When I was a child I heard of Arab accusation of Ben Gurion who wanted to expand Israel to the Euphrates and did not believe that. That was the argument against the Zionist state, I heard and I cannot see Israel ever wanting to physically conquer anything that would extend it to the Persian Gulf. Israelis know that their presence in the West bank is preventing peace. Why doesn't America hold back on its aid to Israel? The pro-Israel coalition in the US is too strong. It funds pro-Israeli politics.
The pro-Israel community is not huge. That lobby, an American said, has always been in the interest of the US. America was supporting loan guarantees as long as Israel would hold back on settlement building. This was because America wanted to get the Israelis and Arabs to the peace table. The threat of having those loans blocked occurred with Bush senior but since then, the loans have been unblocked and building has continued to create the settlements with "keep of the land" signs directed at Palestinian "intruders".
Leaders such as Carter were smeared as being an anti-Semite because he spoke out against the expedience they have had in continuing their settlements. Observers see this as a tactic to silence any opposition to Israeli expansion. That does not make a person an anti-Semite. He may just be someone who is voicing his disagreement to the foreign or domestic policies that the Jewish state has. Supporters for the continued Jewish presence in these 200 settlements say that America and Israel have a common agenda of promoting peace, prosperity and keeping terrorism out. That depends on how one determines what constitutes terrorism.
If one goes back to the 1975 Helsinki accord the West Bank, which Israelis agreed would be a Palestinian homeland, is supposed to be an autonomous state. But the finger like extensions of those territories prevents Palestinian cohesion. So how could there ever be an autonomous state in the strict sense of the word? Christian Scientists and Evangelical leaders, strange bedfellows to the Israelis, wanting a stronger presence for Israel in the region, aggravate the problem of a permanent Israeli presence in the region. This is besides having Israeli tour guides that state it is impossible to be "occupying" territory that is already theirs.
Many settlers like those in Samaria believe that building their houses in the West bank of Palestine is their way of claiming stability for Israel. They represent many settlers from other Kibbutzim who believe that one cannot lay claim to a possession unless they call it theirs. One Christian equated Islam with a sinister evil force and is mustering support against the presence of Islam in the region. The pope wasn't any brighter when he referred to Islam as being barbaric. No wonder that many Moslems are inflamed over the continued justification for Israeli settlements. But Israel would probably want firm guarantees of not having further suicidal attempts or neighbors beating their war drums and it appears the only sure guarantee is the continued presence in the West Bank.
So when religion becomes such a big political force, is it any wonder why this conflict in the Mid-east is going to go on for many generations to come?
I agree with the vast majority of your statements, however, moslem culture holds the belief that if a land is taken over by Moslems then it is moslem land in perpetuity, the fact that they took it forcibly and say that is cool, but then refuse to acknowledge that when they lose lands in the same fashion that "this is different"
You are correct, a lot could be done to settle this, like agree on some borders, BUT the moslem society also has a buttload of work and responsibility to reign in the moslem groups that want to destroy israel and moreso really believe that someday the planet will be entirely moslem, take a look at the real state of moslem countries, Islam is a noble religeon, Moslem govt is and has been a huge joke of corruption and does not respect the tenet of respecting other people of the book.
There is a lot of work to be done on both sides, but if ISrael WERE to use moslem teachings then they won the land fair and square,
W eboth know that is not the best way to look at things,
Islam has a lot of cleaning up to do in it;s own house before really being any force to be considered.
And let me say , I am a moslem, too many of us lookthe other way or make excuses for terrorism, just because there are wrongs on the other side do NOT justify our wrongs, and our efforts would be better spent cleaning our own house rather than always using the opportunity to point fingers at others and shrug when our faults are identified.