Comment on people's reaction and opinions on the Middle East crisis

People need to stop being so ANTI and more PRO. I am Pro-Israeli. I am PRO-Palestinian. I am Pro-Peace. I am Pro-coexistence.

Just a note on the current Middle east crisis and my views on how certain people have been expressing themselves lately. I believe people who take extreme sides of the conflict are not advocates of peace. It is because of these people that we are not moving forward in the peace process that became stagnant as of 2001 in Tabba (many would say it never started) .

As I speak with different people during the escalation of this unfortunate war between Israel and Hezbollah, I hear many who solely blame Lebanon for not disarming Hezbollah since the resolution 1559 was passed by the UN in 2004 calling for a withdrawal by Syria and disarmament of Militias. There are many who just point at the kidnappings as the only reason for the crisis. While these people may be exagerative in their views I think they are correct in supporting a war on Hezbollah because it believes in a destruction of Israel and undermines Lebanese sovereignty over its own state. Even the many critics of Israel usually do not complain about the waging war on Hezbollah. They for now, express concern over the disparate numbers of Lebanese innocent civilians who have died.

Hence, everyone for the most part, would agree (whether they hate Israel's guts or not) that Israel was legitimate in its defense against Hezbolah. The disagreements are over how to wage the war. Now as I said before, I am perturbed by certain people's unbending criticism on either side of the spectrum of the conflict.

It also pisses me off when people who don't understand the conflict present unbalanced criticism towards Israel. People who only shout out criticism towards Israel are irritating (they are obliged to since they've jumped in the hip ultra-liberal bandwagon). These people only highlight the suffering Israel causes without even attempting to understand why Israel is forced in it sometimes. I am not here to defend all of Israel's policies and decisions because I myself disagree with some of them. But these people overlook the fact that without this war Hezbollah will keep receiving more and more power from Syria and Iran and will keep growing as a state within a state who declares death to Israel.

Where are you from? I don't know who it is that is reading but lets just randomly say that you're from Argentina. Then, lets say Paraguayans had a militia of terrorists who occasionally bombed Argentina and sought to destroy Argentina. Logically you support an invasion of paraguay and disarmament or anihilation of this militia. Get the point?

Now, Im not trying to say the situation in middle east is so simple. It is by far the biggest conundrum in world politics because of how unsolvable it really is. And I am not trying to dissuade support for the Lebanese at such a difficult time. My heart goes out to Beirut and hopes for a resolution as soon as possible. But I am trying to point out that people who are so one-sided are not helping the peace-process. If you TRULY fucking want peace as much as you say you do, try to look at the conflict from both perspectives. I used to have a more radical view myself. This last semester, I spent traveling inside Israel and outside its borders. I was able to visit places such as Amman, Aqaba, and Petra. Later on I was able to make it to Cairo. I even did a little bit of traveling in the West Bank to places such as Ramallah and Hebron. From meeting individuals I began to see just how sweet most people in the Arab world as well as in Israel are. These are, in my opinion, righteous people who want progress for their families and for their children. They want what every normal person wants. Peace, happiness, economical prosperity, etc. Their gov't however, is what to me hinders their will. But lets not stray off topic too much.

My great grandfather grew up in Morrocco, in a day when Hebrews and Arabs coexisted with much harmony. The Arab world was very accepting towards its dhimmis (Jews and Christians). People seem to forget that. People also rarely are aware that those Arab-palestinians who accepted Israel during the 1948 war and stayed withing its borders, were granted citizenship and now form a strong minority within Israel proper of about 1 million out of 6 million.

Anyways, I ask for people to try to return the Jewish-Arabic coexistence to what it was before 1948. But also understand, Israel is here to stay. Understand, that the only productive way of getting us out of this mess is through criticism of both sides- not just one. Understanding and learning are essential. And don't just read authors from one side of the mess. Read from both sides and come to your views then. Salaam-Aleikum. Shalom le col haOlam. Peace to all.

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