I believe it was Saddam Hussein who said that the Palestinians were “popcorn” by which of course he meant they were pawns in Iraq’s goal of domination of the Middle East. They were an excuse to attack Israel. The same policy is being carried out by the Iranian regime. The Iranians do not want a peace settlement in Gaza or Lebanon, nor do they want to see the creation of an independent Palestinian state. They want to fan the flame of tension and hate between the Arabs and Israelis to provide an excuse for war, to keep the wounds open indefinitely until they have prevailed in ousting Israel from the holy land. A Palestinian state would of course mean an end to Iran’s moral justification of liberating the Palestinians. Their goal is not freedom for an oppressed people but a worldwide Jihad against Israel that will eradicate them entirely. Palestinian nationhood will never be accomplished so long as Iran remains a major player in the region, even if the Arabs and Israelis reached an agreement the Iranians would still interfere. In a tragic sense both the Israelis and the Palestinians are caught in the crossfire between the Modern Western world and the Ancient Islamic one that goes back to the rise of the Iranian Republic in 1979. They are the true culprits here. Until the radical Jihad ideology is abandoned by Iran and her proxies the war will continue for generations to come and may bring us to the brink of World War Three, perhaps even the use of nuclear weapons. You can’t run a tank over an ideology. The people of the Middle East especially Palestinians must be shown that Jihad or holy war will only create further chaos and that the best path to peace and independence is to purse a policy of reconciliation with their enemies, the Israelis must also be willing to make concession and establish peace. Israel already has made peace with Jordan and Egypt. They can do the same with the Palestinians. Those who convert their enemies into friends make themselves twice as strong while does who kill their enemies make themselves twice as weak. We should show both sides a future where close relatives live in peace and recognize each other’s right to co-exist. “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133:1).
