http://mondoweiss.net/2011/10/israel-doubles-rate-of-palestinian-home-demolitions-and-plans-to-uproot-30000-bedouin-clinton-says-palestinians-need-to-be-more-flexible.html
Although I don't agree with Israel's actions, I applaud their timing, seeing that if Palestine gets statehood the UN will attempt to prevent these kinds of actions. So, until Palestine achieves statehood, it can be assumed that similar initiatives will be taken by Israel.
Throughout the years Israel has constantly been provoked by Palestine, to say the least. In fairness, Israel has struck back equally at the people they have displaced. This is one such example. One problem with the nation of Palestine is their inability to stay as a unit. Palestine is split into multiple factions and therefore cannot aggregate their seperate ideological views efficiently. This is also one factor that members of the UN will consider when voting on recognition of Palestine's statehood.
Even though interest aggregation isn't necessarily the most important to Palestine due to their lack of government, being a unified nation comes across as more "professional" as opposed to individual factions or cells, which have a very different connotation that Palestine would prefer not to have.
To reiterate, Israel is applying pressure on Palestine which is conveniently beginning before Palestine potentially gets their statehood. This forced SoS Clinton to state Palestine's need to try and find a happy medium with Israel. To swallow some of their pride and negotiate with Israel will realistically be the only option for Palestine because Israel will be given free reign to continue to push Palestine further and further out of the picture.
You mentioned in the beginning of the post that Israel was planning on demolishing Palestine homes in the Negev Desert, but didn't really explain why, so I googled it and tried to find some answers, because I was curious as to why Israel would do that.
ReplyDeleteI came upon this article:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQF2LeTpfFfZ4sJAMGZ_0vJRc_2w?docId=d34636daf0cb415fbaf83207d4a17a17
and it had more information, but different information. In this article, it said that Israel was actually planning on building new homes on contested land and it also mentioned that Clinton thought this move was completely counterproductive to the peace movement between Israel and Palestine.
I also think it is counterproductive. I don't think this is a smart time for Israel to be in the market for building and demolishing homes on controversial land.
To me, it doesn't seem like they want to make peace. Israel says they've tried to do peace talks but Palestine keeps saying no so they're just going to do their thing, but Palestine says they won't do any peace making until Israel stops the building of the settlements.
Why can't everyone just get along...
I probably should have done some more research, but they both are counterproductive, whether they're demolishing Palestinean homes or building Israeli homes, it's sending Palestine a message.
ReplyDeleteJust found this article. It seems like more of the same, but Palestineans are claiming Israel wants to "Judaize," the area. Also, the article says that an overwhelming amount of permits to build homes there were denied by Israeli officials.
ReplyDeletehttp://electronicintifada.net/blog/ben-white/israel-plans-expulsion-some-60000-bedouin-palestinians#.TpTfYWjlZxq
I'm with Hannah - Why can't everyone just get along....
ReplyDeleteThis crisis and period of instability between Palestine and Israel is sooooo complicated, but yet really interesting to me at the same time. I've thought about it a lot and I can't come up with a single possible solution to the issue between the two places.
If we give Palestine statehood the UN basically breaks all their guidelines on what a state is. If they do in fact grant Palestine statehood, the meaning of a state becomes worthless. Right now Palestine acts like its own state but with scattered areas and no boundaries throughout Israel; it's hard to know even where the state would be if granted a state. A happy medium would be nice but seemingly impossible for the circumstances. Either Israel or Palestine is going to have to make some sacrifices on their requests or this conflict will never be resolved peacefully.
I have to agree with everyone in the sense that nothing is getting done working towards peace. I feel like neither places really want to make peace, but are being forced to try by everybody else. As long as Palestine is fighting to become a state, Israel will continue to "apply pressure" to them. Palestine needs to negotiate with Israel somehow in order for any progress towards a better future.
ReplyDelete