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Wednesday, 6 December, 2000, 11:15 GMT
Is the violence in the Middle East out of control?
![]() The cycle of violence in the Middle East goes on with increasing brutality and loss of life.
As the death toll mounts, Israeli and Palestinian attitudes have hardened and the options for negotiation seem to diminish every day. The US and the UN appear unable to broker any dialogue and Israel's neighbours are taking a tougher stance. Is the situation spiralling out of control? How can the violence be stopped? How can dialogue be restarted? This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.
Your reaction
Khaled, Jordan
Everyone advises the Israelis to give the Arabs everything they ask for without any guarantee that the Arabs will reciprocate with peace. No other country would foolishly do such a thing. The idea that if the Israelis relinquish control of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem unilaterally they will have peace is ridiculous. They did that in Lebanon and what did it get them? Daily harassment and the kidnapping of their people. Appeasement never works. The Israelis are learning that it merely encourages more outrageous demands by autocrats.
Jerusalem was meant to be an international centre, yet Israel has chosen to keep the city for itself. The Palestinians are rightly upset about this. From the way events have gone it would seem that neither side in this conflict will be happy until the other side has been annihilated. All because the West, in its wisdom chose to give Arab land to the Jews when Israel was formed.
Israel Yonah, Canada
The Palestinians have to realise that they cannot win. They should accept all they can get and stop the fighting once and for all.
Arafat claims that the Temple Mount is not sacred to Jews and yet is to Muslims. He seems to neglect the fact that it is mentioned several times in the Bible as a holy site, but not even once in the Koran. How very political of him!
Arafat is too concerned with his own political survival and his own place in history to make any kind of peace deal that might anger the Arab world. He is essentially powerless because he has not yet realized that the Arab world believes the Palestinians are expendable in Islam's great Jihad against the Jews.
Barak and the Knesset are first focused on the security of their state, and secondly on their individual political survival. What the Jews refuse to see is that any peace deal with Arafat is not binding on the greater Arab world, and once they do conclude a deal with Arafat, their troubles will only shift to another tinpot dictator in another Islamic country.
It's time to be equal about it, the world wont get any bigger so you may as well accept it, as no one will tolerate either side being wiped out any more.
Peter Nixon, England
When Israeli supporters call for the Palestinians to stop the violence, they should consider where it is taking place - on Palestinian land. The Palestinians are defending themselves in their own homes against an occupying and repressive army. When people talk about Barak's generous offers at Camp David, they should remember he offered not one inch of Israeli territory but the Palestinians' own land - and even then only a fraction. The media should not succumb to Israel's masterful spin doctoring.
It's amazing how the West only comes into action when it's convenient for them to do so. If only UN sanction 242 that was imposed on Israel ages ago was as effective as the one imposed on Iraq, the Palestinians would have back their home state.
Rasha, Egypt
The conflict in the Middle East between the Palestinians and the Jews has been waging for the past three thousand years, except that
David and Goliath have switched sides in the present conflict.
Sean Abenstein, Canada
If the United Nations took the same course of action with Israel as it did with Serbia then we would not witness the Palestinians being placed on the endangered list with the world proclaiming them a protected species.
I believe that the real accelerator of the recent violence and its continuance is the media. The violence was a godsend to some TV channels and newspapers in sleepy uneventful pre-election September. I cannot ignore the feeling that the Palestinians would have been reluctant to send their youth to provoke the Israeli security forces if no one was watching.
Manaf, UK
What I don't understand is that there is already a Palestinian State. Palestine was split into 2 parts - Israel and Jordan with the Jordanian side being for Arabs who didn't wish to live in a Jewish state.
Then the Arabs attack Israel with the aim to destroy it. Israel wins, takes large amounts of Arab land and builds settlements on it. Israel would never have occupied the West Bank or Gaza Strip if it hadn't been attacked, so why should it give the land back? Would Arabs have given Israel back to the Jews if they had won the wars? Obviously not.
The promise that was given to the Palestinians 52 years ago by the League of Nations, now the United Nations, needs to be implemented. International peacekeeping troops are needed to stand between the Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied territories.
The problem with all such situations like this with regard to who is right and who is wrong, really depends how far you want to go back. The reality is that both factions occupy Jerusalem due to strong religious and historical factors. Nothing is going to change this! There is only one answer and that is to talk, compromise and accept the reality of the situation. As frustrated as the Palestinians are, throwing rocks at armed troops is both foolish & self-defeating. In any military conflict the Israelis will come out on top. Arafat should be replaced with someone new who is not afraid to compromise and I feel sure that the Israelis will respond positively. The last fifty years have proved that violence and hatred simply will not settle this problem.
The Palestinians seem a hard bunch to please. Barak offered them the withdrawal of settlers and the West Bank as a land to form their own country on, omitting only the Dome of the Rock, and his proposal was met by riots and terrorism which only carry the Palestinians further from their goal of statehood. How much further towards that goal might they be if they 1. showed popular support for cohabitation and 2. protested in the streets with signs and slogans rather than rocks and guns? Of course, how much closer to peace might Israel be if it would stop using its attack helicopters to threaten? Defending civilians from rioters who want Jewish deaths is one thing, but unnecessarily carrying out displays of force at a risk to Palestinian civilian lives is quite another.
As events continue to demonstrate there can be no durable peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, so long as the Israelis fail to recognise such violence is, and shall always be, the inevitable outcome of occupation. Though I deeply regret the loss of life, I wholeheartedly applaud the Palestinian resistance, which alone has become the repository of Palestinian national aspirations. The willingness of ordinary Palestinians to pit themselves against the military might of the Israelis, the funding of their American overlords, and the nonchalance of the EU and the rest of the world, patently demonstrates what has become an almost undisputed truth: the quest for justice, dignity, and self-determination will never be fully quelled by military might or repression. Let the history of the colonial powers be a cautionary tale to Israel.
Ushi Guruk, UK
What is profoundly surprising is the way the media has covered these events, in which the Israeli Army has been called the "aggressor" simply because of it's strength. People must remember that just because the Israeli Army is stronger (which then inevitably leads to more casualties on the Palestinian side) does not make them the wrong party. Has there yet been an attack by Israel on a Palestinian school bus full of children in Gaza? The international community cannot accept terrorism (which many of the Arab factions use) as a means to reach peace. It is apparent that only through diplomacy and not Arabs inciting violence can true peace be achieved.
The violence seems to have subsided during the past couple of days. Another terrorist bombing will cause it to escalate however. With the Barak's government in danger of toppling now, we will see him make a concerted effort to reach out to the Palestinians and resume peace negotiations, I believe. Polls show that over 60% of the Israeli public still want a peace agreement, despite the current violence. If elections are called and Barak reaches some type of interim agreement with the Palestinians, Israelis will vote for it in the elections.
A great deal of effort has been expended to have peace in the Middle East. But BOTH sides need to calm down, stop the escalation of violence, and return to the table with serious goals in mind.
If we stop treating Israel like a spoiled child and hold them responsible for UN resolutions, as in case of Iraq and Yugoslavia, then Israel will come in term for a real honourable peace with Palestinians. Until then Israel does not see any reason to withdraw from occupied land and peace will not prevail.
William Robertson, South Africa
Having lived in Israel for a period of time, I have a certain empathy for Israelis who have, in the last few generations, had to live in fear. Yet the Israeli public lacks the obsessive violent hatred which the Palestinians appear to have. The fact is that Israel is stronger. The fact is the Palestinians don't have a chance in hell of open confrontation. So what they should do is appeal to the sensibilities of the Israeli public and come up with some sensible answers to this crisis, not antagonise them. The Palestinians should learn to use their brains rather than their guts.
All indications are pointing towards further escalation of the conflict. Since neither side can't restrain themselves from provoking violence, the preliminary step that should be done to diffuse the current level of tension is to allow the deployment of a UN peacekeping force.
The spiralling violence in Israel and the occupied territories seems like a tragic inevitability these days, and please let no one pretend that one side wants it more than the other. The extremists on both sides have hardened even the most liberal Israelis and Palestinians, and both camps are equally to blame. Israel has been saying that it wants, although somewhat toothless, a Palestine, but at least it is not denying that such a state should be founded at all. Let's get on with it then, and fine-tune the details after it is established. Fiery tempers on both sides in that region are destroying any fragile hopes of peace that once were there.
Domini Connor, UK
Of course it will escalate, then subside, then start up again. Two quotes sum up my views. "If you keep on doing whatever you've been doing, you will keep on getting whatever you've been getting" and "There can be no peace without justice" What on earth do the Israelis expect the Palestinians to do ? Because of their religious faith they are not going to retire to their reservations and drink themselves into oblivion like the native inhabitants of America, Australia and New Zealand.
As a British Jew, I have been very troubled over the whole nightmare that has been the Middle East for the last two months. Although there has been FAR too many casualties on both sides, I do thank the IDF for showing the restraint and control it has over the last few weeks. Without the IDF the death toll on both sides would of been a lot higher as the region dissolved into anarchy. Although the Israeli's have all the might and strength, they also have the training and control. IF the Israeli's had been as out of control as the militant 'Fatah' Palestinians have been then the death count would not been in hundreds but thousands or tens of thousands. I for one salute the Israeli resolve and hope that we will soon get to a position on both sides where lives are not being lost.
It's clear that many Israelis yearn for peaceful coexistence. There is an active peace movement in Israel, and many community-level initiatives to bring Arab and Jew together are started by ordinary citizens. At government level, Barak went far further than any previous negotiator in his offers to Arafat in the summer. However the same is not true of the Palestinians. There is no peace movement and the people do not support the idea of coexistence. Until ordinary people want peace it cannot happen.
Since you have been asking essentially the same questions about the Middle East for about ten years, I guess a rational person would conclude that nothing much has changed, or is likely
to.
Jose Fernandez, Netherlands Israel is acting childishly. A state with as much power as Israel has should have the foresight to stop the retributions and stop perpetuating the cycle of violence. They need to grow up.
John Ellis, USA Why is it that when the victims are Muslims in any conflict
the west do not even condemn the aggressors or even try
to help them. But when the Muslims have the upper-hand on
any matters, you swiftly help the otherside (i.e. Israel is killing
children every minute of the day and you even refuse to
condemn...but when the conflict happened in the Timor you
quickly helped then and even recognise their rights within 2 weeks
but Palestine struggle in going for 52 years...where is
your human rights activists western democracy..
With so many major religions claiming a single city as "their holy land" and alleging they have an automatic "right" to ownership because they regard it as holy there will never be peace. A single nuclear warhead will ensure there is no Jerusalem for them to fight over.
As Golda Meir once said - when the Arabs start to love their children more than they hate us (i.e. the Jews) there will be peace.
I believe the US has got to take a back seat and hand over any negotiations to the United Nations. The US is not seen as an impartial assessor but as an ally of Israel.
Israel is going to have to remove its 'settlers' from Gaza and most of the West Bank if it is really serious about peace.
Mohansingh, India With so many major religions claiming a single city as "their holy land" and alleging they have an automatic "right" to ownership because they regard it as holy there will never be peace. A single nuclear warhead will ensure there is no Jerusalem for them to fight over.
First of all, the violence we are seeing
is occurring in the West Bank and Gaza,
not in the whole of the Middle East, which is an enormous geographical area. Second, to expect anything other than violence when millions of subjugated people are living under an apartheid style occupation that treats them like a lower form of humanity. The problem may seem complex, but the solution is simple - if Israel is serious and sincere about peace then let it stop occupying Arab land and respect UN resolutions calling for it to respect Palestinian rights. The people of Palestine, the indigenous owners of the land have suffered at the hands of their occupiers for long enough. They deserve the same rights as people everywhere. Deny them that and violence is inevitable.
If the Israelis think they can achieve peace through the threat of terrorism, I think they are clearly out of their minds. I think that they should look to their own history of repression and figure out that the Palestinians will not easily forget these crimes against humanity.
Doris Abdel Messieh, Egypt Violence begets violence. Occupation begets resistance. It is as simple as that to begin, as it is to end.
Somi, UK Yasser Arafat seems to have no control over his people and for each death they have, their beliefs seek revenge. The Israelis have control over their people and for each death they have their beliefs seek revenge. Well, I can see the anomaly.
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