Tragedy in the Middle East part 1

A lot of uninformed U.S. citizens are always quick to jump up and blame Israel for all the problems that surround them. Sometimes it is Israel's fault, but not always.
The brief history of how Israel returned to the ranks of nations is so much different than people typically believe. In face, in the mid to late 1800s when some Jews started drifting back in, they actually were welcomed by many Arabs there and brought needed development. Peace was not only possible, it was practiced.
Practice is a funny thing. With repetition you get better at it. Take a weight lifter. They start out pretty small. I am not a weight lifter, so these measures will probably be ridiculous, but assume today a guy is bench pressing 400 pounds. I think one broadcast last week showed a guy doing that. I can pretty much assure you he started several hundred pounds less than that. I imagine if I were to try a bench press it would be something like 50 pounds. Yet I have the capability of lifting 400...over time.
The way to do that is proper preparation, training, and practice. If I adjusted my diet to maximize vitamin and mineral intake, did the stretches, and started lifting, why in no time at all, repetition would improve my muscular development and I might be up to a hundred pounds. Then, as I continue to lift and eat, I would develop to where I could lift 150, and then 200...
The same is true of running. I actually went with Emily on her first run when she started training for this marathon. I believe we did about 3 miles. At the time, I knocked it off fairly easily, but for her it was a tremendous struggle and she barely made it. But she has been eating better and continued running according to a strict schedule and last week she knocked off a 21 mile run...while I, who have NOT been practicing my running, probably could still do 3 but not much more.
See the point? Anything you do gets better with practice and proper fundamentals. Peace is no different.
Well, the Jews and Arabs went around practicing peace and acting like neighbors. But then something happened. The world started spouting about "self-determination" and Nationalism continued growing stronger. Somehow, who your great-great-great-great-great-great- Grandparents were and what their culture was meant more than the family you lived next to and had picnics with. Why, I can't like that guy...he has a different skin color/religion/nationality/earlobe style/haircut...
And, of course, the "civilized" nations of the world weren't happy having peace over there. So World War I rolls around and wouldn't you know it, the English decide they want help from the Jews. So they issue the White Paper of...if memory serves correctly...1916. In which they promise a nation of their own to the Jews. At the same time, another minister is promising that same land at the same time to the Arabs.
Someone, some where, is asking why, if self-determination is so important, why then does England need to determine who gets self-determination and who doesn't?
The White Paper of 1919 confused things even more, and as normal, "diplomats", those experts in producing peace, did what they did best and started skirmish warfare.
Who was wrong? The Jews who were acting on promises made to them? The Arabs who were acting on promises made to them? Neither? Both?
Take away the names that inspire us with all the connotations and political nonsense that we associate with "Arab" and "Jew" and what you have is two peoples who got along until a 3rd party promised them mutually contradictory things.
The 20s and 30s saw periods of peace interspersed with periods of armed conflict. Then World War II rolled around.
War, like politics, creates strange bedfellows. Remember Italy switching sides in the middle of the war? Remember Hitler trying to have the U.S. help him against the communists he saw as a great evil? He wanted to get in bed with his 2nd greatest enemy.
Well, England went to work again, promising all sorts of people all sorts of things to get their support. And wouldn't you know it, the people proved to be stupid. They believed those promises. Promises by the ruling parites that once again were contradictory. And those promises are still bearing bitter fruit today.
Most people know about the founding of Israel after the war and the displacement of the Palestinians, as they came to be known. Most people also know about the 6 Days War, and more people than ever know about the exploits of men such as Ariel Sharon in pushing the "settlement' philosophy...the one where small bands of Israelites would move to a location, thus "forcing" the Israelite army to protect them and expanding the borders of Israel.
Meanwhile, almost every nation rejected the application of the Palestinians for a place to live. The one country that offered, the Palestinians refused. Thus we had created a volatile situation where, frankly, nobody was totally right and nobody was totally wrong. Every side was (and is) acting on promises given to them by the ruling body at the time.
Here is the background for part 2. Please keep reading.