That conflict wasn’t, the Alliance stressed, the only one fueling this clash of cultures and belief systems; Afghanistan and Iraq, which in 2006 were the locations of two major U.S. interventions in the wake of the 9/11 atrocities, were also significant contributors to the divide. However, it continued, “the Israeli-Palestinian issue has taken on a symbolic value that colors cross-cultural and political relations among adherents of all three major monotheistic faiths well beyond its limited geographic scope.”
There you have it: “Palestine” as a symbol like no other of the world’s cleavages and fissures, which will only deepen as long as the conflict lasts. Using this claim as a foundation, the United Nations and its agencies have assiduously cultivated the myth that relations between Western and Islamic nations hinge on a resolution of this one conflict.
At every annual U.N. General Assembly, we have heard speeches reinforcing this notion, invariably focusing on Israel’s supposed responsibility to evacuate territories it conquered during a defensive war and never regarding the Palestinians as anything other than passive victims.
This year...
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