As usual, everyone in the Middle East has buried their heads in the sand – talks past each other and only thinks from their sole point of view. As an American – the principle of the US government Constitution starts with “We the people”. It does not start with we the Muslim people, or we the Christian people or we the Jewish people. A principle of the USA – though admittedly not accepted by everyone – is “all men are created equal” These principles had to be arrived at due to the knowledge that many of the people in the various states had different views. Freedom of speech and the press was to deal with that. Meanwhile all accepted the idea that religious freedom – one of the reasons people came to America in the first place had to be accepted. It was also agreed that there should be no unlimited power to any one individual so a plan for checks and balances was adopted. If one starts from those principles than the government of Iran, Hamas and Israel are not founded on those principles. Iran calling itself an Islamic Republic means it has an agenda to push one religion and governing is secondary. Likewise, Hamas wraps itself in Islam as a guiding principle. Israel calls itself a ‘homeland for the Jews’ and as Senator Rubio said a few days ago referring to Israel as “the Jewish state” infers that it is a country for Jews only. Iran does not make an ethnic distinction only a religious one. Israel no one is quite sure if it is religious or ethnic as the word “jew” can mean either. The point is that – unlike the principles that the USA stands for – not everyone in Iran, or Israel is the same. Neither Government believes in the idea of ‘all men are created equal’. Rather they believe all men are created equal as long as they are Muslim or Jewish.
What is needed is a secular movement in Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Iran and the Middle East generally that is modeled on the US Constitution. We had to deal with conflicting positions and religions and find a way to work with them. The people of the Middle East likewise face the same issues that we did long ago. Any nation that basis itself on one religion or one race is setting itself up for problems.
What will not work is for each side to NOT accept that their positions might not be taken but that everyone will have the right to free speech and religion and decisions will be on the basis of one person one vote. etc.
We can blame Iran for its “unfortunate” positions and hope the regime will change or fall. But we cannot just assume that Israel is blameless. It too has positions that are “unfortunate” and will not lead to a settlement to a long standing dispute. People do not all think one way. They don’t do that in Iran nor Israel. They dont all think one way in Gaza either. Race and/or religion should not be part of a country’s governing principle. Until the people of the Middle East accept this the conflicts that exist today will continue.