Alison Stackhouse
Rot. B, AP Gov
11/11/10
Israeli/Palestinian Conflict Contrasting Platforms
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the longest lasting conflicts in history. To Jews, Israel is considered their ancestral homeland, and they believe that they deserve to have it dedicated to them, especially after the years of harsh discrimination. However, the Palestinian people, who have lived there since biblical times, believe that it is their land, and are opposed to Jewish inhabitation of it. Palestinians believe that they are a “national entity”, and deserve “the rights of all nations, including a Palestinian state” (israelipalestinian.procon.org).The division of the land and how to go about solving this dilemma has raised many questions, caused many concerns, and leads many to wonder if a resolution will ever be reached. Any two groups of peoples vying for the same land would of course be a problem, but the Israeli and Palestinian situation has taken this battle to a new extreme. Of course, Americans have very strong views regarding this issue, and just like any other issue, the views are somewhat divided between parties.
Republicans and Democrats have differing views on world affairs and intervention, which contributes to their response to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Republicans tend to support foreign intervention more so than Democrats. A partisan divide has erupted surrounding this particular issue with members of the two parties “holding dramatically divergent views of the conflict, what should be done to solve it and the role the U.S ought to play” (Huffingtonpost.com). There is a common consensus that there should be something done about the issue, each group of people do have equal rights, and that this issue is impacting American and Middle Eastern affairs. A slight majority also seems to believe that if the United States cannot stop Israeli expansion, it will cause a loss of respect for the U.S. on world- wide level (aaiusa.org). One of the first differences in opinion occurs when regarding the interests of the United States and Israel. About 75% of people who voted for John McCain believe that the concerns of the two countries are “identical”, while about half of Obama voters disagree with this statement (huffingtonpost.com).When asked about relations with Israel and Arabs, 68% of people who voted for Obama think that they are equally important, and 7% put Israel first. As for McCain voters, only 48% feel that having good relations with both is important, and 46% feel that Israel is most important (huffingtonpost.com). Republicans obviously have a much more decisive opinion on the fact that Israel deserves more attention rather than conceding to both countries. In correlation to this, only 42% of Democrats approve of what Israel is doing as opposed to 92% of Republicans (aaiusa.org). Israel has been the more violent aggressor in this conflict, with nearly 7,000 Palestinians killed since 2000, compared to only about 1,000 Israelis killed. (ifamericansknew.org) Based on party values it is obvious why Democrats have a much lower approval rating, seeing that they do not usually support violent responses, and tend to support more peaceful alternatives.
Just like most issues that plague world politics, the United States refuses to take a bipartisan stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Republicans largely support Israel as opposed to Democrats, who would rather stay more neutral rather than taking a certain side. There is also a gap concerning interests of our nation as well as theirs. Democrats strongly disagree that we have similar interests, while Republicans seem to think that they are nearly the same.
