The Jewish State and the Palestinians: How They Came to be Neighbors and Can They Co-Exist
As seems always to be the case, to fully understand current events it helps to have a solid historical perspective. So it is with the ongoing tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. Mark Albertson has been providing DMA with important history lessons for many years. To this end, Mark will discuss how the Jewish State and the Palestinians came to be neighbors and if they can co-exist. While this history lesson certainly goes back to post-war 1947-48, it also must go back even further. Mark will cover the region of “Palestine” going back to the early 20th century and even further back 100 years before that to help us understand the various claims the two sides have on this territory. As with any of Mark’s presentations, it promises to be lively and provocative.
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine in Monroe and the historian for the Army Aviation Association of America. Mark has taught history, current events and politics at Norwalk Community College for the Extended Studies Program and the Lifetime Learners Institute. He has published articles in newspapers and magazines and has authored six books. Mark presents in a wide variety of venues on a wide variety of topics, including several previous talks to the DMA. Not counting teaching requirements, he presents upwards of 250 times per year.
Speaker arranged by Tom Lom.
Speaker Summary
Mark took us through his perspective on how the recent struggles and violence in the Middle East is a topical but not new chapter in the Great Game where most battles for power revolve around an underlying fight for the resources in and around the embattled territories. He started with an overview of the evolution of the area that was previously all within the Ottoman Empire and started to come apart with the 1914 onset of WWI and the growth of nationalization. He then took us through a discussion of how this led to plans and agreements to split up the territory to access/control its resources (primarily oil as well as access via the Suez Canal) among the Italians, British, French and Russians. This ultimately fell apart as the local Arab states fought back and threw out all the groups except the British by the early 1920’s.
He quickly progressed to WWII, the end of British as a world power and the emergence of the US and USSR as the leading global powers and how our role in the Middle East was driven largely by its importance for its resources. He referenced and gave examples from historical speeches and papers that, in his view, demonstrated that US foreign policy was primarily economically driven to maintain the US’ role as the world’s dominant power and the dollar as the world’s dominant currency, especially following the fall of the USSR, rather than any ideological goals around spreading democracy, protecting human rights, and other Western values.
Mark then pivoted to a discussion of the emergence of China’s understated role in the Middle East and how they have become so critical thanks to their role as primary/principal purchasers of Iranian and Saudi oil which has enabled them to have a key role – and protected position – in the region. He noted how, despite the on-going attacks in the area, China ships have been spared.
In discussing the Israeli/Palestinian struggles directly, he again linked this to the battle for resources and specifically referenced the offshore gas reserves that are so valuable to Israel and that will likely impact their willingness to compromise on control of the Palestinian territory. In response to a specific question about the potential for a 2-state solution Mark believes it will not happen and/or it would be defined as Israeli control of Israel and Israeli military control of the Palestinian territory.
Mark closed with comments about how 10- or 20-year efforts to democratize this world against centuries of rule by autocratic empires and leaders have consistently ended in failure and he has little reason to believe this will demonstrably change. A more constant reality will be the chess game played by countries looking to control and overtake others for their resources, which is the ultimate goal in the Great Game.