If I put myself on the sidewalk outside a busy intersection in any of America's large cities, and asked passersby to answer this one question, I doubt there would be one in 50 who would be able to answer the question accurately.

"What is the root cause behind the conflict between Israel and the Arab world that has led to multiple wars, multiple acts of terrorism and to the development of specific terrorist organizations with the goal of Israel's destruction?"

I've asked a similar question, by the way, of high school students and of adults in a Sunday School class. Some of the students, who were studying or had recently studied World History, were able to point to the post World War 1 chaos that led to a couple of treaties and a military occupation of the Middle East by Great Britain, which eventually opened up Palestine to a flood of Jewish immigration, as the catalyst for the conflict. That's an A minus answer.

The Sunday School class, on the other hand, based their answers on the Biblical text, written before the siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The conflict, according to that version, has its roots in the ancient hatreds of the people who lived around Palestine who are the ancestors of the modern Arabic population, not an accurate historical fact, and one that leaves out the complete destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the expulsion of the Jewish population from Jerusalem. The Old Testament prophets don't cover this later conquest and destruction, though many Christian Bible teachers incorrectly make inferences to the restoration of Jerusalem after the Babylonian conquest in 585 B.C. as pertaining to the Roman destruction and exile.

It should not surprise us, as Americans, that we have little influence and have not earned the trust of the Arabic Palestinians. Our involvement in the situation has basically led to an outcome not unlike the fate to which we condemned the native population of North America, during our westward expansion. We have very little understanding of the politics and culture of the region. We've done nothing to earn the trust of the people. A two state solution requires two states being made equal and that starts by treating the people who are involved as equals. It requires Israel being made secure. And it requires the Arabic Palestinians, in their own sovereign state, to be secure.

The best perspective any American has ever brought to the table with regard to Middle Eastern issues, including what is necessary for a two-state solution, fair and equitable to everyone involved, to work and to result in real peace, came from President Jimmy Carter. He was obviously viewed as a peacemaker, and he was close enough to getting everyone to agree to sit down and talk that the regime of Ayatollah Khomeini, in Iran, felt the need to sabotage his re-election.