One of the most elongated conflicts in the world has surely been related to the Jews and Arabs over the territory that defines the modern state of Israel. What many people fail to notice is the gravity of the conflict and how the conflict surely is not recent. What makes both the conflict and the peace process so complex between these two groups is that their cultures and religious beliefs date back thousands of years, (Jospe, R., 1995). To this end, they have many religious holy sites, for example, that are sacred to both faiths due to the territorial overlap over the ages, (History of the Israeli – Palestinian Conflict, 2016). This has given rise to many conflicts within the region, which has also led to the Jews that live in America and the American general opinion to be very varied on the subject of Jerusalem. Even though there are many Americans that are in fact pro-Jerusalem, there is also a large sector of the American opinion of Jerusalem that is very anti-Jerusalem. The key factors that impact the American opinion on the subject of Jerusalem are: the media portrayal of Jerusalem, allegiance to the idea of a Jewish state, empathy for the Palestinian population that tends to suffer as a result, whether the American has knowledge of the history of the region, and strong opinions regarding the region’s lack of diplomacy in achieving a successful peace-talk initiative.
One of the aspects that greatly impacts the American viewpoint on Jerusalem is the media coverage. The media coverage is very controversial on the subject of the Arab-Israeli conflict within the United States, (Omer-Man, M., 2015). One of the reasons that this greatly shapes the American’s perspective about the Arab-Israeli conflict is that many Americans do not actively seek the international media, meaning that those who do see what is reported will form their viewpoints based on those reports. This is precisely why the United States media coverage of issues surrounding Jerusalem is critical to the formation of the sector of the American population’s beliefs pertaining to the issues.
Another aspect that greatly impacts the American’s viewpoint on Jerusalem is whether the particular American has an allegiance to the idea of a Jewish state. The United States is divided by a plethora of cultures and religions that exist within the United States. That being said, there is also a very large Jewish population that is particularly strong in Los Angeles, New York City, and parts of Florida. These strong Jewish communities all have varying beliefs on the Arab-Israeli conflict depending on their family’s role in the conflict in Israel and the impact that the conflict has had on their particular sector of Judaism. This is important to observe because there is also a sector of the American Jewish population that does not agree with the idea of a Jewish state. This is something that greatly shifts the American viewpoint for the American Jews. Relating to the sector of the population that is not Jewish, one has to take into account their political science views about how the Arabs have been treated in the conflict because this is a major opinion-shifter when talking about the idea of a Jewish state, (Primer on Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 2016).
The next idea that greatly affects the American’s viewpoint on Jerusalem is whether the American has empathy for the Palestinian population that tends to suffer as a result of the Jewish state controlling certain territories. In the United States, there is a varied portrayal of the Palestinian plight because of the mixture of racism towards Arabs that exists in the United States culture. While this is unfortunate to admit, the United States has suffered a great deal of racism towards Arabs after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. As a result of this, even regarding the reporting of the Arab-Israeli conflict, one will find that Americans truly do have a mixed viewpoint on the issue, but the ones who do take a strong stance tend to have a stronger tie to the Israeli side of the argument that the Palestinian. That being said, where the perspective takes an interesting shape is that Americans tend to take an anti-terrorism stance rather than support either the Arabs or the Israelis as well. What Americans advocate for is the abolition of terrorism in the international landscape due to the suffering that they have experienced in their own country. For this reason, the Israeli – Palestinian conflict is a sore subject for Americans in that while the members of the population that ideally would like a Jewish state due to cultural heritage roots because they cannot support the Jewish state on the principle of the terrorist attacks that have both been carried out by the Israeli government and Palestinian extremists, (Primer on Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 2016).
In the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, there are many Americans that do not know or completely understand the history of the region. This greatly changes how Americans feel because if they are not informed, they either are indifferent to the issue or have misconstrued facts on the conflict and its history. This principle does not only apply to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the American perspective. The reason that this transpires in America is also tied to the media coverage and the egocentric culture that the Americans possess with regards to the hegemonic view of the United States. Where this view becomes relevant is even when leaders of the United States have not backed Israel because they felt that the conflict did not apply to United States foreign policy objectives, (Telhami, S., 2014). This is important to understand because if the Americans are not informed about the history of the region and because of this form an indifference, it is difficult to promote a strong viewpoint about what should be done to rectify the situation in the Arab – Israeli conflict. While there absolutely are strong viewpoints in the academic arena in the United States at leading universities that focus on global issues, these strong viewpoints are not shared by the rest of the population because they are due to a lack of information and perspective required to have strong viewpoints. Should more Americans be informed of the history of the Arab – Israeli conflict, they would undoubtedly possess a very strong viewpoint on what the next steps should be to resolve the issues.
The final factor that impacts how Americans view Jerusalem is the lack of success that peace talks have had between the Arabs and the Israelis. For those Americans that do possess a strong perspective pertaining to the Arab – Israeli conflict, they are outraged at how many times the peace talks have failed between the two territories, (Goldman, L., 2015). Additionally, many times these peace talks have failed due to extremist violence. Given the United States history with extremist violence in the attacks of September 11, 2001 by Muslim extremists, it is no wonder that many Americans do in fact side with the Israelis on the issue of peace talks and view the Palestinians as culpable for prolonging the violence, (Goldman, L., 2015). What is imperative to understand about the American viewpoint on Jerusalem once again is the American stance on eradicating terrorism. Even though Americans do have a varied perspective on how to resolve terrorism in the world, they see the world’s conflicts that they have knowledge of relating to the issue of terrorism as something that has to be eliminated. Bearing the history of the Arab – Israeli conflict relating to the battle between Judaism and Islam, it is no wonder that the Americans tend to side with Israel because they have a mindset that automatically links the Arabs to terrorism. While this is surely not entirely true, it is important to understand when trying to ascertain how the average American thinks of the state of Israel. Those who do want to back the state of Israel tend to take the stance that they want to back Israel so that Muslim terrorism is eliminated in the region. While this is understandable given what knowledge many Americans are exposed to, the problem is not that simple in the long run.
What is important to assess when analyzing the American perspective on the Arab – Israeli conflict is multi-dimensional. The reason that the conflict is so diverse is that there are many elements of the American perspective of the conflict to consider such as: the strong opinions pertaining the region’s inability to successfully complete peace negotiations, the poor media reporting on the issue of the Arab – Israeli conflict, the allegiance to the idea of having a Jewish state, whether the American has knowledge of the history of the Arab – Israeli conflict, and lastly, whether there is a slight empathy for the Palestinian population that has suffered as a result of this conflict. Given that there are so many dimensions to the understanding of the Arab – Israeli conflict, it is no wonder that so many Americans have varying perspectives on whether there should in fact be a state that is solely dedicated to Judaism. The key to understanding this complex conflict for any American or individual in the world is to know the history behind the conflict. Without taking adequate time to learn the history, one would greatly struggle in having an adequate understanding of this complex conflict and what is needed to resolve this conflict in the long term. In order to understand this complex issue, one has to be aware of the sacred religious sites that these two faiths have in common. This is why the city of Jerusalem is divided into four sectors of different religions, for example. The historic divisions of these faiths and the battles between their beliefs of the scripture date back thousands of years and surely do not aide the problem of modern day terrorism in the region. The average American today, if they have knowledge of the region’s history, are honestly divided of who to side with in the Arab – Israeli conflict because Americans, as mentioned early, merely want to eradicate terrorism and whatever means is necessary with a Jewish state or giving Palestinians back some of their territories that will achieve this end is what the American is going to advocate for in the years to come.
References
Goldman, L. (2015). Peace Process Over, It’s Year Zero for Israelis and Palestinians. Aljazeera America. Retrieved from: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/10/13/peace-process-over-its-year-zero-for-israelis-and-palestinians.html
History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. (2016). PBS. Retrieved from: http://pov-tc.pbs.org/pov/pdf/promiese/promises-timeline.pdf
Jospe, R. (1995). The Significance of Jerusalem: A Jewish Perspective. Palestine Israeli Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.pij.org/details.php?id=647
Omer-Man, M. (2015). How Americans Really Feel About Equality for Palestinians and Israelis. 972Mag. Retrieved from: http://972mag.com/how-americans-really-feel-about-equality-for-palestinians-and-israelis/114562/
Primer on Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. (2016). Middle East Research and Information Project. Retrieved from: http://www.merip.org/primer-palestine-israel-arab-israeli-conflict-new
Telhami, S. (2014). American Public Attitudes Towards the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Brookings. Retrieved from: http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2014/12/05-american-opinion-poll-israeli-palestinian-conflict-telhami
