The major chunk of Arab population is least willing to engage in conflict over land
KARACHI: With Jared Kushner, President Trump’s appointed mediator to the Israeli-Palestinian authorities, it will become harder than ever to devise a fair and just solution to the decades-long conflict. The conflict might be over territory and the illegal occupation of Arab lands and the refusal of the domestic political forces to agree for dialogue and negotiations. The region is bound to witness the longest violent conflict in the Arab region and perhaps across the world.
The Palestinian political forces, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Hamas leader Ismail Hanya, are themselves at disagreement over recognition of Israel as a state and to negotiate with Israel over post-1967 war borders. Regardless of the validity of the political stance the two hold, the Palestinian youth is least bothered to secure the territory as an Arab homeland and to expel Israelis. With the highest literacy rate in the Middle Eastern region and whopping unemployment rates, all that Palestinian Arab youth looks up to is jobs and economic security, be it at either side of the territory. Termed the wasted generation of its time by a leading English daily, the Arab youth of the region spends its days in rambles of violence. With the conflict not being resolved any time soon, the Arab generations are doomed to such fate for a lifetime.
Ironically, although the major chunk of Arab population is least willing to engage in conflict over land, it remains the biggest bone of contention between Israeli and Palestinian authorities.
Yousaf Sheikh
Published in The Express Tribune, August 21st, 2017.
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