadership in both Israel and Palestine, and United States attention spread thin over the War in Iraq and concerns in Iran, little has been heard recently in the fight for peace in the Israel-Palestine conflict. But that doesn’t mean that peace has been found.

Israeli-U.S. relations have traditionally held a strong importance in U.S. international policy. Since Israel declared its independence on May 15, 1948 as recognized by President Harry Truman, U.S. presidents have always stood by Israel’s side. Israel currently receives about $3 billion in economic and military grants, refugee settlement assistance and other aid. In my opinion, three billion U.S. dollars to support terrorism, maybe not the official Al Qadea type, but terrorism all the same, of the Palestinian people.

To his credit, President Bush has taken a stronger initiative to push for peace rather than solely a concern to maintain an allegiance to Israel. Yet even so, attempts are regarding the doctrine as progressive despite the hurt it causes the Palestinian people.

The “security fence” constructed by Israelis beginning in 2002 was designed to mark the definition of the “boarder” with the West Bank. While proposed by Israelis and supported by Americans as a form of defense which seemingly has reduced violence, it has also made for a huge inconvenience for Palestinians forced to cross checkpoints on a daily basis making it sometimes impossible to return home to be with their families. The fence, which is called by many the ‘apartheid wall,’ has been constructed through villages, cutting them off from their farmland and bulldozing anything in its path.

This week, Israel declared Gaza an “enemy entity” to justify new sanctions imposed in an attempt to keep Gazans on the edge of a humanitarian disaster, in hopes that they will turn against the militant group Hamas which gained a majority in the legislature after the January 2006 elections. The American-Israeli plan is to improve life for Palestinians in the West Bank, boosting the image of democratically elected President Abbas, of the Fatah party, while creating unlivable conditions in the Hamas controlled area of Gaza.

Again, while doctrine may seem good, at what expense, must be considered.
People are people, whether boarders, or walls separate them. Peace in the Middle East is a cry that should echo across all regions—Iraq and Iran included. Yet in America we seem to think that in order to achieve peace, violent terrorism of people, is justifiable.

The political conflict over land rights and occupation in the regions of Israel and Palestine have a deep religious significance as well, which should be even more reason to attend to humanity rather than good or logical doctrine. The conflict remains a constant battle for the Holy Land and a battle that continues to spill blood on the very soil upon which Jesus walked.