While Egypt is an U.S. ally (I feel mostly because the U.S. provides a huge amount of economic support), and tolerant of Israel, the general Egyptian sentiment I've experienced is anti-Israel. That was the general sentiment before the massive and seemingly endless bombing of Gaza, so you can imagine the sentiment now. One of Paul’s students told Paul that he wanted to strangle the President of Israel with his bare hands (I'm sure he's repeating what he's heard at home). Unfortunately, Egypt’s economic wealth and militant power put it in a complicated political position.
So here's how I understand it. Israel gets lots of U.S. backing and is outrageously wealthier than it’s neighbor Palestine. Israel also recently became officially recognized as a state; however, Hamas, the extremist group in Palestine, doesn’t recognize Israel as a stae. To make matters worse, Israel has been sneakily trying to inch its borders even further into Palestinian territory.
So while the situation has been escalating, Hamas sends a homemade rocket into Israel which kills a civilian. In retaliation, Israel starts sending in massive teams of bombs with the idea that if they demonstrate their military superiority, Hamas will simply back off. But its only aggravated Israeli/Palestinian relations even more, and it's put many other nations in a rock and a hard place.
Maybe, just maybe… if Israel had not decided to blow Gaza to pieces, I could empathize with their aggravation with Palestine. A bomb, is a bomb, is a bomb...even if it is homemade. Part of me feels like Palestine was asking for it, and the other part of me feels like Israel is a big bully, that's instigating Palestinian aggression.
But things are never black and white, and the situation is complicated. Israel wants to get rid of Hamas, but Hamas has created a strong leadership in Palestine. Many people wrongfully assume that followers or supporters of Hamas are always religious fanatics, but that's not necessarily the case. While leaders of the group may hold extremist religious beliefs, the follower’s motives are somewhat different. Being in a country as lacking in resources as Palestine, means people are desperate... and desperate times call for desperate measures. Hamas gives those who may not otherwise be able to take care of themselves or their families, the protection and aid they need in exchange for their support.
Also note that Hamas was legitimately elected into political power in Gaza about 4 years ago, and has pushed all rivals, including the President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, to the Western Bank. While there are still many Gazans that would prefer to be governed by Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the less extreme Fatah group, they aren’t as organized or strong enough to overthrow Hamas.
Some people feel taking out Hamas may be the only way to restore peace to Gaza and southern Israel. However this attack may only strengthen the party, thereby nullifying the entire reason for the attack in the first place. What they've really done is kicked a hornets nest.
The complications continue if you look at Egyptians role in this debacle. Egyptians are Arabs, and the Palestinians are their "Arab brothers". However, as I mentioned earlier, Egypt has relatively good standings with the U.S. and doesn’t support the Palestinian extremist group. But their brotherly ties, the massive bloodshed shown on El Jazeera, and the presence of Egypt's own extremist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, means that many Egyptians are still criticizing their government for not taking further action to help Palestine…specifically opening it’s borders. Mubarak seems hesitant, but he’s brought many wounded Palestinian civilians to be cared for in hospitals and has also sent aid to the country. Some suspect he's hesitant to open his borders because if he lets Hamas through, there could be terrorist activity in the Sinai, which would reflect badly on Egypt.
There have been large protests in Egypt, right in our very own Tahrir square, where many me and Paul's aimless adventures begin. A large group of protesters gathered in front of the Lawyer’s syndicate holding up placard signs and chanting. Security officials and police officers were forcefully controlling the group. Journalists were harassed and made to leave the area or be detained. From what I gather many were detained, particularly those affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The fact that there was a protest surprises me since many people here won’t directly criticize Mubarak or the government in general.
(Protesters in Midan Tahrir courtesy Daily News Egypt)
I’m no Poly-Sci major, and just because I’m in Egypt doesn’t make me an expert on the Middle-East, so if I've got this all wrong, help me out here...So that’s all I have for now. I heard today that Israel has started a ground attack which means the situation is only going to get worse. I’m wondering if there won’t be more protests. I’ll be sure to post any updates.
5 comments:
clearly you don't play enough video games. The bombing of innocents is a totally valid strategy for victory!
Interesting Post KT, when I was done reading the post a rainbow shot out of my monitor "the more you know"
During the months leading up to the election one of McCain's supporters rallying cries was that Obama would not support Israel because he is a Muslim. Besides the benefits of having a close ally in the middle east I don't really understand this sentiment. Is it the love of our judeao-christian background that causes the American people to harbor a fierce love of Isreal? Our disgust at Nazi Germany? In my limited education it seems that Israel would not exist (although I'm sure those who think it should would continue to fight) without the US's aid.
I know somewhere in revelations (I believe, my bible knowledge is a bit rusty) it says that when Israel is a state again that will be a sign of "the end times". Perhaps the Christians are so eager for the "end times" that our love of Israel is a product of twisted beliefs and mass hysteria.
I myself don't have much of an opinion on the existence of Israel. It's existence or non-existence will not stop those who live there from thinking one way or another, and it seems to be embedded in their culture to fight bloody wars that have been fought for literally thousands of years already. I wasn't around for all the hype when Israel was recreated, so I'm not sure about the governments rational to be so involved.
The Israel/Gaza situation is sticky. You have to remember that Israel (supported or not by US/UN) is all alone in it's spot surrounded by Arabs that all hate them and deny the right for them and their country to exist. I believe it was created after WW2 by the Western countries. When you said they were just "recognized" that only means they were recognized recently by SOME Arab countries as having a right to exist. The rest of the world has known them as a valid country for many, many years. Other Arab countries do not recognize them at all and deny their right to exist (Iran included). They and Egypt have a tenative relationship but one that has kept the entire area from blowing up into WW3. We don't like that Israel allows settlers to build in parts of Gaza (those people are just plain nuts for doing so anyway) but Hamas was the one that started all of of this with their indiscriminate bombings - remember, those are innocent civilian Israelis they are bombing.
If Hamas would not bomb Israel, Israel would do nothing and was starting to remove some of those settlers. Remember, Israel must return fire on Hamas because to not do so would be suicide, as all of the Arab countries would view Israel as weak and would attack. Remember, they are a surrounded country.
It seems France and Egypt are coming up with some sort of (hopefully) sustainable plan. Things I have found out in my search for information:
You will note that until very recently, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries GOVERNMENTS have remained relatively silent about the Gaza issue. Only some people in those countries protest. The reason for this is that the Arab countries consider the Palastinians to be lower caste people. No one wants to take them in, be responsible for them or support them - especially monitarily. Essentially, they are considered the "redneck hill billy cousins" in the middle east. The Arab policy in the late 1940's was to promise to drive out the Jews and return the land to the Palestinians. These same nations refused to absorb those who left Israel, thus creating a refugee problem.
Hamas has launched 6,464 rockets and mortars in the last 3 years, deliberately placing it's weapons in and near the homes of it's own people. Because of this, Israel even sends out Arabic language cellphone messages telling all Gazans to leave their homes where militants may have stashed weapons. They TRY to warn them. Unfortunately, counting on the moral scrupulousness of Israel, Hamas uses civilian proximity to help protect at least part of it's arsenal. Also, unfortunately, Hamas hopes that inevitable collateral damage will kill large numbers of its own people for which the world will blame Israel. Hamas sends it's rockets etc ONLY at civilian targets, not at weapons arsenols etc.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Doing something that was never done by the Turkish, British, Egyptian and Jordanian rulers of Palastine, the Israelis gave the Palestinians their first sovereign territory ever in Gaza. Unfortunately again, the Palastinians did not begin building the state that is supposed to be their national aim. No roads, no industry, no courts, no civil society. The florishing greenhouses left behind by the Israelis were destroyed and abandoned. Instead, Iranian sponsored rulers devoted all the resources into turning Gaza into a terror base because they wished to eradicate Israel. They are blind in their devotion to this and thus, the people suffer.
. Anyway, it is complicated, but these are things I thought you should know. Remember, the folks over there put just as much spin on their info in the press etc as our journalists do here. Look for facts in other places, ie: history info. Sad all this started up because there seemed to be progress in Palastine actually being able to have permanent land they could call their own. Israel said they do not want to take back Gaza. Hamas has set them back because of their blind hatrid. There are actually many Palastinians and Israelis that are friends and get along. Their governments are the problem and the people suffer.
I saw a published list of countries we support by our $$ in the paper a week or so ago. #1 is Israel, #2 is Egypt
Wish I understood more.
We clearly just need to put up one of those 'only in the movies' plexiglass bubbles over that country and let them hash it out as they see fit... course then we would have to come up with a new plan for oil... Riding bikes is fun though right?
Kudos to PV parents for presenting a balanced history. I really don't have a dog in the hunt, but it does seem to me that just when progress was being made for the Palestinians, Hamas showed up to ruin it. It seems strange that so many Arab counties are relatively quiet about this. Could it be that Hamas is now an embarrassment and seen more as a trouble maker in the Arab communities? Where is Iran in this? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said in the past that he wants the total annihilation of all of Israel. Why aren't they weighing in? Could it be that in the past, the US "encouraged" Israeli restraint, and now Iran is unsure of their own political footing? Israel has had no problem recently flying in to Iranian airspace and taking out nuclear facilities. Many things have changed since 1967but Israel took care of themselves handily against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan in the 6 day war.
Maybe Iran is as tired of Hamas as the rest of the Arab states.
Israel really has no choice but to answer the attacks militarily. To do nothing would invite all haters of Israel to attack. They still hate Israel more than they may dislike Hamas or any other (Arab) terrorist group. Still, it's a terrible shame that innocents die for the desires and beliefs of powerful men.
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