Isn't the war on terror a direct result of what we did after WWII -- creating a state of Israel?

Question

Just like what we did after WWI created the conditions that led to WWII? Just curious. Seems like the resolution of every war carries with it the seeds of the next war.

Answer 1

Terrorism is not a direct result of the creation of the state of Israel. Political scientists such as Zakaria write that terrorism will exist no matter how much the terrorists are appeased. Rather it would seem terrorism is a result of charismatic individuals and their ability to use nationalism to influence a group of disillusioned people--just like Hitler did for the Germans. So the roots of terrorism lie in disillusionment and these find themselves not just in the creation of israel.
Th arab nations have been let down continuously by the west. The west has exploited them for economic gain. Furthermore, western ideas haven't helped arab and muslim nations at all. They tried liberalism (as in egypt)--it failed--they tried socialism (bosnia) and it too failed. They tried democracy and it too is failing. Disillusionment will not rise from one cause.

A comment for all those that will say Israel stole the land: At the time it DID NOT belong to the Palestinians. It was a mandate of England. If arguments for historicism want to be presented then they will be discredited, because historicism always rests on what culture was originally--or most recognizably--associated with the area. And that will be the Jews. The temple of solomon is much older than the mosque. Judaism is much older than Islam.

But I do not like arguments about hte history of a land. They are pointless. It is like if Russia suddenly said, well oregon belongs to us because we colonized it first. Or it would seem that the native americans own the United States. I am not sure who will be willing to make claims like this when they realize the ramifications of it all.
Rather I believe in the balance of power, I believe in war and conquest. I believe in state sovereignty and self-determination. If two countries wage war on one another then to the winner go the spoils. No one stopped France from forcing reparations on Germany for WWI. No one stopped the United States from subjugating the American Indian. Why is it once religion becomes the issue does the topic become heated? There are answers to that question--but they are unsatisfactory at best. Harvard professor Samuel Huntington writes that civilzations are destined to clash along cultural lines--along religious lines. For a better explanation of this read "The Clash of Civilizations."

The remained of this response will suppose that you have read "The Clash." it seems to me that huntington is wrong. There is nothing intrinsic to culture that requires them to clash if we look at them through Foucaultian geneaology.
Where does culture come from? We can say that culture is the direct result of a group of primitive man creating politics and then having similar interests to protect. Culture becomes a way of keeping the men together--it is illusionary power at best and once we realize this it will not be necessary or even sufficient for war to occur on the means of culture.

Answer 2

This is a simplistic and erroneous conclusion.

If the assertion was true, then let's also blame WW1 as the cause of WW2, because the Allied powers imposed reparations on Germany, destroying its economy and causing hyperinflation and leading to nationalism and the rise of Hitler.
Then let's consider the Franco-Prussian War in the late 1800's - surely blame can be laid there, since France & Germany fought earlier. And why not the 30 Year's War, the Hundred Years War and all the other European Wars?

And of course, the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, the American War of Indepedence all could be connected if we look hard enough.

No, al Qaeda & Osama bin Laden and modern terrorism cannot be blamed on Israel. It is a convenient excuse. If you read the missives written by Islamic terrorist leaders, they want to establish nothing less than a caliphate stretching from the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa and the Middle East, all the way through southern Asia into Indonesia.

Terrorism is their tactic, to drive fear into civilian populations using brutual and unthinkable violence, and make politicians run for cover and seek appeasement with their leaders.

I am currently reading the book below and it is incredible how many elitist yet ignorant European leaders are accomodating radical Islamics to the great detriment to western Europe's future.

Answer 3

First of the US didn't have much to do with the creation of Israel. The Brits controlled the area and allowed large numbers of European Jews to move there. The Brits also tried to create several peaceful solutions and finally gave up.

Second the war on terror would happen whether or not Israel existed. The key problem is not Israel. It's a focal point but a great example was the Iranian president saying that now that Saddam is toppled Iran's greatest enemy is gone and now the US and Israel are Iran's greatest enemy. Our existence is a threat to their way of life. We need not raise a hand or fire a weapon to wipe out the culture. Technology such as sattilites and the internet will undermine the religious fanaticism and wipe out the iron fist control the religious community has over the Arab world. That is really what we are fighting.

The Militant Islamic faction wants to conquer the world. Literally. They openly state this. Even put it in children's text books. There is not even the slightest deception. They are actively and effectively working at it. Africa especially show's the ravages of this second convert by the sword movement in Islam. The result so far has been genocide all over the world. In Nigeria, Sudan and many other African nations non-Muslims are killed, jailed or treated as second class citizens. They are given the choice to convert or die/be imprisoned in at least one smaller nation. In the West Muslims are actively recruiting and throwing around slogans like wanting to take over the Whitehouse by such and such a date.

So WW III really has nothing to do with Israel. It might be a focal point but if Israel went away terrorism would not even slow down, it would likely increase dramatically.

Answer 4

Transjordan was established as a Mandate in 1922 and as an independent country in 1946 named Jordan. As to the Partition Plan anyone can google up a map; 55% of the territory of Mandate Palestine went to the jewish Agency; the other 45% to the Palestinians who would then normally have held a plebiscite to determine if they wished to be independent or become a part of Jordan. Unfortunately within two hours of the end of the Mandate the zionists invaded and attacked the Palestinian territory,having been heavily armed by the USSR,which originally proposed carving off half of Palestine to create a justforjews domain. Several Arabs states,all newly established, atempted to defend the Palestinian areas but they were no match for the lavishly funded and heavily armed Haganah which had now become the IDF. Only the Jordanian Army was able to defend much of the WB under the leadership of the brilliant John Glubb Pasha. By 1949 the 55% the jews had agreed to was 78.5% and by 1967 the remaining 22.5% of Mandate Palestine was and remains under hostile occupation by the zionists. Legally the zionists have no claim to anything but the Partition PLan borders the jewish agency agreed to on Nov. 29,1947 since the current zionist regime is the legal successor to the jewish agency and bound by it's committments.

Answer 5

No. The Terrorists believe in a brand of Wahhabism, or Salafism, depending on who is speaking. This is a fundemental ideology, established by Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab (1703-1792), that looks to re-establish puritanical Islamic Law.

Another belief of certain brands of Wahhabism is that they are required to spread Islam to the Ends of the Earth and to establish an Islamic Empire to rival that created during the early centuries. The Fundamentalist Muslims have been fighting against the West for as long as the religion has existed, first attacking the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, the Byzantine, Empire, North Africa, to Spain.
Did you know that Muslims attacked United States merchant vessels in the late 1700's? That's where "The Shores of Tripoli" comes from, that war against Muslims.

Muslims routinely killed Jews prior to WWII, for instance the movie Casablanca, completed in 1942 mentions Concentration Camps in Morrocco. A little known fact is that this was true. Concentration Camps did exist in Northern Africa.

There are repercussions from wars that help lead to the tensions of other wars, yes, but the Fundamentalists would fight the West either way.

Answer 6

yes one of several reasons for the current war on terror. The other would be the withdrawal of colonial powers and the rise of Arab nationalism. Then when the Arabs got their clocks cleaned on multiple occasions by Israel nationalism gave way to fundamentalist religion and the tactic of terrorism. This tactic had been pioneered by the nationalist but the fundamentalist have perfected it to the level we see today. The other driver of terrorism is poverty and a medieval tribe based society that is failing to adapt to the modern world. If Israel was gone it would certainly slow terrorism but not eliminate it.

Answer 7

Things may be related but not directly linked. The murder of 6 million jews by the nazis help strengthen the case for a jewish homeland but it would be overly simple to say the death camps created Israel. The anti-zionist Bin Laden and his ilk hates the west as much as they do the jews. The rallying cries damning Israel has a unifying effect among anti-semites. We also are "infidels" and his jihad is against us with or without Israel.

Answer 8

In some respects, yes. Our support of Israel has made the US a target for middle eastern terrorists. Also remember that these religious extremists hate American and western ideals. In a sense, even if Israel was never created, the west's interests in Oil would help spark the extremist's hatred of the USA and her allies.

Answer 9

I don't know that it is a direct result, but there is a definite link. And I'm glad that someone is talking about that. It seems that so many people have forgotten that ever happened. They just throw their hands up in the air and ask "Why are they fighting?" or say "They just can't get along over there..." without ever considering the history behind the situation. Every action has it's consequences, many unintended. The road to hell...

Answer 10

this is what most people think, the cause of terrorism is not because of the creation of the state of israel, altho' its does not help in its existence but it is only one of the many reasons that the terrorism exist, if this is not the reason there will be another thing such as the existence of another religion aside from what they have or the existence of poverty, hunger, etc. etc., terrorism and those who do this only will find another reason to destroy civilization that exist that does not agree with their agenda, and it is very sad but thats the way its going to be... its between bad, evil and everything that goes against it. they(the terrorist) just wants us to go back to the dark ages where there is no rule of law just mob and just kill any innocent person who go against their so-called belief, for whatever it is. its very sad, indeed!