[Jaine Perotti]

Extreme nationalism by itself is extremely dangerous because of it's pseudo-religious qualities. In the Middle East, where nationalism and religion are almost one in the same, a particularly volitile situation is present.

Any time you get two factions who believe with all of their hearts and souls that their viewpoint is unequivocally the right viewpoint (a result of extremism and nationalism), it is inevitable that the conflict between those two groups will be long, drawn out, and bloody - as has been the case in the Middle East for hundreds of years.

Going back to the time of the Crusades, you will find that the motivation behind those conflicts was extremely similar to those of today's. Each side vehemently argued that the Holy Land rightfully theirs to own, too caught up in their ideological fervor to consider reality. And the reality is that no matter how hard you fight - even if you win - the opposing side will feel disenfranchised and disrespected, and will eventually want to reclaim what was once theirs. Even with a percieved "victory", the conflict is far from over.

This cycle continues to this day. It is fueled stronger than most cyclical conflicts because religious extremism is more enduring and deep-seated than the personal vendetta. An unfortunate aspect of religion is it's pervasive psychological power - which is easily abused and turned into a form of brainwashing by extremists.

It is simply incredible how people can be stripped of their humanity to such an extent that they feel motivated to die violently, killing innocent people in the name of God. The fact that anyone would have such a death wish indicates severe psychological damage - it goes against every human evolutionary instinct.

This cycle reminds me of a childhood game I used to play - many of you probably did this too - when every time a certain person said something, you would ask them, "Why?" - and when they responded, you would ask them "Why?" again, and this would continue over and over again until the person was mentally exhausted (most likely scenario), or you got tired of asking.

In that game, someone had to give in and let go. So do the people who are involved in a cyclical conflict. The only way to break such a cycle is to reach a point of compromise. Each faction has to give a little, but they are motivated to do so because they desperately want to end the conflict.

This is the only thing which will end the struggle in the Middle East. Unfortunately, this will be a difficult point to reach. There will always be someone who wants to keep on fighting. Ideological fervor continues to make them ignorant of the mutual relief that peace would bring.

But peaceful coexistance is not fundamentally impossible between Jews, Muslims, and Christians. In the Middle Ages (beginning in around AD 912), all three religions were allowed to coexist under Moorish rule in Spain. While non-Muslims weren't given completely equal status, they were not targets of violence, and were allowed to practice their religion privately. This tolerance allowed intellectual and cultural exchange to flourish. It didn't last forever, but it is at least a small beacon of hope - if only people were to compromise in the name of peace.

-- Jaine