For the past 120 years or so, the
Arab-Israeli conflict could be boiled down to a simple difference in
worldviews.
(notice I don't say Israeli-
Palestinian, because if not for the negative Arab-Muslim influence, Jews and Palestinians could have lived in peace in one state for a looong time now)
On the one hand you have the Zionist worldview about the "State of the Jews," (or "Jewish State") as articulated by the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl:
Every man will be as free and undisturbed in his faith or his disbelief as he is in his nationality. And if it should occur that men of other creeds and different nationalities come to live amongst us, we should accord them honorable protection and equality before the law
We ourselves will use and carry on every new attempt in our Jewish land . . . for the good of humanity, so we shall proceed in everything else in the same humane spirit, making of the new land a land of experiments and a model State
(Theodor Herzl, in his book "The State of the Jews," 1896)
On the other hand, you have the Arab-Muslim worldview, that was expressed in the preceding 1300 years of Islamic Imperialism:
Fight those [among Jews and Christians] who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
(Quran 9:29)
It has been narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. 'Umar that the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and they establish prayer, and pay Zakat and if they do it, their blood and property are guaranteed protection on my behalf except when justified by law, and their affairs rest with Allah.
(Hadith, Sahih Muslim 1:33)
So on the one hand you have
Zionists who wanted
freedom and equality for Jews are Arabs, and creating a
state for the good of humanity.
On the other hand you have the
vestiges of 1300 years of Islamic Imperialism, who wanted
Jews to be subjugated to Muslims, and
conquest for the sake of Islam.
Unfortunately, most Palestinians chose to ally with their Arab "brothers," who did absolutely nothing to help them, but instead exploited them for their own political profit.
Unfortunately, Hamas is just the latest iteration of the same Islamic worldview.
Palestinians need to realize what is in their own best interests, and work with the Israelis toward creating two states that could live in peace with each other, and establish strong economic bonds so Israelis and Palestinians can prosper.
The rest of the Middle East needs to get rid of their 7th century mentality, and join in the effort to promote freedom and equality (not that that's likely to happen any time soon).
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Natural Philosophy of Life - a simple, elegant, and powerful alternative to religious dogma