Why is the Middle East such a famous war zone. All we seem to do is fight all the time.
One thing is for sure, in this part of the world we are hot blooded people and often overreact with violence to meaningless events.
Nevertheless, there is an undeniable pattern in all/most of our conflicts: Israel. Here is a list of the conflicts in the Middle East after World War II / after the creation of Israel. In red, the conflicts involving Israel, in white the ones that don't:
- 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- 1951-1955 Retribution operations
- 1956 Suez War
- 1964–1967 War over Water
- 1967 Six Day War
- 1967-1970 War of Attrition
- 1972-1979 Wrath of God
- 1973 Yom Kippur War
- 1978 South Lebanon conflict
- 1982 Lebanon War
- 1982-2000 South Lebanon conflict
- 1987-1993 First Intifada
- 2000–2006 Shebaa Farms conflict
- 2000–2005 Second Intifada
- 2006 Lebanon War
- 2008-2009 Gaza War
Also:
- Jordan-Syria tension in the 60's
- Black September in Jordan - caused by Palestinians, hence we can't exclude Israel's responsibility in this conflict
- North Yemen civil war
- Lebanese civil war - as of today there still isn't one exact version of this war, but Palestinians were a key factor in this deadly and destructive conflict, hence we can't exclude Israel's responsibility
- Libya-Egypt conflict - following Egyptian's first negotiation with Israel
- Gulf War
- Iraq-Iran war
- Iraq conflict
- Nahr el Bared conflict (Lebanon) - due to Palestinian presence in Lebanon, hence we can't exclude Israel's responsibility in this conflict
Overall, on the 25 conflicts that shook the Middle East since 1945, 20 are directly or indirectly linked to Israel - that's 80% of all the region's wars.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, we could either:
1) re-educate Arabs to be less hot-blooded and have them pick up flowers instead of weapons every time Israel does something to annoy them
2) kick Israel out and all the region's problems will be resolved. The Palestinians can have their (much improved) land back. The Hezbollah won't have any reason to exist. Jordan can get back to actual Jordanians. Iran won't have an enemy anymore. And so on.
Not that I like Palestinians or that I hate Israelis, i just think we should be more pragmatic about this endless conflict.
I opt for option number 2.
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