The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The February 4^th meeting involved seven people at our new meeting place, the Karma Café, where we discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some noted the local activism within Louisville and their work to undermine US aid to Israel and the perpetuation of injustice towards Palestinians by the Israeli government. Others pointed towards the role of Arab countries in making Palestinians second class citizens throughout the Middle East and fostering tremendous amounts of anti-semitism. Some brought up the work of Jimmy Carter and his recent book that focuses on the impetus and impediments to peace; conflicts over territories that Israel occupied and attained through war that were not greatly important to most of the Israeli population; and the brutal conditions within Gaza and the West Bank, which remain under military lock down, not allowing the movement of people for jobs, the import or movement of goods, or the proper diet (thus creating malnutrition).

Others saw how checkpoints lead to violence, especially when a Palestinian children's theater group came to Louisville and acted out their everyday existence theatrically. Some acknowledged the holocaust and its role in creating Jewish refugees that wanted desperately to have a homeland. Some pointed out that the older they got, the more pro-Israeli they became, as Israel is a highly literate population, fifth in medical researchers in the world, and that the Palestinians have some of the highest birth rates in the world, which was causing problems within Israel and fueling terrorist fires (while others pointed out that the birth rate is actually on the decline for Palestinians). Others pointed out how the 85 billion in US aid to Israel thus far has increased nuclear proliferation in the Middle East by allowing Israel to develop nuclear and other weapon systems on the cheap, forcing other countries to catch up. Some acknowledged how this aid served as welfare for defense contractors, that Israelis basically gave the money back to the US through private US corporations that sold the Israelis the weapons. Others wondered about the role of prominent Palestinians and their contribution to culture; others saw Palestinians as a diaspora people, spreading their influence wherever they went.

Everyone contemplated solutions, one of the most well known being the Geneva Accords that would create two states - one Jewish, one Palestinian - with a shared Jerusalem capital, which a majority of Israeli and Palestinians support. Another solution was a single state where Jewish, Muslim, and Christian people enjoyed equal rights, though ethnic tensions make this solution difficult.