In December 2016, the US Secretary of State stated that, Israel would either have to be a Jewish State that does not intrude into Palestinian “land” or it should be democratic whereby Palestinians would be given equal rights as dignified citizens of one-state of Israel. This was something many Republicans and Conservatives found to be negative and Anti-American. The purpose of this paper is to argue that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians cannot be solved. This paper will use elements of persuasion to establish a case to prove that America must stay away from imposing its will on the Israelis and Palestinians and only intervene when it is necessary and a lot of human life and the peace of the region is at stake. This paper will use the elements of logos, pathos and ethos to establish a case for the claim that is being made in this paper.
The Claims to the Conflict are Endless and there is no Right Answer (Logos)
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the longest-lasting on-going armed conflict in the world today. Christians, Muslims and Jews know that Israelites of old were exiled into Europe and the Middle East and North Africa after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem some two thousand years ago. This was due to the Roman conquest of the land. However, Jews maintained their traditions and identities by forming Judaism which maintained the fundamental elements of their traditions in Ancient Israel. For these two thousand years of exile, every Jew has an obligation to pray 3 times a day and in each prayer, every Jew must pray for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Jews see the 2,000 years of living in scattered communities around Europe, North Africa and the Middle East as one long exile from their homeland in Israel. Other people saw them as a foreign people and it is on this basis that Jews were killed in large numbers in Europe. Jews always saw Israel as their ancestral homeland and everyone else, including Europeans in the time of World War II saw them as foreigners from Palestine. Thus, they have a legitimate claim to the land of Israel and will always be connected to the land of Israel. The Biblical border of Israel is definite. It includes all the land in the West Bank and Samaria which are designated under current international law as “Palestinian lands”.
On the other hand, Palestinians present evidence that their ancestors lived on the land of Israel long before Judaism or the Abrahamic religions were founded. Archaeological evidence shows that there were Canaanites and Philistines who lived in the land of Israel before Abraham was born. As such, there is a case for them to also claim the land. After the Roman conquest of the land which led to the destruction of the Second Temple, Jews were banned from entering Jerusalem and living on the Holy Land. The land was renamed Syria-Palestina by the Roman invaders. All Jews were either killed or exiled from the land. The remnants of the land became the Palestinian people.
Palestinians were converted to Islam about 1,500 years ago. Thus, the land came under the dominant rule of Islamic Caliphs. Islam was presented as a continuation of Judaism and as such, Jerusalem became its holy site – after the main holy areas in Mecca and Medina. The Caliphs ruled the land till 1918 when Britain conquered the Ottoman Empire and annexed the area.
Jews were subjected to degrading treatment by Arabs throughout Arab lands. They were not supposed to own land and as such, could not build a state in Israel. Thus, in 1945, when the World War II ended and Jewish Holocaust survivors demanded a state in British Palestine, the Palestinian Muslims dissented on the grounds that the land was for them and they did not want a Jewish state on it. The Islamic community around the world supported the Palestinian claim.
The Harsh Realities of Imposing Solutions (Pathos)
After the founding of Israel in 1948, there have been many attempts to resolve the conflict. Almost every remedy has been tried – ranging from destroying Israeli settlements to appease Palestinians to major threats from nations mightier than Israel. However, all of these tough and difficult choices did not change anything. The reality exists as follows – Palestinians are divided and Israelis keep expanding settlements.
It is therefore naïve for any US president or political party to impose its will on the Israelis or Palestinians because it will not work and it will not yield any results. Many attempts have been made and it has all failed. Thus, the Palestinians and Israelis must be left to carry out their interactions. The United States can only move in to prevent major humanitarian crises or problems.
In the early 1990s, when Israel moved on the path of appeasement, they destroyed settlements built with hard-earned Israeli taxpayer money and withdrew their troops. When the land was transferred to Palestinians, the Palestinians only used the land newly handed to them as a rocket-launch field to fire rockets into Israel to kill innocent children and women. Thus, any policy that forces Israel to give away land is something that will be suicidal. This is because there are four generations of Palestinians who have been radicalized and taught to hate Israelis they have never met before.
On the other hand, the Israeli Jew also knows that the right thing to do is to secure Jerusalem and Israel as a Jewish State. This is what s/he has been taught from childhood and it is necessary and a divine obligation to protect Israel and Israelis from Palestinian aggression. Thus, with the threat from Palestinians, most Israelis support the need to expand Israel to cover Israel’s biblical borders in order to secure the nation as a Jewish State.
Thus, both sides see it as a divine duty to protect their part and control all of Palestine. Palestinians believe the entire land is Islamic land and no single inch must be occupied by Jews who do not accept to be second-grade citizens. Israelis also see it as a divine duty to protect Israel and keep it Jewish. So there is no end to the conflict in sight.
American Exceptionalism and America’s Leadership of the Free World (Ethos)
The United States’ position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from 1947 has been to allow both sides to decide on the conflict through peaceful means. American Exceptionalism presents the United States as a uniquely free nation that has democratic ideals and offers its people personal liberty. This is what America has exported to the world. America positions itself as the leader of the free world and many nations look up to the United States for exemplary purposes.
Therefore, America will have to respect the liberties and the religions freedoms of both Israelis and Palestinians. The right thing to do is to follow the original premise of America’s involvement in the conflict. And this means America will have to lead from behind and allow the parties to deal with their problems. In the process, the United States can move in and make changes where and when there is the need for intervention and a foreign influence.
Until something extreme occurs, it would be wrong, unjust and unfair for the United States to do anything that would jeopardize the peace in the region. Thus, the United States must remain passive and allow the parties in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict to negotiate and come up with their own consensus.
In conclusion, there is no clear end to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. There is historical evidence from both Israelis and Palestinians that give each group some kind of logical and legitimate claim to the land. However, the realities are difficult as both Israelis and Palestinians believe that controlling the whole land is the solution. America’s position as the world’s super power requires America to be responsible. This means allowing the parties to negotiate and deal with the problem on their own. America must not impose anything on the parties.
Works Cited
Chomsky, Noam and Ilan Pappz. On Palestine . New York: Haymarket Books, 2015. Print.
McCauley, Clark and Sophia Moskalenko. Friction: How Radicalization Happens to Them and Us . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
Nulman, Macy. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer: The Askhenazic and Sephardic Rites . Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1996. Print.
Sand, Shlomo. The invention of the Jewish People . New York: Verso, 2010. Print.
Taylor, Guy. Netanyahu slams Kerry for insisting Israel can be Jewish or democratic — not both. 28 December 2016. Web. 31 January 2017. <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/28/john-kerry-israel-can-be-jewish-or-democratic-not-/>.
