War and Peace in the Middle East

Over the last year or so, the Middle East has gone through some dramatic political shifts. The ousting of stable leaders such as Libya's Qaddafi, Tunisia's Ben Ali and Egyptian Hosni Mubarak. In place, protesters demanded democracy, and free and fair elections. However, the revolution has continued, and is some places looks like it is picking up steam. The result has seen to be a struggle between rebels and the government, or even autocratic leaders and the people, depending on your perspective on the issue. Ironically, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has restarted negotiations, with perhaps one final hope to finally find a two state solution to a conflict that has now dragged on for over 60 years. This article will look at the juxtaposing issues of War and Peace in the Middle East.

Firstly, as the "Arab Spring" continues to roll through countries, with Mubarak's successor in Egypt Mohamed Morsi having been ousted by the Egyptian military, and fighting continuing in Syria, which it seems has also spread into Lebanon, makes for an interesting direction. With the latest news coming out of Syria that the government has used Sarin Gas on people, and members of foreign governments calling for intervention into the region, the idea that the Syrian Civil War will end sometime soon, looks to be a long shot, and in the case of foreign intervention, this could be the start of a showdown between the two forces in Syria. Firstly the Regime forces, backed by a seeming coalition of Russia, China and Iran going against some of the rebel forces which seems to be backed by America, and several other western countries.

At the same time, for the first time in several years the Israelis and Palestinians are gearing up towards a summit to the end goal of peaceful co-existence and a two state solution to a conflict that has dragged on and claimed thousands of lives on all sides of the conflict. In the lead up, much has been made of ending the conflict, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas extremely determined to reach the final compromise, releasing a statement regarding the fact that in order to find a peaceful solution Palestinians will need to accept demilitarisation and the fact that they will not get to revisit the houses where their families lived in Haifa, or Safeed. This statement marks one of the most positive statements made regarding the two state solution in years, but there is still large scale mistrust of the players on both sides. Palestinians aren't sure that Netanyahu and his government's addiction to an expanding settlement program in the West Bank is capable of delivering on a deal which would end the occupation. While many Israelis are not convinced that Abbas truly means what he says and that while a majority of Israelis believe in the two state solution, a growing number no longer believe that it is feasible due to various factors.

Much has been made of the complexities of the politics of the Middle East, but something that is seemingly forgotten amongst the political power plays, rebellions, repressions and overthrows is the human costs of these actions. This is not to say that it isn't right to rebel against an oppressive government, or that governments have no right to defend themselves against a minority seeking to overthrow a majority if that may be the case, but it is to say that it is always the humans caught in the middle of these political conflicts that seem to suffer the most.