A Palestinian State: To Be Or Not To Be?

The other thing that came to mind when I read the article is that, in my view, radical Moslems do not want the Israeli-Palestinian conflict solved because hatred for Israel is a rallying point to their cause. Those radicals will do everything in their power to make sure that the Israel-Palestine pot continues to boil.  It would be very difficult to find cause for jihad if there were peace with Israel. Continued conflict there serves the purpose of jihad.

I believe that the ultimate goal of the radicals (as they admit) is to form an Arab-Islamic super-state (a relative term, for sure).  They hope to use the hatred for Israel that they have so long cultivated as the common ground to coalesce such a state from among the existing Arab nations. It is other sovereign Arab states that will be swallowed, not Israel.  In my view, any such misdirection of well-intended faith in God among Moslems (or any other religious group) is a crime. Any nation built on such a foundation could only be God-forsaken.  I for one hope they don't succeed.  I can't see how any such nation could be a benefit to Arabs, Islam or the rest of the world.

One other thing.  Do you really think that that common focus of hatred would be much effected by any foreign occupation of the region?  I kind of doubt it. That's because the Islamic radicals are using their religion as the conduit for distribution of their venom. In Afghanistan and Iraq there were clear targets that armies could help with, the oppressive regimes of the Taliban and that of the Hussein’s.  People can be liberated in a political sense by removing the oppressive regime and allow true representative governments and economies to form. Still, that does nothing about the coalescing force for the larger Islamic radical goal.  A lot more than occupation is needed, I think, to really solve the problem.  A good start would for rational Moslems to step up and expunge the radical ideology from their own faith, much as was done within Christendom a few centuries ago.  Unless the source of the venom is cut off, the festering will continue.  Soldiers might be brave and armies powerful; but this is a problem that can't be completely solved by them.  All they can do is create an environment where people can have a choice to make a good decision.  Only the Moslems themselves can decide whether it is Muhammad or Usama Ben Laden that is their prophet.