A civil war in Islam?

[JD]

Goesh, thanks for your response.

As far as points of commonality with moderate Islam, I beleive there are at least 3. Firstly, most of us consider ourselves the sons of Abraham. In the time of Marco Polo, all pilgrims were welcome in Jerusalem provided they obeyed certain rules so exclusivity and antogonism do not go back forever.

As a second point of commonality, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. You can go back to Lawrence of Arabia fighting wth his preferred Muslims against other Muslims for an example of how it may work with empathetic leadership and support. In a more recent example, the west stands steadfastly against military dictators that overthrow elected governments - unless that happens to be Pakistan where the enemy of my enemy becomes my freind.

Lastly, we have humanity in common.

The question of Israel is an interesting one in regard to its influence on the region and the world. To be honest, most of my opinions on Israel are influenced by a group of freinds and one in particular who spent a great deal of time as a UN observer in Israel / Lebanaon. Some of these people consider it hypocrical to critisise Islamic republics for their form of government when Judaism is so much a part of the structure of the state of Israel. One person proposed amalgamating Palestine and Israel into a single secular state where all people enjoyed the same rights. Israel already spends much of its time itervening in palestinian areas - why not legitimise the process, impose better internal security and at the same time, give all the people a part in their political processes. Radical I know but is it more difficult or dangerous than dismantling Apartheit?

Would Muslims cooperate with Mossad? That depends whats in it for them. If it helped create a better security environment and build a state in which they had a real voice then maybe. It depends on where their loyalty lies and loyalty is generally created by good deeds rather than exclusion and intimidation. The rebuilding efforts in Southern Afghanistan appear to be taking this approach and it appears to be paying dividends.

[goesh]

I would suggest, JD, that if the Israelis were not Jews and all the dynamics and politics were the same in that land, the palestinians would make the news about once a year at most. I for one grow tired of the immense stretch and reach of imagination required to continually insert Israel as the proverbial monkey wrench in the affairs and problems and quality of life issues the world's 1.3 billion Muslims have. In short, for every 100 expressions of anger and outrage expressed against the Jews, there may be at most 1 expression of outrage coming from the Muslim world against the killing of muslim by Muslims in Iraq. What are there, all of 24 million Jews on the planet occupying about .001% of the land mass occupied by 1.3 billion muslims? It seems to me in this equation of partnership and mutuality of the West and America in particular, supporting an Islamic civil war, that the Israel problem has to be corrected on the terms defined by moderate Muslims before they can be acceptable partners in the process.