Problems in Jerusalem's Holy Compound

This is not meant for you to take sides, for it is peace, not Israel nor Palestine who needs your support.

Alarming problems are growing near Jerusalem's holy compund. We've seen in class the importance of Temple Mount, a site that is both important for Judaism and Islam. Being this a disputed land, precious for these two religions, I believe it is comprehensible the impact that any riot ocurring in this place will have in both Jewish and Palestinians.
Last week, 12 people were arrested in the Temple Mount by the Israeli police, which claims the arrested were youngester who were throwing rocks and petroleum bombs. Confusion and mixed opinions are all over, for the Israeli police denied they made any entrance to the al-Aqse mosque, while there on the other hand, there are Palestinians saying the Israeli police even sealed the compund, leaving around 100 worshipers inside.
Last september, Palestinian protesters presumably attacked non-Muslims with stones. The police from Israel counterattacked them using tear gas. In this story, there are also two variants: Palestinians who say those "non-Muslims" were actually Jewish extremist with intentions of damaging Jerusalem's holy site; and Israeli police saying those "non-Muslims" were tourists who were just visiting the place.
Today, an extremist Israeli tried to attack al-Aqsa and its worshipers. The Islamic Endowments Department arrested the man and handed him to Israeli authorities, saying they figured out he might have wanted to open fire inside the mosque in a radical, massacre attempt.
We know that in this world, every cause has an effect; each clash between Israeli sand Palestinians will continue to have enormous consequences in political decisions and people's minds. In Jordan, various movements in protest have been happening. There was a Jordanian march last October that asked the Israeli ambassador to leave Amman and that criticized Arab governments for their "calm" while people was facing this kind of problems. A group of Jordanian's also burned an Israeli flag at the time they urged Jordan's governement to abolish the peace treaty made with Israel in 1994. Pro-Islamic people in Turkey have also joined protests against Israel.

More information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8324539.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6891249.ece
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/09/content_12202767.htm
http://www.unnindia.com/english/story.php?Id=5527

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Clinton in the Middle East

Sometimes I feel the United States sees itself as the ultimate saviour of the world and therefore, that he needs to be involved in every single conflict and act as (or sometimes just pretend to be) the wise peacekeeper. Like in marital problems it is better to have no third-person participating, sometimes world conflicts need the US to step aside. Of course, if the problems within the marriage evolve into overwhelming verbal and physical abuse, there will be a need of intermediaries... and then, the world needs the United States to use its power of a dominant nation and do its best to stop the quarrel. However, being the US the key for the cease of conflict, it is extrasupermegaimportant to perform its peacekeeper role with neutrality and non-biased political movements. Really hard to do, considering the US is another country, not an alien arbiter, and so it will always have its own interests. Knowing this reality, it is crucial that, at least, it presents itself committed to the end of conflict, but always minding the power of the government's words and its consequences. Why am I saying all this? Palestinians are now accusing Clinton of slowing down and damaging peace talks in the Middle East. Their statement comes once Clinton began to praise Israel for its progressive attitude concerning the negotiations with Palestinians and the restrain concerning the Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory. Mohammed Nazzal, member of Hamas said in relation: "The Arab and Muslim people know well that the U.S. position is biased." Palestinians are urging Israel to freeze the expasion of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Rage has grown for Israel had already accepted to halt the settlement activity back in 2003, but the action never occured. And you know, none of them respects the other's territory, this problem will go on forever. Moreover, Saeb Erekat said Palestine will refuse to continue any further peace negotiations unless the Israel redirects its "natural growth" back to Israeli territory, outside from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. I have never really trusted numbers (being a human invention, numbers can fool you any time), but according to some information given on a newspaper, there are about 500 000 Israeli settlers both the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Persuaded by my skepticism, I decided to look around if there was any other number and I found in the World Factbook that there are 187 000 settlers in the West Bank and around 177 000 in East Jerusalem. Notice that even if you add these two last numbers, you do not obtain the first number (500 000) and in the real world, more than 100 000 settlers really make a difference. So who am I to believe? And even though Clinton praised Israel for its commitment, it seems that Israel will not limit itself in East Jerusalem and that will obviously not please Palestinian leaders. Clinton also told Abbas that it was impossible for the United States to persuade Israel to immeadiately freeze the construction of settlements. Saeb Erekat expressed himself again with the following words: "If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do Palestinians have of reaching agreement with Israel on permanent status issues?" See the importance of the US in this conflict? :)

More information:
http://dailyme.com/story/2009110100002405/palestinians-accuse-clinton-hurting-peace-talks.html
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1256799053633
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/internacional/64186.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/we.html

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