On behalf of everyone here at Youth Are Awesome I’d like to wish every reader a happy holiday and a wonderful new year. I’m sure after the total lunar eclipse on the Winter Solstice everyone will be having a stellar time to make up for time lost. Hopefully the end of the year will draw everything to conclusion around the world and everyone will be able to enjoy spending some time with their loved ones.
…But for some the tensions have never been higher. Yes, this is about the Middle East. Let’s get down to business.
Recently Israelis have been constructing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Both are lands of tension between the the Israelis and the Palestinians in the area which the U.N. recognize as Palestinian sovereign states. Therefore any building of Israeli settlements are deemed to be illegitimate. The Israelis are arguing that all of their constructions take place within the terms of agreement over these lands decades ago.
Over these conflicts, the USA has tried to conduct parallel negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but it seems as if the Palestinians are sick of the negotiations not leading to any worthwhile results. Now backed with the possibility of U.N. intervention, Palestinians have a strong case on their hands where as the Israelis may need to look towards the USA for a veto in the U.N. being their long-time ally. However that veto may never come as the Obama administration has also called for halting of construction. At this rate the most they can try to do is hope that the Israelis will stop by themselves after pressure from the USA.
The conflict in Israel has never been resolved, nor might it ever be. However it seems this time that the Israelis may be fighting an uphill battle here. Without a guaranteed veto from the USA the Israelis may have isolated themselves internationally. The construction will obviously obstruct any current attempts at developing diplomatic relationships from passing through to both sides and the illegitimacy of this construction may work against the Israelis as intervention by the U.N. may tip the delicate balance in favor of the Palestinians. In the unstable climate of the Middle East, careful maneuvers are needed on both sides to avoid open physical confrontation, as that would certainly ruin a lot of people’s holidays.
For more information: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2037982,00.html
