697 Why do we have terrorism?
Following my blog 695 Why and How,
here comes another musing about the state of the world … Why do we have
terrorism?
My flatmate said in one of our early
morning talks, no wonder people hate Muslims, when it says in their holy book, “Unbelievers must be killed
wherever they are found.” (Qur'an 2:191; 9:5). Surely, she said, with
passages like that in their holy book, “that’s the reason for terrorism.” I
said that’s probably true (Greenwald / Harris) … but you do know there are two sides to the
story, don’t you?! She didn’t.
This is a point I have thought - and written -
about a lot. Why do we have terrorism? Because Muslims hate the West …
especially the Jews and Israel? Ostensibly. However ... why do they hate the West and
Israel? Is there a definitive answer?
It is probably two-fold. One reason
that has been given (by Sam Harris et al) is that Muslims hate the West because
Islam’s intellectuals historically have felt Islam was superior to other
cultures and this superiority was not reflected in the standing of Islamic
countries on the world stage … culturally, politically, economically; I reckon that
is a fair point. Furthermore, Islam and Muslims the world over have - arguably
- been denigrated and suppressed; probably since as far back as the
Crusades.
The other point is more complex and
drives directly to the issue of terrorism as we know it today, i.e. the Islamist's kind. It all began with the Holocaust.
As a result of the awful persecution
of Jews during the Third Reich, as soon as the Nazis were defeated, the victors
- chiefly Britain, France and the USA - decided to create a homeland for the
Jewish diaspora. In their wisdom they created Israel … where? In Palestine. That’s
right ... in the middle of the Palestinians' homeland.
The creation of
Israel was sanctioned, in fact implemented, by the United Nations in 1947 (Resolution 181-2). Importantly, according to the plans of the world powers, there were to be two states ... one for the Jews - Israel - one for the Palestinians - yet to be named (probably the state of Palestine). Only, step two never came about.
Critics of the Palestinians say the reason their state was never created was due to their intransigence ... to begin with they never agreed to another state being created in Palestine (doh !?&%$), then they started various wars and later on, in 2000 (at Camp David) they never accepted any solutions proffered by Israel and the West. It's often said that Arafat rejected Barak's offer for Israel to return large parts of the occupied territories ... what's not said very often is that Arafat went to Camp David saying that if any peace negotiations were to succeed, an agreement must include East Jerusalem* (see footnote); as this was not forthcoming, the negotiations failed.
So that has been the status quo ever since World War II. The Israelis got their state, the Palestinians were shoved into camps; which means
there are now three generations of people without a homeland, a state to call their own. Their situation is desperate; they have little (and lowly-paid) work, little freedom to move and no hope. Many attempts to have their grievances heard were stymied by Israel and her allies ... hence the Palestinian's tendency to send suicide bombers to gain attention.
One war in particular had worsened the Palestinian's situation dramatically, when in 1967 - after the Six-Day War - large parts of territory were occupied by Israel, including East Jerusalem, which by the Palestinians is deemed their potential capital; Israeli occupation of the territories immediately was condemned by the UN (resolution 242). This situation has worsened more and more, when Israel began to create settlements in occupied territories. These settlements have repeatedly been declared illegal by the UN (resolutions 2253, 2727, 2851 etc etc).
The settlements high-light one issue that is at the heart of the conflict between Israel and the Islamic world, which I believe is at the core of why we have terrorism. The Palestinians have been short-changed for years, decades, generations. Their land has been stolen from them and given to Israel. In an attempt to find justice they come up agains an insidious claim - not by all Israelis, not even by all Jews - but by Zionists ... Zionism claims the land of Palestine has been given to them by God! They believe they have a God-given right to possess the land they have occupied; this is no light matter.
Palestinians say: No negotiations before the occupied territories are returned to us ... they have world opinion and the UN on their side. Israel has God on her side.
So, where does the Israeli's claim stems from? Remember the Qur'an quote at the top of this article, “Unbelievers must be killed wherever they are found” ...
... well, here is another scripture quote, this time from the Bible's Old Testament ... writings by ancient
Israelites, believed by Jews to be the sacred Word of God:
“When the Lord brings you to the
land
you are to possess and drives out
others,
you must destroy them totally. Make
no
treaty with them, show them no
mercy.”
(Deuteronomy 7:1-2)
This then - in a nutshell - is the tragic crux of the matter ... two holy books have passages that incite disastrous, evil conduct by deluded fundamentalist believers.
For a contrast, allow me to quote the Buddha:
“Become courageous, become aware and conscious,
but don’t hide behind belief systems and theologies.
All organised
beliefs are poisonous, all belief systems
are barriers ... they don't allow free-thinking
or doubt."
These are my essays SCRIPTURE and BELIEF in my book with no title ... instead three definitions for the term en.light.en.ment
* The issue of Jerusalm is worth pondering ... the Palestinians don't want to give up the Eastern part; while Israel doesn't want to give up any part of Jerusalem, full stop. This stalemate is a great hinderance to any peace negotiations. In my humble opinion the status of Jerusalem must be changed to a tri-denominational city, independent and standing alone ... not unlike the Vatican. It then would be a spiritual capital for all three Abrahamic religions ... Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Furthermore, many people believe (and I concur) the two state idea in Palestine is not a very good idea altogether ... it would be much preferable to have just one state, where adherents to all three religions live peacefully together. This concept is not favoured by Israelis, they fear - rightly or wrongly - since Muslims would be in the majority they would dictate Sharia law for all. So - importantly - that state would have to be secular, with Jerusalem being the spiritual centre for all three religions.