Webmeister
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Armed conflict generally stems from attempts by one group to dominate another group in the name of power, religion, money, or expansionism, (pick one or all of them), as well as the attempts by the other group defending against such attacks, or a revolution to establish a groups identity and sovereignty.
On November 29, 1947, the U.N. General Assembly by a two-thirds vote (33 to 13 with Britain and nine others abstaining) passed Resolution 181 partitioning Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jewish community of Palestine jubilantly accepted partition despite the small size and strategic vulnerability of the proposed state. Not only were Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip not included, but also Jerusalem, most of the Galilee in the North and parts of the Negev desert in the South were excluded. The Arab national movement in Palestine, as well as all the Arab states, angrily rejected partition. They demanded the entire country for themselves and threatened to resist partition by force. Had they accepted the U.N. proposal in 1947, the independent Palestinian Arab state, covering an area much larger than the West Bank and Gaza, would have been created along with Israel. Instead, they launched a war to destroy the nascent Jewish state. (Taken from http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_independence_mandate_end.php)
I do not know who belongs in the specified region or who has rightful ownership, but the Israeli’s have it and they are determined to keep it, just as we citizens of the United States would certainly defend our borders if threatened. The United States forged an alliance with Israel and has always exercised a policy to support them. Israel represents an opportunity to maintain a presence in the Middle East region and influence regional stability. The United States can fall back on U.N. Resolution 181and claim they are merely attempting to support Israel in upholding said agreement. The Arab world has always rejected U.N. Resolution 181. Israel does not always conform to the desires of the United States and they probably shouldn’t. The physical size of Israel is relatively tiny and they are surrounded by belligerent Arab nations of questionable political stability and leadership. I have been there. Their sovereign airspace is so limited that their military pilots must train directly overhead their home bases in order to remain within their borders.
Armed conflict has taken on a different form in recent years. It is no longer the massing of armies in the traditional sense by one sovereign nation in an attempt to influence another. Generally, an organized faction of people without a formal country’s economy and means to raise an army, seek funding from entities that desire to exercise influence and use terrorist means to attack whomever they please behind the false cover of religion. The “rules” of war have changed. Fighting a conflict under those circumstances is difficult at best.
Stability in the Middle East, as in any area of the world, is certainly something we should be concerned about. All out world war could easily result without the proper handling of this sensitive situation. The United States, whether we like it or not, is the world’s tempering force. We are supposed to be the “good guys” that keep the peace when no one else can. We will always be criticized by other less capable nations for our actions. There is always a tinge of jealousy involved due to the inability of other nations to wield such power and influence.
On a final note, whether governments want to admit it or not, the presence oil in the Middle East is definitely a major Influence on the world economy. The lifestyle we all enjoy in the United States and other developed countries are dependent on oil. Just look at the flux in oil prices on a daily basis due to media reports from the Middle East, when oil reserves are actually at reasonable levels. Imagine the chaos if the price of gasoline in Atlanta were five dollars a gallon. The fact that the margin of oil reserves in the world is decreasing until we discover new sources in areas of the world that are less volatile than the Middle East is motivation for protecting what oil there is for now and in the future. When the United States Government puts forth the possibility of drilling in Alaska and the environmentalists don’t want to eradicate the birds in the area, someone is going to have to decide what’s more important. The world needs to accelerate the research for finding ways to create alternate means of energy or we, as a people, will have to change our lives forever. Personally, the next automobile I purchase will be a high mileage car like the Toyota Prius that gets 60 miles per gallon.
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RE: Does Israel have the RIGHT to deploy over this? - 
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