Wars: Part 1

As I mentioned on Friday, this week I will present a different side to Israel from what we see in our media. I will try not to make it too boring, and will leave it up to you if you want to research for more detail.
Quick history of Israel and the occupied territories.
In a nut shell, or some reasonable facsimile, the Jewish people were driven out of their homeland The Land of Israel, over time by the Persian, Greek, Roman and Ottoman empires, just to mention a few. They began their immigration back during the 12th century with the first modern immigration starting in 1881 known as the First Aliyah. The Jews and the Arabs fought constantly, until Rodney King stood on top of the highest mountain in Israel and said "Can't we all get along", and the fighting stopped and the Jews and Arabs lived happily ever after. Well no that's not what really happened but what did happen was Britain got sick of the fighting and told the newly formed United Nations to fix it. The UN split up Palestine into two states. The Jews liked it but the Arabs didn't. In 1948 a war broke out where Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Sudan attacked Israel. When it ended Israel became a member of the UN and a temporary border called the Green Line was created and Israel threw out the Arabs (roughly 800,000) from the new state of Israel and they settled in refugee camps in what is now know as the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel took control of the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula after the Six Day War.

9/11/1922



There are many "They started it" arguments out there from both sides of the table. Jewish heritage goes back 3,000+ years, they say God gave them the land. Palestinians say the house and land they grew up with has been passed down from generation to generation.
So who's is it?
Should the Indians own our homes and land and we live on reservations with casino's?
The bottom line is they need to live together without the fear of suicide bombers or F-16's bombers.
Palestinians throw rocks and set off bombs strapped to their bodies while Israeli's use Hellfire missiles and tanks to defend themselves from one another.

Israeli Settlements
Perhaps the key issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the illegal construction of settlements in the West Bank. These settlements are built from the best land in the West Bank, hilltops, agriculture land...etc and then secured by building walls or security fences around them, like a gated community.
Many years ago, when I would read about check points, barriers or see pictures of the wall, I thought it was on the border between Israel and the West Bank, and felt it was to keep those crazy suicide bombers out, I was shocked when I saw a map of where the barriers and settlements were actually located. Back then I had to dig for maps, now Wiki has the info for all to see.


Click Here for a bigger pic
More detail map with projected barrier.

These Israeli settlements are connected by roads that are patrolled by the IDF and can only be used by the Israeli's.

A good clip about the barriers.

The Wall of Shame



To be continued........