The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

As I look back at all of the global media I've taken in over the last few months, determining the next global crisis is not a difficult decision for me. Reading Egyptian papers week after week there is really only one issue that continues to reappear, and it appears quite frequently. The issue is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and as it grows in importance to those in the Middle East, I see no escalation or urgency in reporting on the topic by the American press. Although it is surely an issue that affects some more than others, aspects of the conflict influence things all over the world. The United States has very strong political ties to Israel, and yet the American media doesn't deem it that pressing of a matter to report on even the most landmark of developments with any priority or consistency. Only two years ago the U.S. signed a historic deal to give Israel $30 billion in military aid over the next decade, yet leaders like Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and the PLO's Mahmoud Abbas are hardly household names.

The conflict is one of the longest ongoing disputes in modern history, the details of which are as controversial as they are bloody. When the Jewish state of Israel was created by UN mandate in 1947 it partitioned the region into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a UN run state. But the partition was rejected by Arab leaders who already occupied the territory and war broke out. The Jewish people won decisive victories and expanded their land to include Palestinian territories, creating hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees. Wars broke out again in 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982.

To end the conflict and solve the dispute countless proposals have been made, but one has seen the overwhelming majority of support over the years, and that is the two-state solution. This would involve the creation of an Arab state and a Jewish state, as originally envisioned in the UN mandate, which traditionally never worked because Arab leaders refused to recognize Israel or their right to exist. Palestinian leaders of the PLO first indicated that they would be receptive to a two-state solution as far back as the 1970s, their one requirement being that the territories be drawn on pre-1967 lines. This was vetoed by the U.S. in a 1976 UN Security Council vote. Ever since then talks have come close to a negotiation but lasting peace has never been achieved, although most polls over the last decade reveal that a vast majority of the populations of both sides would agree to a two-state solution drawn on pre-1967 territory lines.

Right now, it appears the biggest point of contention is the building of Israeli settlements. Israel continues to expand settlement building into the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas that may be Palestinian land upon the creation of a second state. The PLO has asked that all settlement building be halted for peace talks to resume, and the Obama administration has attempted to pressure Israel to comply, but without much success. Last November Israel agreed to stop building in the West Bank for 10 months, but this did not include East Jerusalem. Vice President Biden was in Israel only a month ago, pledging America's continued support for Israeli security and to promote new peace talks between the two sides. During his visit, Israel announced plans to complete 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem. This was a brash move that threatened to end the peace talks before they had even started, and was viewed by many as an insult in the face of a foreign dignitary trying to facilitate these talks. Still Abbas has not threatened to back out of the talks, and Biden made a brief statement about the move “undermin[ing] the trust we need right now” and the issue quickly faded from the radar of the American people.

Although many of the pieces are in order for peace talks to move forward, it's key details that seem like they will continue to hold them back. This fighting has gone on for far too long and has endangered the lives of far too many people, both Jewish and Arab. It's an issue that greatly affects the Middle East, but should concern Americans just as much. If this cause is treated with the attention and legitimacy it deserves then perhaps the international community can pressure the peace talks into getting farther than they ever have before and reach a lasting accord, but if things continue down the road they are on, the situation could just as easily worsen, and it will be just another international incident we should have seen coming.