News: Mid-East Conflict (re-edited)

Foreign ministry staffers around the world are working overtime as the situation in the Middle-East is spinning faster toward chaos.

On one side, you have a nation (Israel) that wants to live in peace.

On the other side you have terrorists (Hamas and Hezbollah) and governments (Syria and Iran) who support them trying to destroy Israel.

It is a little hard to negotiate when one side wants the other side dead.

I suppose it is theoretically possible to believe Israel doesn't deserve a nation but love Jewish people. But in practice those who don't believe the nation of Israel should exist probably don't shed any tears when Jews die.

A bit of history is in order.

In the early 20th century, there was no nation called Israel. However, there was talk of setting up a homeland for the Jewish people for many decades.

A two-state solution was adopted.

On May 15, 1948, Israeli proclaimed itself a nation.

On that day Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq launched a war to destroy Israel.

Since then Egypt signed its own peace with Israel throught the efforts of Anwar Sadat who was eventually killed by radicals for making peace with Israel.

Lebanon struggles to regain control over its own land but Syria dominates the area as does radical Palestian groups.

Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 making it only the second Arab nation to have relations with Israel.

Iraq under Saddam supported terrorists who would destroy Israel. As it is now, Iraq is now on a knife edge between building a functioning nation or descending into civil war. Thus, what they do about Israel is the least of their worries though there are clearly terrorist groups in Iraq who would happily see Israel destroyed.

Lastly, there is Iran. They clearly support terrorists who want to destroy Israel.

Currently, Israel's military moves have been against Hamas and Hezbollah with some attacks on Lebanon's infrastructure. The question is whether their actions will address the "hidden hands" of Syria and Iran.

Syria is close by and definitely in range of Israel's air forces.

Iran is another story. Austin Bay speculates whether Israel will open an Iranian front?



Image source: http://www.middleeastfacts.com/images/map_middle_east.gif

Any strike on Iranian nuclear and military facilities by Israel would require overflight of Jordan and Iraq and thus the tacit approval of those governments. Suffice to say, it would be somewhat easier for US forces in Iraq to make those strikes. However, the USA might be opting out of the situation as moves by the US would force Iran to retaliate by further supporting terrorists in Iraq. I suppose if Israel hits Iran, the Iranians would retaliate in Iraq anyway. Lastly, of course, even if the US or Israel don't do anything to Iran, they still will fund and arm terrorists in Iraq.