What, honestly, could the White House have expected to accomplish in one year that every President in a half century has been unable to achieve during their entire term? This issue runs deeper than most anyone in the US can understand; our frame of reference does not stretch back far enough to fully comprehend the complexities of a conflict that is referenced in centuries. A solution to this conflict will only occur when both parties want a solution, which would in turn mean that each is willing to offer real conciliatory offers to the other. Only then will the US be able to assist in truly fruitful negotiations. This is yet to happen. Read more here.
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Josh:
ReplyDeleteThis issue runs deeper than most anyone in the US can understand; our frame of reference does not stretch back far enough to fully comprehend the complexities of a conflict that is referenced in centuries.
Speaking of the sense of history in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I was looking today at Charles Matthews' 1949 volume in the Yale Oriental Series, Palestine -- Mohammedan Holy Land, in the Introduction to which Matthews writes of the Muslims' "historic attachment of thirteen centuries" which confers on "Palestine, with Jerusalem the Holy City" a sanctity "only below that of the homeland of the Prophet Mohammed in the Arabian Hejaz, the cradle of Islam itself."
Moe generally, your observation could be extended to cover all those engagements where US forces are viewed as "crusaders". This quote from a recent essay by an anonymous Mujahid that Ibn Siqilli recently posted gives a quick taste of what you're describing:
King of France, Louis IX launched the Crusade VII (1248 – 1254 AD) by attacking Egypt. He was captured and then freed in return of a very huge ransom. After he was freed, in the year 1270 AD, he returned to revive the Crusade VIII by attacking Tunisia, but they were defeated when they were just landing in Tunisia, again they failed to capture a Muslim country.
When Louis IX was imprisoned during the Crusade VII, he managed to devise the means of how to destroy the Islamic ummah which he immediately announced to the European society,
“You can’t possibly defeat the Muslims in the battle arena, you must first defeat them in the arena of ideology. Then, it would be easy for you to dominate them. And, they are a people who are careful against cultural sedatives from you.”
The words of Louis above became the guidelines for the political, military and religious figures in Europe even to these days.
Josh,
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly the problem with foreign policy that is constantly recrafted every 18 months due to domestic election cycles.
We need to return to treaty-centric diplomacy; passed by Congress and signed by the President that could be overturned by the Supreme Court. Otherwise, we will continue on this path of more popular rhetoric than effective action.