the Middle East

[comloulou]

I admit to being ignorant about this as I think the origins of the conflict may have been before I was born but can someone give me a potted and unbiased history of whats going on out there? Who did what to who first and why that sort of thing? ta!

[davidprout]

I doubt if anyone could give you a simple unbiased history as you request, as the situation is very complex. One of the major difficulties was caused by the foundation of the state of Israel in the middle of the 20th century, can't give you an exact date. This has been a source of major unrest throughout the rest of the century including a number of wars against Egypt, Syria and all neighbouring states. Currently the major problem is with the Jews v Palestinians and it is debatable who is keeping the conflict going, with many faults on both sides. Since you wrote your question there has been the invasion of Iraq and America has possible troubles developing with Iran who are supposed to be developng Nuclear Weapons. (So was Saddam Hussein but where are they?) Certainly if anyone could resolve the Israel v Arab states there would be a major cessation of hostilities in all these conflicts but this is unlikely to happen. Also the whole situation would possibly be eased if a solution to the future of energy shortages could be solved. I personally feel that the attack on Iraq involved their huge sources of OIl however that is my only bit of personal bias showing. My own opinion is that the only solution would be for the Jews to move on, possibly taking some parts of Jerusalem with them e.g. The Wailing Wall however this is again unlikely to happen. I think there is plenty of space in America to allow them to create an Israel2 state and of course, as USA is very pro the Jewish nation, there could be many advantages but uprooting 7 million people (I think that is their current population) would be a major task and I have no doubt such a proposal would be met with horror by many people I am English and have no particular interest in any of the religions involved. I do think that unless solutions are forthcoming world war is sadly inevitable