Will Israel and Palestine ever get along?

2014-10-17T10:06:43-04:00

If you look back, Israel and Palestine have an extremely turbulent history that has caused devastation on both sides. If you were to ask if they will ever be at peace, based on the past, the answer would be no. Time and time again Israel and Palestine have gone back and forth, leaving a path of destruction and asking for other countries to help pick up the pieces.

At the Gaza Reconstruction Conference in Cairo, $5.4 billion was raised to aid in rebuilding the Gaza strip…again. Interestingly enough, no one from Israel attended. According to the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, Egyptian officials feared many Arab states would have canceled if they knew an Israeli attended. Want to know how much the U.S. pledged? $400 million by the year’s end.

The U.S. has a long-standing history of giving money to Israel, since WWII more than $121 billion has been given. Since the mid 1990s, the U.S. has given Palestine $5 billion dollars…not including the most recent pledge.

As we give them our money, what is the guarantee that what happened will not happen again next week? Next year? Many countries that participated in the conference pushed for peace talks to continue and for a long-standing peace to take place. There were some concerned that Israel and Palestine’s stand off will not last. They will then be asked again to donate money to rebuild a city that these two combatant countries destroyed.

America and various countries can plea for a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine, but if they do not want to keep it then should we continue to give them money to rebuild their cities? Will Israel and Palestine ever be able to break the cycle?

Response by PVT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 17 at 2014 10:41 AM

2014-10-17T10:41:34-04:00

Israel will always be under attack until Christ returns.

Response by SSG John Bacon made Oct 17 at 2014 10:55 AM

2014-10-17T10:55:24-04:00

Muslims will never be at peace with any one. Israel wants Peace but will never get it as long as there are muslims. Islam is a religion of hate mongering, torture, violance against women, and Lies. This has been proven time and time again. Wake up! You can not have peace with a people who follow Islam.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 17 at 2014 12:14 PM

2014-10-17T12:14:55-04:00

If they've been fighting before the bible was written, then there might be a chance in a century or so

Response by TSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 17 at 2014 12:54 PM

2014-10-17T12:54:53-04:00

No.

Response by PO2 Steven Erickson made Oct 17 at 2014 1:02 PM

2014-10-17T13:02:37-04:00

Umm... A picture is worth a thousand words.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 17 at 2014 1:08 PM

2014-10-17T13:08:25-04:00

Simple answer NO! Hard to have piece when one side wants only destruction.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 17 at 2014 1:35 PM

2014-10-17T13:35:34-04:00

There is a significant amount of history to take into account and the conflict between the Israeli government and Hamas is largely along political ideological lines as opposed to necessarily religious lines. There is a solution for peace, but it requires a level of cooperation that I'm not sure Hamas nor Israel is able to accept right now. I think it would be easier for Israel and the west to accept a more PLO style rule in the west bank as opposed to Hamas, but I'm not positive that any of us will see that anytime in the near future. Its hard for Palestinian people to really accept an isolated state the way it is now, and its hard for the west to accept a NON-isolated state (at least the louder aspects of the west). Neither Hamas nor the historically recent mindset of the PLO are directly against Israel having a sovereign state, but the conflict is so muddled in violence and rhetoric that its hard to definitively nail down the exact desires of either side. It also doesn't help that border lines, while roughly drawn along some sort of logical reasoning, don't necessarily take into account true tribal borders.

The Elon Peace Plan seemed to have an interesting logical take in terms of tribal breakdowns, but it was backwards on which country should absorb the west bank IMO. I think a more palatable solution might be if Jordan absorbed the west bank and became a pan-arab state but its hard to say that Gaza should remain as some sort of independent Palestinian state under Hamas or Fatah, be absorbed by Israel, be some sort of Jordanian state separated by Israel, or what. Either way, its hard and I'm not sure we will see peace break out in the next 30-40 years which is understandable since boundary lines have been moving around a decent amount over the recent past.

And yeah, I realize that my two paragraph response was in no way an answer.

Response by SGT Ben Hilger made Oct 17 at 2014 1:38 PM

2014-10-17T13:38:20-04:00

I would love to live and see them coexist..... However, it's going to take generations of forgiveness and acceptance to see this as a reality

Response by COL Timothy S. made Oct 17 at 2014 2:29 PM

2014-10-17T14:29:49-04:00

The US has to get off dead center on this issue. Neither side has any incentive to get along with the other, and the US support of both is so divided, I see no end to the struggle. As long as the Palestinians enjoy the sympathy of the left, and the Israelis settle for the tepid support from the right, the conflict will persist. In my opinion, the US would have to side entirely with either the Palestinians or the Israelis...not both. Only then will any movement toward a resolution be realized. The second order affect of supporting Israel would be damaged relations with other Arab nations in the region, but I can't see how that would be much worse than what we are experiencing now in that region.

Response by MSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 17 at 2014 2:31 PM

2014-10-17T14:31:28-04:00

It will never happen. You are talking about one indigenous people displaced by another who traces their ancestral roots to same place. There are longer standing conflicts, centuries old, over nothing more than a disputed pass through the Himilayas. This is an entire country where the two peoples are diametrically opposed to one another on a visceral, religious, and sociology-economic level. One progress prone and the other progress resistant. There will never be peace or consensus in Palestine.

Response by MSG Brad Sand made Oct 17 at 2014 2:34 PM

2014-10-17T14:34:41-04:00

Yes, when one of two things happens. They either kill so many of each other for to the point that there are so few people they do not care who owns what is not glowing or charred OR they find a common enemy that forces that redirects their animosity from each other.
The best way for the Arabs to beat the Jews is for them to leave them alone long enough for them to turn on themselves? The reason all these Muslim terror groups don’t kill more Westerners is because they keep turning on another Muslim group, Shia killing Sunni, Sunni killing Shia. Thank the Lord they hate each other more than they hate us?

Response by SFC Dr. Joseph Finck, BS, MA, DSS made Oct 17 at 2014 2:39 PM

2014-10-17T14:39:16-04:00

RallyPoint Team ,

The likelihood of Israel and Palestine getting along is highly unlikely. In my lifetime, there has been no peace. I doubt there will be before my time here is done.

SFC Joseph M. Finck USA (Ret)

Response by Cpl Aaron Nelson made Oct 17 at 2014 4:47 PM

2014-10-17T16:47:57-04:00

Yes. For a period of three and a half years there will be peace. Sometime in the near future I don't doubt.

Response by SMSgt Michael Carl made Oct 17 at 2014 4:54 PM

2014-10-17T16:54:20-04:00

Has there ever been peace in the Middle East? I can't recall a time in recent history when there has ever been peace. Even if the Palestinians had the land to themselves, they would end up fighting each other. Israel is the only stable democratic country in that region. And the Palestinians have it in their doctrine for total destruction of Israel. So the answer is "NO".....at least not in our lifetime.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 17 at 2014 4:59 PM

2014-10-17T16:59:29-04:00

So I grew up in the 80's and I've never seen peace work between these two countries. I have seen parallels in terrorist type activities come from "Palestine" provoking Israel to retaliate. Israel has every right to protect there civilians against terrorist attacks just like we do. We freak out about September 11th but that same type of thing happens to Israel on the daily basis. If you think ISIS is of any concern then you would probably cower at the thought of how "Palestine" conducts themselves. Not only that but when the media is near they point fingers at Israel and call themselves, inaccurately, "martyrs". I think that country is preposterous and needs to be transplanted somewhere else. The Israeli people went from one ethnic cleansing attempt, Germany, to another, "Palestine ". Free gaze? You say? I say free
Israel.

Response by SFC A.M. Drake made Oct 17 at 2014 5:00 PM

2014-10-17T17:00:25-04:00

not until Christ comes back. they have been at each other's throat since Abraham had Ismael and Isaac, their descendants according to the bible

Response by Cpl Robert Masi made Oct 17 at 2014 5:23 PM

2014-10-17T17:23:22-04:00

ALL of the history in that region is Muslims trying to kill all the Jews.....If it's a part of their religion, do you honestly think that one day they'll decide to stop following their religion????? Read up on the history. Palestine is just the most recent manifestation of Muslims trying to kill Jews.
Be honest, not Politically Correct.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 17 at 2014 5:41 PM

2014-10-17T17:41:40-04:00

....I don't think they will ever get along considering one side just wants to annihilate the other side...

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 18 at 2014 1:42 AM

2014-10-18T01:42:42-04:00

No. You can't really "get along" with a group of people whose sole purpose in life is to end yours.

Response by PO2 Rocky Kleeger made Oct 18 at 2014 1:52 AM

2014-10-18T01:52:08-04:00

Not in my lifetime

Response by Sgt Packy Flickinger made Oct 18 at 2014 1:56 AM

2014-10-18T01:56:21-04:00

Not as long as there is a human alive on both sides. Hatfied and McCoys x1000

Response by MSgt Peter Castine made Oct 18 at 2014 2:45 PM

2014-10-18T14:45:58-04:00

There will never be peace in this region. The Hamas have proven time and time again that they will not rest until the last Israeli is dead.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 19 at 2014 12:58 PM

2014-10-19T12:58:35-04:00

Israel and Palestine will never have a lasting peace. This conflict goes back thousands of years. Basically Palestine won't be happy until Israel ceases to exist. As far as giving money to both sides I think it's a waste. We have a long standing relationship with Israel and should support them. Giving money to Palestine is just counter-productive and wasteful.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Oct 19 at 2014 6:31 PM

2014-10-19T18:31:27-04:00

I still have never found a more simple way to explain the problem in the Middle East better than this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngFYOLOkmaI&list=PLITXl2ItF7nzhyuuvQ5YMgrc8U1A37eiQ

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict explained

This is an important video explaining the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Must watch. This video is not mine but I didn't find it titled in English.

Response by SGT Richard H. made Oct 19 at 2014 8:16 PM

2014-10-19T20:16:08-04:00

Someday Israel and Palestine WILL get along. I SO look forward to that day when unicorns fart rainbows that smell like skittles.

Response by LCDR William Johnston made Oct 22 at 2014 1:57 PM

2014-10-22T13:57:49-04:00

Will Israel and Palestine ever get along? Although it is simplistically constructed, and reflects significant political and philosophical naivete, the question is still worthy of being addressed. One of its faults is that it subsumes a common acceptance of what the phrase “get along” means. A second is that it implies that Israel and Palestine have some kind of equivalence: political, for example.

In the past, when addressing questions of this nature, I have found that the path to the understanding necessary to formulate an answer is more easily found when the question is approached by looking first at fundamentals. Setting aside, for the moment, the issue of what “get along” means, the question can be seen to imply (among other things) that the two named entities exist as competing States. This is not the case. As the term “State” is commonly defined, there is not now and, in all of recorded History, there never has been, a State named “Palestine.” Historically, States, as we know them, haven’t really existed as such for very long. (Currently, 160 of the 192 other UN member states (83%) currently recognize Israel as sovereign State.

Muslim apologists and other readers may take issue with the following source but, from the Jewish Virtual Library, we find that, though the definite origins of the word “Palestine” have been debated for years and are still not known for sure, the name is believed to be derived from the Egyptian and Hebrew word “peleshet” or “pelesheth.” Roughly translated it means “rolling” or “migratory,” The term was used to describe the inhabitants of the land to the northeast of Egypt - the Philistines. The Philistines were an Aegean people (more closely related to the Greeks and with no connection ethnically, linguistically or historically with Arabia) who, in the 12th Century BC, conquered the Mediterranean coastal plain that is now Israel and Gaza.

According to Wikipedia, incident to the rise of the Assyrian Empire between the 10th century BC and late 7th century BC) the Philistine cities lost their independence to Assyria, and revolts in following years were all crushed. They were subsequently absorbed into the Babylonian and Persian empires. Thus, the Philistines disappeared as a distinct ethnic group by the late 5th century BC while Israel continued to exist long after that.

A derivative of the name “Palestine” first appears in Greek literature in the 5th Century BC, when the historian Herodotus called the area “Palaistine” .... In the 2nd century AD (132-135), the Romans crushed the revolt of Shimon Bar Kokhba, and regained Jerusalem and Judea. The Romans plowed under Jerusalem and renamed the area of Judea to “Syria Palaestina” in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel.

Under the Ottoman Empire (1517-1917), the term “Palestine” was used as a general term to describe the land south of Syria; it was not an official designation. In fact, many Ottomans and Arabs who lived in Palestine during this time period referred to the area as “Southern Syria” and not as “Palestine.” After World War I, the name “Palestine” was applied to the territory that was placed under British Mandate; this area included not only present-day Israel but also present-day Jordan.

Leading up to Israel’s independence in 1948, it was common for the international press to label Jews, but not Arabs, living in the mandate as Palestinians. It was not until years after Israeli independence that the Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip began to call themselves “Palestinians.” In fact, Arabs cannot even correctly pronounce the word “Palestine” in their native tongue, referring to the area instead as “Filastin.” Worthy of note is the fact that the word “Palestine” or “Filastin” does not appear in the Koran. The term peleshet appears in the Jewish Tanakh no fewer than 250 times.

SO WHAT? you say; all that is Ancient History. What does it have to do with the situation as it exists today? To some people, not too much, perhaps, except that we need to remember that we all got where we are today from where we were yesterday and yesteryear. History is important, as are terms of reference.

But, with History out of the way, let’s proceed. Let’s just assume that the two entities named in the question exist. Let’s further assume that Israel is represented by its government. This then leaves us with the question of who (what organization) represents the non-Israeli entity. Two Islamic organizations contend for that status: HAMAS and FATAH.

“HAMAS” is an acronym of the Arabic phrase Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya, meaning “Islamic Resistance Movement”. There is also an Arabic word,“Hamas,” that means “devotion and zeal in the path of Allah.” So, this organization defines itself as an organization based on the tenets of Islam.

The full name of the movement, FATAH, is Arakat at-tarir al-waani al-Filastini, meaning the “Palestinian National Liberation Movement”. FATAH is a reverse acronym crafted from the Arabic. There is an Arabic word, “fath’ or “fatah,” meaning “opening”, “conquering”, or “victory”. The term is used in religious discourse to signify the Islamic expansion in the first centuries of Islamic history –as in “Fath al-Sham,” the “conquering of the Levant”. “Fatah” also has religious significance in that it is the name of the 48th sura (chapter) of the Koran. So, we see that this organization also defines itself as being based on the tenets of Islam.

Quoted in The Charter of Hamas, “The Imam and Martyr Hassan al-Banna”, founder of The Muslim Brotherhood, said, “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.”

The Charter of Fatah, successor to the PLO, calls for “the liquidation of the Zionist presence.” “The Zionist presence” is a common Arabic euphemism for the State of Israel, so this clause in fact calls for the destruction of Israel, not just the end of Zionism.

Article Two of the Charter of Fatah says, “The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine. The Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a world organization, the largest Islamic Movement in the modern era. It is characterized by a profound understanding, by precise notions and by a complete comprehensiveness of all concepts of Islam in all domains of life: views and beliefs, politics and economics, education and society, jurisprudence and rule, indoctrination and teaching, the arts and publications, the hidden and the evident, and all the other domains of life.”

So, it doesn’t take an understanding of rocket science to see that both Hamas and Fatah, with minor differences in language, have taken similar vows, i.e.: to work toward the destruction of the State of Israel. In other words, they want Israel to be gone. This shared position puts into question whether the so-called “Palestinians” really want to form a State while the State of Israel still exists. In other words, does either contender really want what has been called, a “Two State Solution” to the “problem?” And, what about the original question? The answer to this question needs strategic context. How do two entities “get along” when one of them has vowed to destroy the other.

To oversimplify, just think of the two entities as being two motor vehicles, each with a driver or drivers, both restricted generally to sharing a particular geographical operating area. The two vehicles operate more or less in a sense that might be called “forced cooperation.” But, when one of the drivers deliberately tries to make his vehicle occupy the same space at the same time as the other vehicle, they both find that, like other things, it is not possible. Inevitable Result: collision!

The bottom line is that this is a religious issue more than it is a political or ideological issue. The inescapable fact is that destruction of Israel and the Jews is part and parcel of Islam. Add to this the fact that Islam recognizes no separation of “Church and State,” and the conclusion becomes quite clear. Ergo, the question “Will Israel and Palestine ever get along” is one that is detached from reality and becomes, for practical purposes, meaningless.

Response by MSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 23 at 2014 8:45 PM

2014-10-23T20:45:04-04:00

I have previously responded to this post however I feel remiss if I don't make a follow-up comment. Before I say it however I will preface it by saying I am not pro-Palestinian however I'm not overly Pro-Israeli either. The simple fact is that an indigenous population was displaced by a mainly Germanic/Slavic caucasoid people who practice a different religion by a separate third colonial world power without any thought to racial/ethnic religious considerations and everyone was just supposed to get along. The sheer amount of biases in the responses here somewhat sickens me. Make no mistake. Israel never WON its independence like the US did. It was GIVEN to them. We armed them, trained them and blindly supported them. Israel has committed it's fair share of atrocities that the rest of the world has turned a blind eye too. On the other hand, so called Palestinians haven't done themselves any favors either and are just as guilty of atrocity. BOTH parties would be happy with the annihilation of the other. It's not just the Palestinians. Most of the responses here seem blindly supporting Israel and in doing so point all the fingers in the other direction. Plainly put almost no one is looking at it from the other perspective. Christendom has gained what it never could by the crusades and will do anything it takes to make sure it remains in the control of the party more amicable to our interests. What has happened in Palestine is analogous to what the U.S. did to the native Americans. We rationalized and made every excuse for our actions and expanded until we drove them out or they acclimate to our culture. We all feel bad about what happened to the native peoples but yet we don't seem to find empathy for the Palestinians. If it were me I would use every means at my disposal to reclaim my country. Now, I wouldn't use women and children nor would I bomb targets clearly full of non combatants. However I also wouldn't blindly target civilian neighborhoods with missiles or drop bombs were there could be any chance of collateral damage. So all this is to say BOTH parties are just as guilty as the other except one actually has a legitimate reason to be angry. Especially when a great portion of the rest of the world lets biases rule over common sense. The question was asked will there ever be peace. The answer is no. This is stated by someone who has been and lived there both as a civilian and a soldier. I would just ask that if you are going to espouse historical referencing and are trying to legitimately make a concise and logical argument you should make all attempts not to invalidate your own argument by using verbiage and vocabulary that clearly pronounce your huge biases toward one side or the other. I'm sure this will cause me some thumbs down but if we are to ever have a stable Middle East we need to start seeing BOTH sides of the argument and realize that BOTH sides have a legitimate right to the are and that our obvious and oblivious support of one side has cause the U.S. to engender such hatred from the other.

Response by Sgt Daniel V. made Oct 24 at 2014 4:51 AM

2014-10-24T04:51:48-04:00

No.

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Nov 25 at 2014 1:22 PM

2014-11-25T13:22:22-05:00

Let's clarify the question before answering it. Will Jews and Muslims ever get along? I start this way because the definition of Palestine and Palestinian has become far too confused in recent usage.

Keep in mind that Israel came into existence with the partition of the area commonly referred to as Palestine: A portion for the Jews and a portion for the non-Jews. However, like the partitioning that occurred in Europe and throughout the Arabian Peninsula and Southeast Asia, states were created where none had existed before and tribes separated by artificially drawn boundaries. Thus, in the case of Israel, it was populated by Palestinian Jews and Muslims. Later, Jews from around the world immigrated there to swell the population.

At first, many Palestinian Muslims fled the country warned by neighboring nations that a Muslim crusade was coming to wipe out the new state of Israel and annihilate the Jews. They were warned to step aside or risk being mistaken for Jews and killed. They were offered the prospect of returning one day to claim the property left by the Jews. When the smoke cleared, the Jews remained and Israel survived. Some Muslims returned and others didn't. Most of the ones who didn't languish to this day in refugee camps. Sadly, the Muslim nations not only didn't make good on their promise of destroying Israel, but also failed to take care of their Muslim brethren. (There is a division among Muslims too complex to explain here.)

In the beginning, Jews and Muslims lived in peace in Israel. To this day, Muslims enjoy equal rights alongside Jews there. Some serve in the IDF, the Israeli Parliament, and other responsible positions in the Israeli government and society. They shopped in each others neighborhoods and ate together as friends. Sadly, Muslim leaders could not rekindle and stoke the fires of enmity and keep alive the dream of destroying Israel under these conditions.

Thus, they proclaimed infitada to divide the Israeli population. I see no reason to believe that if these outside agitators were to cease their agitation and propaganda, the separate Israeli communities could once again heal and begin to live in peace.

Will that ever happen? It seems doubtful, especially when the western governments, particularly that of the United States, continue to encourage the Muslim leaders that they might succeed. Fortunately, I believe that the progressive movement is beginning to fall apart as the people are waking up to the damage it is doing. Political correctness is being exposed, moral relativism is losing traction, and statism is self destructing as people see the potential for tyranny in its practice.

Response by Capt Jeff S. made Dec 9 at 2014 9:40 PM

2014-12-09T21:40:26-05:00

There will never be peace between Israel and Palestine so long as Palestinians cling to Islam, which warns its believers to not trust "people of the cloth" (Christians and Jews) and to use every strategem of war against them. The Palestinians will not be happy until all the Jews are pushed into the sea.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 9 at 2014 11:06 PM

2014-12-09T23:06:45-05:00

The short answer is no.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 9 at 2014 11:06 PM

2014-12-09T23:06:25-05:00

There is written history going back more than 2,000 years that says no.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 9 at 2014 11:15 PM

2014-12-09T23:15:35-05:00

Won't happen in our lifetimes.

Response by SSG Charles Coats made Dec 10 at 2014 11:35 AM

2014-12-10T11:35:17-05:00

Israel is a "country" founded on terrorism and no peace will ever be realized as long as our politicians are bought and paid for. Former Rep. Paul Findley (R) Il, showed how thoroughly they are corrupted in his book, "They Dare To Speak Out". See also: "Bloody Zion" by Edward Hendrie, http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/ussliberty.html , Operation Susannah, "Against Our Better Judgement" by Alison Weir, et al...

Just as with W.W. II, the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is being told from a one-sided perspective.

The USS Liberty

If Americans Knew is dedicated to providing Americans with everything they need to know about Israel and Palestine.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 10 at 2014 12:36 PM

2014-12-10T12:36:28-05:00

I just did a bit of undergraduate research on this topic. Israel and Palestine are the closest they have been to peace in years. But they face a similar problem that we do, terrorism. The Hamas are in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, they have political backing from supporters and they are causing plenty of mayhem. Until they leave, there will not be peace.

Response by Sgt Jason West made Dec 10 at 2014 3:31 PM

2014-12-10T15:31:56-05:00

Short answer...no.

If you believe any of the stories of the Bible or what we know otherwise of the regions history one group has waged war on and took land from another group in that area of the world ever since there were people living there. I don't see it stopping either as long as more than one group exists there...and even then they will most likely faction off and start over killing each other again.

Response by 1LT Keith Gannon made Dec 11 at 2014 3:44 PM

2014-12-11T15:44:40-05:00

No.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 16 at 2014 7:48 AM

2014-12-16T07:48:12-05:00

Only a possibility if World War Z comes to fruition.

Response by SSgt Michael Smith made Jan 13 at 2015 11:38 PM

2015-01-13T23:38:04-05:00

In the pre WWII days the Jews and Palestinians did get along. The repatriation aided by Great Britain and following heavy handed tactics towards Palestine led to the first real tensions. The forcible removal of the residents and taking of their property to give the Jews an upper hand, supported by Western nations, lit the fuse. The events of 1947 only exacerbated the situation.

Response by SGT Tyler G. made Mar 18 at 2015 5:25 AM

2015-03-18T05:25:00-04:00

People are stubborn. The day relations can truly be mended is the day either side is willing to actually make concessions. They need to want to negotiate, and no amount of outside intervention or money will make that happen. It has to come from within.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 18 at 2015 7:39 AM

2015-03-18T07:39:23-04:00

So long as parents teach their children to hate one another, the cycle will never end. Unless of course an armed coalition force occupies the region and forces parties from both sides to sit down and make concessions where peace is possible.

As I don't see either of these things happening, the death and destruction will continue and so will the funding of it by the US and other countries.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 26 at 2015 10:51 PM

2015-03-26T22:51:25-04:00

Israel supports a 2 -state solution and definitely wants peace. However all attempts to deal with them are sabotaged by HAMAS. The leaders of the Palestinian Authority Arafat/Abbas don't could agree but it means nothing because HAMAS controls the PA. They know their enemy is not the Palestinian people but the terrorists that control them and brainwash and terrorize them. We have to distinguish the difference between the terrorists and the regular people. Finally, I'm obviously very gung-ho about supporting Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, but also realize that Israel knows the difference between Islam the religion, and Islamic extremism/terrorism. There are Muslim that sit on the Knesset, one on the Isreali supreme court and even some in the IDF! They comprise 20% of the Isreali citizenship. Even though Israel makes a special home for the Jewish people, Israel welcomes peace-loving people from all religions.. Jerusalem is holy to the three Abrahamic Religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.--all born out of Judaism and worship the same God and share some of the same prophets. We should not show prejudice to the Muslim people. (such as we did to Japanese during WWII) However, groups like ISIS, Hamas, Hezzbolah, Al-Quesda, are barbarians and have no sense of morals or regard for human life and Israel will and should do whatever they can do to defeat them. As long as they exist there will be no peace in Israel/Palestine or the Middle East as a whole!

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Apr 16 at 2015 11:21 AM

2015-04-16T11:21:37-04:00

"Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us." Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel

Response by MAJ David Vermillion made Apr 16 at 2015 11:33 AM

2015-04-16T11:33:21-04:00

I want to think so but the past says otherwise.

Response by SFC Charles S. made Apr 16 at 2015 2:13 PM

2015-04-16T14:13:24-04:00

My guess, not until armageddon, and then it will only be due to the fact that neither will continue to exist.

Response by CPT Pedro Meza made Apr 16 at 2015 3:15 PM

2015-04-16T15:15:22-04:00

Israel and Palestine will only learn to work together when they realize and accept that they came from the same Father. In essence when they practice Honor thy Father and stop listening to the politicians and religious leader that disobey that Commandment.
Interesting fact Obey God you have peace, obey men you have war.

Response by SSG Audwin Scott made Dec 8 at 2015 10:02 AM

2015-12-08T10:02:30-05:00

I doubt that very seriously!

Response by MSG Brad Sand made Dec 16 at 2015 1:18 PM

2015-12-16T13:18:54-05:00

No.

Response by SPC George Rudenko made Dec 16 at 2015 8:21 PM

2015-12-16T20:21:40-05:00

I don't see Palestine getting along with Palestine. T.E. Lawrence: So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people - greedy, barbarous, and cruel, as you are.

Response by MAJ Alvin B. made Dec 16 at 2015 8:58 PM

2015-12-16T20:58:52-05:00

These two countries will cooperate when it is in their mutual self interest to do so.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 16 at 2015 9:43 PM

2015-12-16T21:43:46-05:00

No not as long as they both exist they will never be peace. Palestine will not stop fighting as long as Israel exist and Israel has the right to live. Israel want peace but Palestine want Israel dead so they can never live in peace.

Response by PV2 Glen Lewis made Dec 24 at 2015 6:27 PM

2015-12-24T18:27:15-05:00

I don't see it happening at least not in my lifetime.

Response by SGT Jerrold Pesz made Dec 26 at 2015 7:51 PM

2015-12-26T19:51:37-05:00

There will only be peace when one side or the other kills all of the other side.

Response by SPC George Rudenko made Dec 27 at 2015 7:25 PM

2015-12-27T19:25:05-05:00

T.E. Lawrence: So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people - greedy, barbarous, and cruel, as you are.

Response by PO3 Michelle Tremblay made Oct 18 at 2023 11:22 PM

2023-10-18T23:22:28-04:00

Now is your answer

Response by CW4 Richard Norton made Oct 19 at 2023 12:28 AM

2023-10-19T00:28:55-04:00

Response by MAJ Hugh Blanchard made Nov 5 at 2023 4:39 PM

2023-11-05T16:39:05-05:00

Golda Meir, late Prime Minister of Israel, said it best. "If the Arabs lay down their weapons and stop attacking Israel, there will be peace. If Israel lays down its weapons, Israel will cease to exist."
There are no Jews in Gaza, they have been removed long ago via ethnic cleansing. Israel has never been invited to any conference in Gaza, because Gaza has been for several years under control of Hamas, a radical Islamic terrorist group. Under the Oslo Accords, there were established A, B and C Zones in the West Bank. In A Zones, no Jews are allowed on pain of death. In B Zones, Jews may in theory transit through a B Zone, but in reality, Jews transiting through B Zones are in mortal danger of attack by Arabs. In C Zones, Jews may live, and so can Arabs. In the West Bank therefore, there is no "Israel apartheid state", it is in fact quite the opposite. Arabs can live in A, B and C Zones, Jews can only live in C Zones, and even there they are in danger.
There is NO "moral equivalence" between Israel and Hamas. I have in my career worked with several IDF officers, and I've never met any military group that takes more effort to prevent civilian casualties, not even us. Israel has NEVER set out on any military mission with the goal to kill old people, unarmed civilians and infants. Hamas has provided us with home movies from their own terrorists showing them killing innocent Israeli civilians. This includes footage of Hamas terrorists beheading Israeli babies. I can find no rationale for anyone to support any group that sends out armed terrorists to behead babies.