Below The Fold

To the two idiots I overheard discussing politics they don’t understand…

The conflict between Jews and Arabs is not a 1,000-year-long war. It is not even a 100-year-long war.

You could make an argument for maybe 86 years, although 60 is probably more accurate.

A couple of things to realize:

1) There’s no such thing as a holy war.

2) Across the history of man, ultimately, at the root of every war, is a fight over land.

3) War in the Middle East is usually not Jew vs. Arab. It’s Arab vs. Arab.

Israel is no exception to these rules. The Balfour Declaration marks the first time in contemporary history that the discussion of a Jewish homeland was raised. As the area under discussion was under British rule at the time, it came down to the Brits drawing the literal lines in the sand, parceling out pieces of territory to different religious groups. With British withdrawal after WWII, the conflagration was sparked. Between Israel and Palestinians who were barred from entering Jordan.

The Arab culture considers Palestinians to be of the lowest caste of Arab, often referred to as a “dirty, nomadic people.” If the Arabs didn’t have Jews to hate, next in line would be Palestinians.

But from 1945 to 1967, tensions, though high, were capped. But then, in 1967, something changed. The real estate was reappraised.

Land that had been arid for the last 5,000 years was now tenable. In a part of world known for its deserts, Israel was now an oasis, producing more food than anywhere else in the region. The land, though “historically” and “religiously” important, was now truly important, and many Arab leaders wanted it.

The Soviet Union, ironically opposed to the Jewish state (I say ironically, because Karl Marx, their version of Thomas Jefferson, was a Jew), fueled the tensions between Syria and Israel, supplied the Syrians with weapons, and created false intelligence reports about a buildup of Israeli forces along that border.

Syria and Egypt, allied since the year prior, committed forces to the same border. Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan all committed forces along the borders of Israel, while Syria controlled the sea. Israel found itself surrounded by half-a-million troops with guns, tanks, planes and ships all aimed at her. War was imminent.

The Six Day War is one of the swiftest, most impressively orchestrated campaigns in all of military history. Israel struck preemptively at the combined air forces of the attacking countries while they remained on the ground, establishing air superiority with one large sortie on the first day of the war. Following the stunning overhand right, Israel delivered two powerful blows to the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, punching through their barricades and establishing superiority on the ground.

For the first time in recorded history, Jews fought to win, not just to survive.

Subsequently, the state of war that has existed in the Middle East has been colored as a “holy war.” It is not. The P.LO., and the Hamas, and all the rest of these terrorist organizations who so fervently cling to the beliefs that they are fighting a just fight, have been duped. They represent a people who’s own leadership has laid them at the alter of political ambition with staggering regularity.

The Camp David peace talks in 2000 gave Arafat a way out. Israel came to compromise and laid a deal on the table offering literally 99 percent of what the Palastinian leadership wanted.

But Arafat isn’t playing for his people. He’s playing for his legacy, and he wants to go down in history as a martyred warrior, not a wizened diplomat. His own ego effectively cost the lives of countless Jews and Palestinians since.

The next time you want to take a historically convoluted issue and break it down to mostly monosyllabic grunts and nods between bites of your salad, at least take the time to understand what it is you mock.