On this Memorial Day Weekend.

The history of the Middle East in my opinion is the most debated history of a region in human history. I've looked at many points of view to find the truth. What is something interesting is that both sides forget one important element of the debate. Some pro-Israeli scholars and some pro-Palestinian scholars readily omit one important fact of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. That fact is that British imperialists in many occasions played both sides against each other, and that subterfuge contributed to the conflict that we witness in the world today. For example, before the Aliyahs (or the massive migrations of Jewish people into Israel from Europe), the Ottoman Empire controlled Israel and Palestine. Jewish people and Arabic people already were in the lands for thousands of years continuously (In other words, after the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in ca. 70 A.D. as prophesied by Yeshua ben Yoseph, Jewish people continued to live in the land during the 9th century, during the time of the Crusades, and during the early 19th century).

The deal was that WWI allowed Europeans, with the help of some Arabic people, to defeat the Ottoman Empire. Later, the British imperialists gave sometimes vague promises to both Jewish people and Arabic people about self-determination. Their promises weren't completely fulfilled. That is why the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement existed that showed the intentions of European imperialists, who wanted British and French forces (not Jewish or Arabic human beings) to control Syria and Palestine. As early as 1919, Chaim Weizmann and Emir Faisal, son of Sherif Hussein made an agreement to promote equality and cooperation among Jewish and Arabic people in he region. Very few people know about this. Later, the British colonial, imperialist forces used policies to break up this unity and cause chaos. Today, we have what we have. It is a fact that when al-Husseini (or the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who was an anti-Semite and a thug) worked with the Nazis to harm Jewish people during WWII, then that is wrong. Also, Netanyahu showing far right policies in Israel including brutal occupation is also wrong.

Many of the same ones, who talk about Israel's imperfections (which must be exposed), are silent on the anti-black racism found in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Northern Africa, and even in Palestine. Many of the same ones, who deny any mistakes made by Israel, are silent on the suffering of the Palestinian people, many Afro-Palestinians, and many black Israelis. Therefore, reasonable Israelis and Palestinians want the same thing. It is just that we have a long way to go in ensuring that freedom and justice for Jewish people and Arabic people are enacted in that region.

There are many things that years ago shocked me about JFK as we near 60 years after his assassination. JFK back then knew of foreign policy matters in a great deal. When JFK called for French colonialism to end during the 1950's, we had folks like Allen Dulles and John Foster Dulles organized the American involvement in the Vietnam War. High level CIA agent General Edward Landsale supported policies that extended the Vietnam civil war. Lansdale used propaganda (as he was an expert in psychological warfare) to convince the Catholics in the north that they would be persecuted by Ho Chi Minh in inspiring them to travel into south Vietnam. He did this to prop up the U.S.-backed dictator Ngo Dinh Diem. The Dulles Brothers and Lansdale supported Diem. Diem was so brutal against the Buddhists in South Vietnam, that many Buddhists burned themselves alive in protest to the oppression that they have faced. Eisenhower, Nixon, the Dulles brothers, and others helped to create South Vietnam. Before 1950, there was no South Vietnam. They did this, because they wanted to violate the Geneva Accords which called for fair elections. Knowing that these elections would oppose Diem, they enacted their own policies. Lansdale rigged elections to maintain Diem's power. Diem advanced torture.

When JFK was Senator during the 1950's, he opposed Eisenhower's foreign policy. Richard Mahoney's book called JFK: Ordeal in Africa from 1983 documented how JFK made a speech in 1957 to oppose French colonialism in Algeria. JFK, when he was President, was warned not to send military troops in Vietnam by de Gauille, by Senator Mike Mansfield, and even by Douglas MacArthur. The son of the late North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap said that JFK was planning to withdraw from Vietnam in 1963. JFK had his imperfections (we know what they were), but he wasn't ignorant of foreign policy matters. Lansdale didn't like many of JFK's policies when JFK was President. President John F. Kennedy supported the progressive leader of Indonesia named Sukarno and gave Indonesia billions of dollars in civilian and military aid. He planned on visiting Indonesia in 1964. He didn't do it, because of the obvious reason.

Kennedy supported Algerian independence. Kennedy sympathized with the Partito Socialista Italiano or a socialist party with its Italian leader Pietro Nenni. This was very taboo and opposed by John McCone including Dean Rusk. JFK was a supporter of UN leader Dag Hammarskjold, Patrice Lumumba, and Cyrille Adoula. JFK supported Kwame Nkrumah of Kenya. JFK also supported the independence of Guinea. Also, JFK was in secret talks with Castro in trying to have detente. So, these facts alone should tell people something. JFK was adamantly opposed to Israel having nuclear weapons, and he wanted inspections of the Dimona reactor. JFK did the right thing in saying his June 11, 1963 speech in favor of racial equality, in standing up against Big Oil, and opposing many of the policies of the CIA.

By Timothy