[Bad speeling alert]
I think it is interesting to see that if you go back 18 months before this latest uprising or "intafada" as they are called, and asked "what started the lastest rage of violence?"
When Clinton was in power, he and others tried to get the 2 sides to figure somthing out. They were very close, with Ehud Barak and Arafat coming close but not quite close enough of a deal. Israeli politics required an election and the current leader Ariel Sharon, known as a hard liner, got into power partly on the platform of not giving into palestinian demands.
Now that may be part of the problem, but he also took a vist to a holy area, both sacred to jews and muslims alike: the temple mount. Ariel Sharon should have the right to visit that holy site, but all his advisors and many others near him advised against it, as it would offend the muslims. It was just bad timming. Ariel Sharon went ahead and visited, and well it pissed off the palistinians (to understand why, read up on the temple mount and the history behind it). This is WAY out of context but to the palistinians Sharons visit that day was the equiv of the leader of the neo nazi movement of germany visiting a holocaust memorial and rising his arm and spouting seig heil seig heil, dont you think that would offend and piss off some people? That example is overdramatizing Sharons visit that day, but that is the reaction basically that it sent to the palistanians.
Despite what some on here say, that the goal of the palistinians is to drive israli's into the ocean, well that is true of the zealots and extermists (of which there are many, i grant you that) including groups like Hamas, but there is also equal religious passionates on the israeli side that would be quite happy driving all the palistinians out of the occupied land as well. The only temporary solution would be to grant the lands of the 67 war back to hte palisitinans. Will that solve everything? Almost certainly not, there will always be other issues, but we have to START some where.
Sharon is not willing to talk or make any peace plans untill the "terror" stops. Well someone is going to have to bend over and take the first step. Quite honestly Arafat can not stop the terror. He now has limited ability to round up or arrest terrorists like that since the israeli army has destroyed most of the palistinina police force. Arafat is totally out of the loop on being able to control what is going on. He is at the helm of a rudderless ship that is being steered by the angst in the wind blowing against its sails. Guerilla war doesnt allow the palistians to take tanks and attempt to reoccupy their land. The only way they can highlight their cause is through voilence. If people think that Arafat can just push a button and stop this acts of terror then i think they are wrong. Is arafat ignorant and spouting the hatred when he could be trying to stop it, of course. Honestly i think both sides are being stubborn and arrogant in their own ways.
Diplomacy ALMOST worked, back in the late 90's with clinton and Ehud Barak and Arafat, but that time has passed and now new leadership is in power in israel and they decided to take a different path. That path leads us to the built up tension issues we face right now.
Palistinans dont have tanks, jet fighters, proffessionaly trained soldiers or helicopters supplied by a large nation like what israel has (granted they required that help to protect htemselves from outside threats). Hell look at hte firestorm and eruption of disgust when it was found Iran 'may have' (which means they most certainly did) send a boat load of guns over to the palistinians. But lets look at what hte palistians have. They have kids with rocks, teenagers with bombs strapped around their waists and a general apathetic world audience who doesnt seem to want to address the issue. And when they do, they shake their firsts and an incompetent leader like arafat and tell him to "stop the violence".
What is the solution? Well its not whatever is going on now. Whatever 'policy' ariel sharon decided upon is not working. Whatever manipulative plans arafat decided to play is not working either. It has to be ACCEPTED that htey are at a stalemate. There is really only 2 options:
a) even worse attrocities against israeli civilians will continue
which will result in even more death, and derail any glimmer of hope of a peace process/cease fire. This could very well escalate into the israeli army not only occupying, by 'declaring war' on the refugees in their camps, destroying them ultimatily.
This would seriously upset the mideast with results no one could really predict
b) israel unilaterrly reverts control of the occupied lands back to the palistinians, settlers and their settlements on this territory will have to be relocated.
Which would probably result in a large rejection or out right refusal by some strong willed israeli's, possible civil war scenario where the army will not foricbly evict its citiziens to give the land back to hte palistinians despite what the gov't has ordered. Other zealots on the other side will derail this process, palistinans who want to not only see their lands from 67 be returned but all lands israel occupies continue suicide bombings EVEN AFTER they have been granted their original lands back. Israli's throw their hands up in the air wondering "what now", and scenario 1 repeats itself.
Hopefully in a scenario where the palistinians got their land back, other arab nations would step up to help them reorganize their government and encourage them to go back to a peacefull path.
It is truely a fukced up situation. I grant you that. What i wrote above is not the be all and end all solution, but hopefully it highlights some of the things that have been happening.
Too bad the palistinians couldn't get a new leader :\
