I've been doing a lot of reading over the last few weeks (not much else to do!), and it's been good to get a bit more detail about the history of where I live. The Middle East, cradle of civilisation with a position on so many trade routes, has lived through wave after wave of invasion, with powers rising and falling, with its fair share of war, peace, wealth and poverty; check out this pretty visual of the tides of history ...
But in the 20th century, how mightly those in power have screwed the Middle East up - the imperial interference of the British, the French and then the Americans for sure, but also the local elite - tribal leaders and intellectuals, religious orders and royal pretenders - so often more focussed on preserving their priveleges and getting one over their local rivals, and not stepping back to look at the bigger picture ... and don't get me started on Ben-Gurion and the like, marching through the first half of the 20th century absolutely convinced of their God-given right to the land of Israel and the complete insignificance of anyone who might be in their way, egged on by the US and European guilt about their anti-Semitic pasts ... ugly, very ugly.
So, if you are one of those people who has always wondered what the horrible mess is all about, and why we keep hearing about 'a lack of progress in the Middle East', I came across this little video where a man has been given the task of outlining the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 15 minutes - it's a brave attempt, and almost makes the solution sound simple ... maybe it is?!
Israel-Palestine in 15 minutes
