ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

U.S. political actions toward the Israel-Palestinian conflict may be the most important and needed debate for America=s and the world=s security interests. * To think that religion and politics don=t mix at the world level is naive.  Both Jewish and Christian religions at their highest level claim that the human needs of one people are no more important than those of another. This is shown in such Biblical declarations that, "God is no respecter of persons" and that the Jewish people are to be a >blessing to all nations". For the US to present itself as a fair and unbiased powerful arbiter, which it does every time it acts regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict, in assisting these two equally important groups of competing people; it needs to demonstrate that the needs of each are equally valid. 

If not consistently demonstrated, we should expect the angry cry and hostile attitudes of the less favored to be expressed with growing intensity. That is the normal, if embarrassing, reaction of human beings in survival status. If one looks at US interventions, beginning in 1946, of assuring Israel a homeland, of seeing that Israel overwhelmingly out weapons Palestinians and the exorbitantly one sided amount of financial aid to Israel per-capita vs Palestinians; the claim of equal valuing is simply not consistently demonstrated. I was surprised at these maps which show the land  increases Israel  has claimed since 1946. The U.S. has had a strong influence on this unhealthy shift of land possession. Surely this discrepancy lies beneath the continued  political hostilities between the two  peoples.

I always remain horrified and am committed to never forget  how Jewish people have been maligned and mistreated on the historical stage with the holocaust being the climax of their murderous mistreatment. And it is true that by all religious standards no group, including Americans and Jews, must ever be given standing rights to have their needs and dreams more validated than others. 

Shifts in power from underdog to topdog happen subtly  and must  continuously be weighed by those who would seek to bring a fair and equitable viewpoint to any ongoing dispute. US policy, perhaps very influenced by long standing Jewish-Christian loyalties and our connection to(but maybe not appropriately interpreted) the Biblical narrative, has a record of implying the needs of Israel bottom line are more important than those of Palestinians. This is the debate that needs to be continued with the historical facts as well as principles of social ethics always being kept clear. Jim Hibbett, Riverton 
_____________________________________________

* The reader may be intersted in this more recent blog:
 http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6867130980866241997#editor/target=post;postID=1781392941710004709
_________________