Zionism a ploy not cause for Middle East strife.

Zionism a ploy, not cause of Middle East trouble. Arabs and Muslims in general, are violent people. The Quran instructs its followers to be so on many occasions!
One tends to counter with the fact that the Bible, both Testaments are also full of violence; the differences are quite clear:
The Quran, as are the other Bibles is a unique document. The Quran, unlike all other Gospels clearly insists that it cannot be modified, that it cannot be changed in any way. Devout Muslims even suggest that translations are not valid because of the [poetic] structure of the Arabic language. The Quran teaches that Muhammad was the last and only valid messager Allah was to give followers of the religion.
Unlike Christianity, in its various forms, Islam does not allow for interpretations, the clergy is made up of enforcers, at various levels, not as interpreters. Christianity underwent significant modernization when Martin Luther translated the Bible so lay people could read it, not having priests as go between the Book and the people.
In the case of Judaism, Rabbis are teachers, and many of the studies and extensive writing from the Diaspora are “modernization” of the Bible. Jews are not held up to some of the violent teaching of the original Bible.
Much because of Quranic teaching, much because the nomad nature of most Arabs, taking a politically incorrect view, and “stereotyping,” Arabs are violent people, and have been so throughout history.
Examples of Islamic violence and brutality are the Ottoman Empire, merciless to Armenians, Kurds, Jews and Arabs. Assad’s Syria, both father and son are another demonstration. Assad the father was responsible for the slaughtering about 60,000 of his people; the son already surpassed his father in approaching 100,000; many more Arab casualties than throughout the ninety-year Arab/Israeli conflict, and in two years.
Assad already caused over a million refugees to leave Syria, about twice as many as are Palestinian refugees in the region.
In 1948, through the largess of the United Nations with its creation of the Jewish State of Israel, the Arabs were given a common enemy. The Arab nations, in a very infrequent move of solidarity named Israel and its supporters as “Zionists,” and deployed the adage: “My enemy’s enemy is my friend,” Zionism being the common enemy.
Declaring Israel a common enemy allowed the Arabs a hiatus from Arab against Arab fighting; they attacked Israel. After several losing attacks on Israel, the Arabs discovered that the Jewish nation was not going to lie down and play dead, they returned to their traditional internal fighting. Since losing in 1967, Arabs nations have not attacked Israel, but returned killing one another.
One must understand, that had there not been an Israel, the Middle East would have been as volatile as it is with Israel, Arabs would be killing Arabs, as they are doing now!
Inter-Islam, or inter-Arab fighting is a way of life and likely to remain so for many years to come. At present, you have strife in Egypt, Yemen, Somalia, Mali, Iraq, and elsewhere, where civilian deaths occur daily. And, of course, there is Syria, which will eventually be followed by Jordan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.
Those who think that solving the Palestinians Israeli conflict, and taking care of the Palestinian refugee problem would create regional stability, are wrong. The Palestinian refugee problem, for example is already dwarfed by the ever-growing Syrian refugee problem. When the Syrian conflict ends, the region is likely to have three or four times as many Syrian refugees as Palestinians, and you know what? The new Syria will not welcome them back.
It is time the West, led by the United States comes to realize that the Middle East problem has nothing to do with Israel, Zionism, or “Western Imperialism,” it is an inter-Arab, Inter-Islam problem that the Western Wprld cannot, and should not try to “fix,” except perhaps help democratizing when clearly called upon, and offering humanitarian help when needed.