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Published on: 3/22/2002
Last Visited: 3/22/2002
Miami University Professor Matthew Gordon gave the lecture and participated in a question-and-answer session that ranged in topics from religion to geography, history to violence, and more.
Passing out sheets of maps for the benefit of the audience, Gordon began by telling the history of the region and noting that it was a "good, but difficult time to speak about the issue."
He said that today's media does not give background information of the different issues, just immediate graphic images of violence.And, contrary to what is commonly accepted, Gordon said these issues are not thousands of years old, but more recent.
With the fall of the Ottoman Turk Empire after World War I, Britain took over the area known as Palestine.During the early 1900s, a movement known as "Zionism" began with the goal of finding a homeland for Jewish people.However, Gordon explained, Palestine was not the only candidate.Some thought of creating the state in Uganda, Australia, Madagascar and even New Mexico.
In the end, Palestine was chosen and friction arose from the Palestinians who already lived there and the Jewish people who were now moving in.This tension would sometimes rise to violence -- such as in the late 1930s -- and this, Gordon said "sowed the seeds for a bloody confrontation."
Then, after World War II, with Britain weakened from the ravages of that war, the former superpower had to relinquish some of its colonies and holdings.Palestine was one of these.
Britain handed the problem to the newly-created United Nations.The UN simply partitioned the land between the Arabs and Jews.
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This, Gordon said, caused problems with infrastructure, public transportation and administration, and when Britain did leave in 1948, "war exploded."
The Zionists won the war, and that same year of 1948 proclaimed the new state of Israel.Russia immediately recognized the state, and President Truman did as well the very next day.
All the surrounding Arab nations rejected the new state.The anger over declaring the state along with an increasing population of Palestinian refugees in the area caused Arab nations to oppose Israel, and war occurred again in 1967.
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Gordon said Israel immediately destroyed all of its opponents' air forces, which rendered them unable to fight.The loss was deeply humiliating to the Arab world, Gordon said.
Adding to that humiliation was the large expansion of Israel.By grabbing land after its quick victory, Israel nearly doubled in size as it took the Sinai Peninsula, West Bank, Golan Heights and Gaza.
Over the years, Israel gave back some land and peace processes began in the 1990s.These, too, proved humiliating -- Gordon explained that the Palestinians would only be rewarded with land after they "behaved" as the world watched on.
And at the same time, Israelis were settling in the West Bank and Gaza -- areas where the Palestinians live.The co-mingling of these people, coupled with decades of hatred and a desire for a Palestinian state, have resulted in the almost daily news stories of violence in the area.
After Gordon's lecture, he took questions from the crowd in a broad discussion of current events.
Gordon said of current Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat: "I don't think he is personally corrupt, but he runs a very corrupt organization."
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Gordon also agreed with former President Bill Clinton's hands-on and intense diplomacy of bringing about a lasting peace.At the same time, he disapproves of President George W. Bush's "withdrawing" from the process.
"If the United States pulls out, the Israelis and Palestinians turn on each other in a very bloody way," Gordon said."This is not just a conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, but a world issue."
Gordon therefore saw the only resolution to the problem being direct U.S. involvement -- for however long it takes to bring about peace.
Gordon has been a teacher at the Miami University history department for seven years.He obtained his Ph.D. at Columbia University in Islamic studies and teaches courses in medieval and modern Middle East history.A resident of Dayton, Gordon has traveled often to Israel and the Palestinian regions.
Series to continue
This lecture was part of the Coffee House Lecture Series held by The Waynesville Area Heritage & Cultural Center at The Friends Home, Inc.
More lectures are being held in coming months:
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